Cesar Gracie Thinks Nate Diaz Likely Returning to 155

Following his lose to Rory MacDonald at UFC 129 on Saturday, Cesar Gracie fighter Nate Diaz will most likely move back down to lightweight. This according to Gracie himself, who spoke with MMAMania.com after Diaz suffered his second consecutive lose.

“Nate Diaz didn’t look too good. I’m gonna be the first one to say it. He looked lethargic out there and he’s been asking me to go back to 155 for some time now. Frankie Edgar is the champion over there and he’s the student of a good friend of mine. Nathan was one of the contenders at 155 so we brought him up to 170 but it looks like we’ll probably bring him back down to 155 where he belongs. “

After winning the Ultimate fighter season five and proceeding to win five in a row, Diaz ran into the wrestlers of the lightweight division. After losses to Clay Guida, Joe Stevenson and Gray Maynard at lightweight Diaz decided to move up to welterweight.

He made his UFC welterweight debut against Rory Markham at UFC 111 where he impressed everyone with a 1st round TKO. He would follow that up with a submission win over Marcus Davis at UFC 118 which won him fight of the night honors. He suffered his first loss at welterweight against the undefeated Dong Hyum Kim at UFC 125. The bigger Kim was just too strong for the lanky Diaz and Kim was able to grind out a unanimous decision win.

Similar to Kim, MacDonald was the stronger fighter and displayed that be picking up and slamming Diaz multiple times in the fight. Dropping down in weight will level things strength wise for Diaz but he’ll need to figure out away to not be controlled by the divisions wrestlers.