Yesterday BJ Penn labeled Nick Diaz “a poser” and questioned why he used stalling tactics in the first round of their fight last year, and unsurprisingly Diaz’ camp have been quick to retaliate.
“BJ Penn has apparently not come to terms with the beating he received at the hands of Nick Diaz,” Diaz coach Cesar Gracie stated on the Graciefighter.com website today.
“At some point it is up to those around you to protect you from yourself. To take you aside and let you know you are wrong and help save you from your folly. Unfortunately for Penn he is surrounded by “Yes Men” that are unwilling to do that. The outcome will be predictable, resulting in a fighter that will never push himself to the fullest and will always have excuses for his losses.”
This is not the first time Penn and Gracie have become embroiled in a war of words. Prior to the Penn Vs Diaz fight in October ‘The Prodigy’ labeled him as a “strange guy”, claimng that Gracie was actively pushing for the fight despite the fact he used to train with him, and then called for the fight to be changed to a five-rounder at short notice.
In retaliation and annoyed Penn offered to fight Gracie for 25 minutes. Needless to say Gracie, who’s in his forties and has an 0-1 MMA record, declined.
Gracie appeared to brush off the hostilities between them after Diaz beat Penn and even offered to merge his camp with Penn’s going forward, but the Hawaiian refused.
Truth be told this new outbreak of bad blood between the two seems somewhat pointless as it’s highly unlikely that there’s going to be a rematch between Penn and Diaz anytime soon with the Gracie fighter set to take on Carlos Condit for the interim title in February with the hopes of finally getting to face current champion GSP later in the year.
