UFC star Nick Diaz allegedly did not have a “proper camp” for his UFC 266 rematch with Robbie Lawler. According to Jake Shields, the former Strikeforce champion was “pushed into the fight” and that “he hadn’t been training at all.” Now, Diaz’s long-time coach Cesar Gracie went on record with Submission Radio recently to somehow verify Shields’ statements.
Nick Diaz had suffered injury and had a huge debt
Nick was apparently dealing with serious injuries which led to him missing the supposed 170-pound mark and the fight being bumped up to 185 pounds instead.
“So Nick, he went into that fight and his neck was pretty messed up,” Gracie revealed. “Robbie’s a great, tough fighter and everything. And, Nick was doing great. And then you kind of see Nick kind of just kind of fading as the fight wore on. So, Nick had an operation very recently here seven weeks ago. So, two of the discs had ruptured in his neck before the fight. So, he was having numbness of the hands.
“That’s why he didn’t make 170.He fought at 185, is cause it was impossible to train. He just didn’t have any strength. He didn’t have what you’re used to, the Nick Diaz, you know, he didn’t have it.”
Right after the fight, Shields also tweeted about how there were “snakes everywhere” that only “care about money” more than Diaz’s health. With this, Gracie also provided some context.
“What people don’t know is that the commission in Vegas was still demanding their money from, remember the marijuana test that we didn’t pass? Right,” Gracie said. “Yeah, Okay. So, this is a new thing for you guys, too. Even though it’s legal, they said ‘you still owe us that $75,000’. I think it was some insane amount.
“You know, it was like ‘what? You still have to pay it? Even though it’s legal now?’ When that happened, it wasn’t, and we want to, and so we gotta. You’re gonna have to deduct it from your fight purse. And Nick really hadn’t signed the best contract in the world. And so what happened was, they said, we’ll pay you more money, but you have to fight this fight here, and on this date.
“It was a thing. It was like, if you don’t take that fight, you’re almost gonna fight for free, you know, by the time [you pay taxes and the fine]. Obviously, people know, that’s not a secret, he had some tax issues in the past. He had to pay that fine, which, you know, it was just, you had to do it. It was like, well, Nick, he had his back on the wall.”
We will have to see when Diaz is able to make his return to the cage.
