Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu has never been a gym lacking in talent. That fact allowed Nate Diaz (Pictured) the luxury of being able to focus on perfecting his game, while not having to waste his time recruiting superstars to help him prepare for the most important fight of his career.
“I didn’t bring too many people in, but people just started showing up,” Diaz stated during Thursday’s conference call. “Josh Neer came by, he’s really good at training. He’s helped me for a couple of fights. Cody McKenzie’s out here, Ronda Rousey came out. At our academy, there’s a lot of big names. So it’s good that people come here to train.
“A little help everywhere from a lot of people, from my original [partners] Jake [Shields] and Gil [Melendez], and everybody down here helping out.”
Most of the athletes Diaz rattled off have been staples at the famed facility for quite some time. However, Strikeforce’s reigning women’s bantamweight champ has recently been assisting the Bay Area-based team on a more consistent basis. According to Diaz, it didn’t take Rousey long to earn her stripes.
“She’s great. She came out and she had a lot of cool tricks,” Diaz said of the ‘Rowdy’ one. “She’s really tough for a girl, so I learned a lot from her. She was down here for two weeks and she’s a cool girl to hang out with. It was good work.”
Diaz headlines “UFC on FOX 3” opposite Jim Miller next Saturday. IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey hosts the freebie fight card.
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April 27, 2012
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