Cesar Gracie reveals Jake Shields and Nate Diaz were major factors in Nick Diaz’s signing of new Strikeforce contract

Strikeforce welterweight champion, Nick Diaz recently made the decision to sign a new contract with the California based promotion despite competition for his title seemingly lacking outside of one or two true contenders. Many wondered why the brash Stockton native chose against the opportunity to fight in a much deeper and more competitive welterweight division in the UFC but Diaz’s manager and mentor Cesar Gracie has revealed the reasons behind Nick’s decision.
ProMMANow.com report that Gracie spoke about the matter during an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and the BJJ maestro said that there were two main reasons why Diaz chose not to negotiate with the UFC – his brother Nate, and long-time training partner Jake Shields. Shields is of course next in line to face GSP for the UFC welterweight title and Nate Diaz is making some waves of his own since moving up to 170lbs, which could make for a tricky situation.

“The biggest thing is that Jake Shields, that would be so disrespectful. If you look at the career of these guys, they’re teammates, Jake Shields, Nathan Diaz and Nick Diaz. Nick moved down to 160 in Elite XC because Jake Shields wanted 170. So you had Nick running around like starving guy at 160, and if he moves over to the UFC, well Jake just signed with the UFC and he’s fighting for the title. Who’s he going to fight, Jake? Ok, who’s next, Nathan? He’s going to fight his brother?”

Cesar Gracie also revealed that there are other pupils of his, and training partners of Nick Diaz, currently plying their trade in the UFC 170 pound bracket as well as numerous other Gracie-trained fighters, saying:

“Then after that we’ve got David Mitchell, Daniel Roberts is in the UFC winning now. And then we’ve got Almeida and Matt Serra. It’s kind of like we’re pretty deep in that division with the Gracie guys. As much as he wants to fight Georges St-Pierre and whomever. I don’t think anybody else is even in his class. … So it’s kind of a problem, it’s like his brother and main training partner are at 170 in the UFC. It would cause a situation for sure.”

Gracie went on to discuss the Strikeforce contract and despite admitting that the contract is not long-term – and approximately half the length of the three-year contract reported – but did say that both he and his fighter are more than happy with the situation. We shouldn’t rule out a return to the Octagon for Nick Diaz though in the future as the Californian banger will surely feel the urge to test himself against the likes of Georges St. Pierre, Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn one day.