Cesar Gracie: Diaz should be 'respected' as a martial artist

"I know these guys are great mixed martial artists, and I think that's the point Nick was trying to make,"

Gracie said.

"He deserves this fight as a martial artist and that's very important to him. And, a lot of people, Nick expresses himself a little bit differently than some, so, it's kind of hard to follow if you're not used to that. But I think what he's trying to say is that he should be respected as a martial artist and so forth and that's why he's actually going to be in this fight. "It's not because of way he portrayed him as a bad guy in these videos as he was portrayed to hype the fight up,"

Gracie continued.

"I think he wasn't too pleased with that. So I really don't think he was trying to put GSP down. He was trying to clarify himself. But, you know, like I said, Nick expresses himself a little bit differently, and then you've got GSP whose English is not a first language, so it became kind of funny as it spiraled out of control a little bit, and these guys started to get angry a little bit."