Nick Diaz makes his highly anticipated return when he takes on Vicente Luque at UFC Abu Dhabi on August 3rd. Even though numerous supporters have varied views on his comeback, it’s not only them who appear puzzled.
Nick Diaz’s Coach: “I Wouldn’t Have Advised Him To Take That Fight”
Nick Diaz’s well-known coach, Cesar Gracie, commented on the fight in a recent interview with Submission Radio. Gracie seemed concerned that Diaz accepted the fight and that the location was overseas.
“I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, that wasn’t my idea. If I was advising Nick, I wouldn’t have advised him to do that fight. It’s [also] in Abu Dhabi, I wouldn’t advise to go fight overseas at this point. Luque is a very tough guy, Nick is a tough guy, but it just doesn’t make that much sense for me where Nick is at in his career; I don’t know, it’s not the fight I would have made, and I don’t even know what’s going on with that fight to be honest with you.”
The obvious question would be, why didn’t his coach didn’t advise him or consult him about this fight? That would be due to Nick Diaz not training with Cesar Gracie ahead of this fight.
“I haven’t been part of his training for this one, we talk every day, and I don’t know what’s going to happen with that to be honest with you. It’s a tossup what’s going to happen…
“The camp, our camp in general we haven’t been as involved like we are with other stuff. I know he’s lost a lot of weight and everything, but I don’t really see him training with fighters.”
Things Have Changed For Nick Diaz Over the Years
Gracie pointed out that things haven’t been the same as they were after Diaz’s ban for weed after his fight with Anderson Silva. His lifestyle changes led to a different mindset when it came to fighting and training.
“He wasn’t in the gym because there was no reason for being in the gym so suddenly, he wasn’t hanging out with people from the gym, and you know it’s tough to be a guy like Nick Diaz. He’s such an icon of the sport, he’s so famous and everybody wants a piece of him.”
Gracie also pointed out that instead of being there for his brother as usual, Diaz was nowhere to be found when his brother Nate defeated Jorge Masvidal in their boxing match this past weekend.
Despite Gracie not being as involved as usual, he maintains that the two are in good contact with no issues.
“No bad blood or anything whatsoever, it’s just I think that the people that are holding on to Nick right now in Texas want to hold on to Nick. I hope they take good care of him, that’s all I could say you know.”
Quotes via BloodyElbow
UFC Abu Dhabi Co-Main Event
Nate Diaz and Vicente Luque are far past their primes at this point in their careers.
Nick Diaz’s last fight came in September of 2021 against Robbie Lawler, who retired nearly a year ago. The fight against Lawler is the only time Diaz has competed since January 2015, and it ended in a sad and disappointing retirement from Diaz who gave up following being knocked down.
Vicente Luque is a winner in just one of his last four. Luque recently had a tough-to-watch performance against Joaquin Buckley that became the second knockout loss of his career, in a fight where it looked like he gave up as soon as it hit the floor.
With everything we’ve seen from both fighters recently, this fight should have lower expectations.
How do you feel about Nick Diaz vs. Vicente Luque? Are you surprised that Diaz isn’t training with Cesar Gracie? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured Image Credit via Embed from Getty Images
