Cesar Gracie: “A blind monkey could do a judges job right now”

As the trainer, manager, and godfather of the “Scrap Pack”, Cesar Gracie is never one to hold back his opinion.  In this interview, Cesar delves deeper into the controversial decision Nick Diaz suffered against Carlos Condit.  Gracie also gives his thoughts on how judging can destroy the sport of MMA, as well as, offering his opinion on how it can be fixed and whether or not we will ever see Nick Diaz on reality TV.

MMA Uncensored premiered last Thursday on Spike TV and it was announced just before the start of the show that Nick Diaz was going to be their first guest.  Was it a last-minute thing or was it planned ahead of time?

Yea it was pretty last-minute.  I don’t think the UFC wanted Nick on there.  I don’t know if I should talk about it that much.  There’s a conflict there (with Spike TV) and the UFC does not want their fighters on that show.  Bottom line, he wasn’t going to do it but it kind of went from there and he did it.

How do you think the interview went?  Their first question about the drug test seemed to put him off a bit.

They literally pulled him off the mat, I was there that night.  Nick was training with the GI on and then all of a sudden it was, “hey man it’s time to do this now.”  I couldn’t hear the questions because it was on feed, there was no interviewer in front of him there asking him questionings and it’s kind of hard to do an interview with its just a voice speaking.  Also there was a satellite delay.

The welterweight division is sort of at a standstill because the speculation that Condit is going to wait for GSP to get healthy.  Had Nick won that decision would he have waited for GSP or would he have fought the next guy in line?

Here’s the thing. There’s a lot of confusion about that.  He would have fought the next guy in line depending on how long it took GSP to get healthy.  The word we were getting from Dana was that GSP would be ready by July or August.  That’s not waiting that long.  If you look at GSP he only fights twice a year.  If GSP isn’t going to be ready by November than yea Nick would have had to take another fight.

Because of the judge’s decision in his last fight is it safe to say we can expect Nick to be a different fighter when he comes back?

No!  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  He can work on different things like cutting the cage off a little better or something else like that.  As far as fighting to not win a fight?  You shouldn’t expect that from anybody on our team.  If you watch that fight again, tell me Nick didn’t win that 1^st round, for example.  As a group every single round (1^st) was collectively scored against Nick Diaz. Look at the absurdity of it whether you think he won the fight or not.  It’s ridiculous!  I’ve said this and I don’t think I’ve said it in an interview but it’s like a blind monkey could do a judge’s job right now.

So you think it’s questionable that neither of the judges gave the 1^st to Nick?  How would you fix the problem as it relates to judging in MMA?

I think it’s more than questionable.  I think there’s biased in judging, if they don’t like you, they’ll judge against you.  There’s no panel.  I think judges should go before a panel once a year.  That panel will look at how they judged fights throughout the year and decide if you’re a good judge or you have to go.  That panel should be led by ex fighters.  Right now there’s no accountability for the judges.  They might as well be in communist China. They have the power to literally tell people who won and who lost and they have accountability to no one.  It’s unprofessional.  If you have a ref in the NFL constantly blowing calls he will be fired.  With Judges they won’t be fired.  The sport is only as good and legit as the judges.  A judge can do anything.  He can go tell his buddy go bet on this guy, “I’m judging against him.”  If a judge is biased against you he’s always going to judge against that fighter.  In the case of Nick Diaz, he comes out and slaps guys in the face and mocks them, and if a judge doesn’t like that then he’s going to judge against him.  There are judges in the state of Nevada, California and other states that have no notion of MMA. They’re going to judge who won or who lost?  In any job in America you’re going to get fired if you’re not doing your job.  That doesn’t happen with judges.  This goes beyond the Diaz and Condit fight.  It’s been a problem for a long time.

You mention that you feel judges have a bias against Nick.  Are there any plans on changing Nick’s image either through reality TV or a book?

Not really.  As for writing a book I’m not interested.  If there was someone who I thought was great at it then it’s a possibility.  The reality TV show has been approached to us but I don’t know how Nick would like a camera in his face 24/7.  It might work for the Kardashian’s but the camera man might get socked in the face.  I don’t think it’d work for Nick.  As far as perception goes, I think people are starting to get that Nick is a loyal guy.  He’s a really good person.  It’s just when it’s time to fight, it’s time to fight, this isn’t tennis.  People don’t want to see guys hugging in the cage.  Some of these guys are just being goofy and he doesn’t want to be a part of that.

Last question before I let you go.  Who would you like to see Nick fight when he gets back inside the Octagon?

Carlos Condit to be honest with you.  It’s all hypothetical.  What if the commission says, “Nick there’s no suspension, you have a legal thing here for Marijuana and we tested you and you tested positive for something you might have done weeks before the fight.”  Nick did not take anything the day he fought.  If the commission comes to that realization and embraces the reality of it and says this guy has a medical marijuana card and the only thing the test proved is that he was under this medicine and it’s not a PED and says he’s not suspended.  Then guess what?  They’re fighting.  I think there’s a lot of good fights there (at welterweight).  Personally I would like to see him fight Jake Ellenberger.  He has some steam going and I think it would be a good fight.

Thanks for taking the time, Cesar.

Thank you and goodbye.

For the latest Cesar Gracie news check out Graciefighter.com

Interview conducted by Gerry Rodriguez

Tags: BJJ, Carlos Condit, Cesar Gracie, decision, Interview, Judges, Marijuana, Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, Nick Diaz, UFC, UFC 143, Welterweight

Category: Exclusive, Featured, Interview, MMA, Strikeforce, UFC