Coach Jose Garcia says Cesar Gracie is once again trying to obstruct Nick Diaz’s return at UFC 310

By Chris Taylor - October 10, 2024

With recent rumor of Nick Diaz returning at UFC 310, BJPENN.com caught up with Nick’s Academy Recovery Coach and Team cut man Jose Garcia (BBJ) for an update on The General!

Jose Garcia, Nick Diaz, UFC 310, UFC

We must say, after speaking with Jose, we were left quite concerned. According to Garcia, Cesar Gracie continues to be the antagonist in this update as we previously reported in our last article (see that here). Nick Diaz’s removal from August’s UFC Abu Dhabi event was apparently due in major part to Gracie attempting to get the Stockton General back under contract so that he can financially benefit from Nick returning to the Octagon.

Nick had signed on to fight at Abu Dhabi independently, and he refused to sign the fight with Cesar’s offer. As the fight got closer (according to Garcia), Cesar Gracie did everything he could to sabotage Nick from going to Abu Dhabi, which as we all know, was eventually successful.

BBJ informed us that Nick Diaz is currently not signed to any manager and continues to get approached by leaches that want to profit off him, with Cesar Gracie allegedly leading the pack. According to Garcia, Cesar is desperate for a pay day, one that he would benefit from significantly, if Nick Diaz were to sign with him.

Nick Diaz is apparently not interested in working with Cesar Gracie in a management relationship as he has never benefited from him financially. Jose has notified us that Nick’s mental health is in a decline due to the pressure and stress that Gracie has applied to get Diaz to sign the contract that would allow him financial control over Nick’s fighting career.

Nick Diaz, Cesar Gracie, Jose Garcia, UFC, UFC Abu Dhabi

It came to our attention that Cesar Gracie sent one of his former students out to Houston last week to check in on Nick. This was Cesar’s second failed attempt to get Nick to NorCal where Cesar could have him sign a fight contract. Cesar informed his former student that he could start Nick’s training camp and Cesar would compensate him for it. Several other people in Nick Diaz’s close circle have confirmed to us that Cesar Garcia is not currently his manager. Additionally, Gracie has not been involved in a fight camp since 2016 according to those sources.

“It is important that the MMA world knows what type of person Cesar Gracie is”, said Garcia. “He’s a snake and an opportunist that only has his own best interest in mind. He does not care about Nick’s mental health, nor does he care if Nick has a full fight camp as we saw when he fought Robbie Lawler (Cesar was in charge of fight negotiations and fight camp prep for that fight). Nick is excited to return to the Octagon and we are all excited to see his return. However, we want to see him mentally healthy and with a full fight camp. Cesar has caused Nick a lot of stress this last week.”

BBJ concluded that time and training away from Cesar Gracie is what Nick Diaz needs most.