Cesar Gracie discusses the current situation of one of his long-time students, Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz. Gracie, who also acts as Diaz’s manager, feels the Stockton mauler has been fighting too much, a sentiment Diaz himself has echoed recently.
Gracie feels the best thing for Diaz right now is to take a break from MMA and do some boxing. He thinks Diaz is a little burned out (no pun intended) on MMA and is not performing to the best of his ability because of that. He thinks Diaz will come back to MMA, but needs to find the motivation.
Gracie also says Diaz has already signed a boxing contract to fight Fernando Vargas. However, it was revealed a couple days ago that fight has been scrapped and they are instead looking at a possible boxing match with Jeff Lacy.
Gracie also comments on Jake Shields‘ upcoming title fight with Georges St-Pierre, and says he thinks Shields is going to surprise GSP with his stand-up and will end up submitting the champ. He says he has Shields working with some new boxing coaches and his stand-up has “vastly improved.”