Cesar's Diaz vs Estima statement

[Blaine Stevens]

My apologies and respect for deftly sidestepping that in a modest way. Those were emotional words, haha. I try and hold people to their word and some words are made lightly like mine ((belittling)) and yours ((Diazherpaderp)) likely were. But in your defense ((And my own.)) I think anyone who is really intelligent also knows they are fucking retarded at times.

[Matt "Gumby" Glach]

I figured Diaz had a legitimate side to the story, that's why I didn't jump to judge him like many people did. Knowing the facts from Diaz's perspective, the only part of his actions I really have a problem with is not informing the event coordinators of his decision not to compete. I think he had a legitimate reason for refusing to compete, but simply not showing up and leaving the fans wondering was a reckless move. Having said that, the reason why most of us love Nick Diaz so much is his "I don't give a FUCK" attitude, which is exactly what he displayed by bailing the way he did. It's one of those situations where the very thing that causes the fans to love the guy will inevitably, on occasion, work to the detriment of the fans, but I am personally willing to accept the occasional stunt like this if it means that Nick Diaz remains Nick Diaz. He hasn't lost a notch in my book.

[Cody Kietzman]

I really enjoy the part about the Brazilian cronies running IBJJF and being dicks.

[Michael Sioda]

I'm still a Diaz fan.

[Adam Bridges]

Here's Ronda's take on it:

[David Rosado]

Damn braulio. Dude is messing up.

[Chris Herzog]

Braulio's response to Cesar via twitter:

@CesarGracieBJJ Hi César i was reading yr statement. vry interesting points..
1st- When junior approached me 2 Offer me the fight I was actually training at the blackzilians at the time so obviously I was training Mma. Junior told me abt nick not wanting 2 fight an Mma fighter. I nevr fought before so he said it was fine & y u dnt cancel the fight before if ths was really an issue..??
2nd- nobody has ever bended no rules for me. Because there was no rules set to start off with, it wasnt going to be a UFC match but a superfight on a BJJ Expo so the whole point here was for us to show a fight..has Nick signed a contract that stated the date time and weight that we both need to reach? I didn't. And since this whole thing was going to be a friendly event I really don't see any issue here even if Nick turned up 10lbs overweight. Still when asked I went and dropped the weight to meet the requirement. Actually to put things straight it was myself that called Junior around 10pm Friday to check if there is going to be a weigh in at all. He kept contacting you and got back to me saying I need to be 180 that time, of course I said I can't for the simple reason I was away in Irvine and it was already late at night but I said sure no problem I'll make it first thing in the morning if needed, even if it would put me in a bigger disadvantage I didnt care I just came to fight. Junior had actually called me back no later than midnight that he spoke to you and confirmed the weigh in for 10am.
Besides when did Nick actually weigh in? And who witnessed that if we are being so strict and proffessional?
3rd - you are saying Nick had left by 10am Saturday morning? Why you never said anything then? I even asked you I'd like to see him and his weight and you said he's not gonna come down because he ate already and wouldn't make the weight anymore. And Lana after speaking to you called his room and said he was actually there sleeping. Nobody at any point had mentioned he could have left. Leaving me believing we would fight till the very last minute, now youre talking about lack of proffesionalism in the organisation of the superfight and this was very professional behaviour right?

There is many more points here that I don't agree with but I am just fed up of this whole situation and don't agree for anyone to ever release the blame from Nick for whatever reason, we were there to fight and that's what should happen no excuses, we are both professional athletes and should respect one another no matter what. And this is inexcusable.

[Compella]

"Opinion
As a Brazilian I love Brazil but not all things Brazilian. In the last decade I have witnessed Brazilian cronies running the IBJJF and making it impossible for Americans to get a fair shake when competing against their Brazilian countrymen. These cronies have instituted rules to where if you miss weight by even half a pound you are disqualified and not refunded your entry fee. They gladly keep your money and treat you like crap in your country because they can. One of these cronies (Junior) decided to bend all the rules for Braulio Estima and treat Nick Diaz like crap. Sorry that didn’t work out here.

As for Braulio I still respect him as a great BJJ artist. As far as calling Nick out for a mma fight, he knows that is impossible because Nick is signed with the UFC and in mma you have to make weight when they want you to. Not when you want to. If Braulio ever finds success in mma then he can mention Nick’s name for a fight. Right now he should respect the man.

Nick is not without fault by any means. His lack of communication with his team and coach was inexcusable. This will be addressed privately.

Renzo and I have spoken and we are committed to continuing with this otherwise awesome event….without the services of Junior.

It should be noted that Nick paid to St Jude’s Children’s Hospitable the sum of what would have been his entire purse.

Thank you,
You have my apologies and my respect
Cesar Gracie"

It was a great article and I'm glad Cesar respectfully addressed the people who deserved to know while calling out the people who haven't been on the up & up all the way through. I suspected this was the case the whole time, and having read the article, it all just confirmed my initial inclinations. It was disappointing to not see Nick there, but unless you were to walk a mile in his shoes you wouldn't understand the decisions HE has to make and why. LOL @ Ronda not wanting to get involved in the drama, she gets a little ghetto for a sec, "He besta get my name out his mouth befo I cutz him, lying ass..." or something like that. Diaz brothers rubbing off on her It's evident to see now, that Braulio is embarrassed for not making the initial weight as agreed upon the day before. Busted his ass to make the weight, yes, but it was already too late. You're dealing with a top tier MMA fighter who has lived out this formula again & again and to change it last minute is just amatuerish and not respectful of his position. Don't fuck witht the headlining act...they will leave...the crowd will riot. And btw, I had my money taken away at an IBJJF event with no refund for not making weight even though I was there early enough to be re-bracketed into the weight class above, and I think that's pretty stupid. To say there is some bias toward the American fighters is the understatement of the year, that's why we've been moving toward sub-only tournaments and away from all the IBJJF bullshit. You want a legit test of your grappling ability? You do NAGA or GQ without a Gi. If you got big ol king kong balls you man up and get in a sub-only tournament and take some fools out! Fuck all this rules lawyering, bickering, political obstacles, just get in there and roll. Hey lookie, a little comment turned into a rant.

[David Rosado]

IMO neither Nick or Braulio is clean in this. Looks like they both handled it poorly. But the cause of the bad behavior from what I can see is that the promoter was just being dirty. The promoter was the main source of miscommunication of rules and agreements between fighters and that's what led to all this. Damn shame.

[Mike Nall]

IMO neither Nick or Braulio is clean in this. Looks like they both handled it poorly. But the cause of the bad behavior from what I can see is that the promoter was just being dirty. The promoter was the main source of miscommunication of rules and agreements between fighters and that's what led to all this. Damn shame.

Can someone explain to me ANYTHING Braulio did wrong? He did his part. he flew in, cut the weight, and showed up. He did exactly what was asked of him both contractually, and he even went above and beyond what was asked of him to further accommodate the wishes of Cesar Gracie and Nick Diaz.

This was win/win for Diaz by the way, and he still dropped the ball. If Diaz won, it would be a huge feather in the cap. If he lost it wouldn't be a big deal, as he was supposed to lose.