Nick Diaz’s head coach has revealed that the 39-year-old fought at UFC 266 with a serious neck injury that severely limited his ability to train ahead of his bout with Robbie Lawler.
“He went into that fight and his neck was pretty messed up,” Cesar Gracie told Submission Radio yesterday. “[He] 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.”
“After the fight and everything, we kept looking for what’s going on – cause he passed his pre-fight stuff – and finally we got these MRIs on his neck, and the doctor said, ‘look, I cannot believe you just fought. You shouldn’t be walking’.”
Gracie also revealed that Diaz felt pressured into fighting at UFC 266 as he still had to pay the Nevada Athletic Commission $75,000 for his 2015 marijuana suspension, plus an unspecified amount that he owed in taxes. Now, a few months removed from the surgery, the coach claims Diaz is still looking to compete in the UFC.
The AllStar MMA roundup
- Looking for a fight: Dan Hooker says Tony Ferguson should “piss off and retire” if UFC 281 challenge is not accepted
- UFC 278: AJ Fletcher says Ange Loosa has openings – “I get him out of there in one”
- UFC 278: It’s hard for Jay Perrin to feel threatened by Aoriqileng when ‘he’s been sat down by flyweights’
The best of the rest
- Jiu-jitsu legend Leandro Lo shot dead in Brazil; MMA community mourns – MMAJunkie.com
- Jamahal Hill explains why he wasn’t happy with his win at UFC Vegas 59, calls for Jiri Prochazka fight – MMAFighting.com
- Michael Chandler: ‘This is the right time for me to fight Dustin Poirier, and the wrong time for him to fight me’ – MMAFighting.com
- Sam Alvey suffers broken jaw in UFC on ESPN 40 loss: ‘I’m likely getting my mouth wired shut’ – MMAJunkie.com
- Israel Adesanya can’t wait to ‘slam that b-tch’ Alex Pereira at UFC 281, promises knockout – BloodyElbow.com
The Call
Here’s a look at your main event odds for UFC San Diego, presented by crypto sports book Cloudbet:
Dominick Cruz (24-3) vs Marlon Vera (21-7-1)
The soapbox
Ali Abdelaziz says Luque will be back:
OSP congratulates Cory McKenna on her submission win:
Zac Pauga owns his loss:
Terrance McKinney after another job well done:
Gilbert Burns stoked on the callout from Geoff Neal:
Chito Vera ready and rearing ahead of his main event this weekend:
The morning view
Dan Hooker reacts to Jamal Hill vs Thiago Santos:
JHK chops it up with Charlie Ontiveros ahead of UFC San Diego:
Relive the rise of Paddy the Baddy:
Done deals
This week
- Cody Garbrandt to fight Rani Yahya at UFC event on October 1st (per Alex Behunin)
On this day in MMA…
On the 8th of August, 2009, Anderson Silva defeated Forrest Griffin at UFC 101: Declaration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Silva, the UFC middleweight champion. moved up a weigh class to take on Griffin at light-heavyweight at the behest of the UFC. He disposed of his opponent, a former title holder himself, in the first round of what was a masterclass performance.
Griffin, looking back on the fight in a radio interview a year later, noted:
“I tried to punch him, and he literally moved his head out of the way and looked at me like I was stupid for doing it… He looked at me like, ‘Why would you do such a stupid thing?’ … And then he punched me. … I felt like a kid trying to wrestle his dad.”
