Last night the controversial and currently suspended UFC fighter Nick Diaz was due to compete in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu superfight with Braulio Estima at the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo in California, but the fighter simply didn’t turn up.
His opponent, Estima was angry after learning of Diaz’s failure to appear, telling him via reporters that, “you’ve let everyone down, you’ve let me down, you know what I mean? I think it’s very disrespectful – I didn’t expect that from him.”
Estima, one of the world’s leading BJJ practitioners was also stunned that Diaz would do such a thing despite the fact that he had spoken about donating his $100,000 purse to a children’s charity.
“When you make an announcement that you’re going to fight for charity and you don’t show up, what the hell is going on? It’s not about showbiz. It’s about being a good person. I don’t know what is going on,” a bemused Estima said.
Rumors that the contest might be in jeopardy first began on Friday when it emerged that Estima was struggling to make the 180lb weight limit and was instead asking for it to be held at 185lbs instead.
Apparently Diaz’s camp requested that he still make the 180lb limit as agreed, and according to Estima that’s what he did early on Saturday morning. Diaz had already weighed in successfully the night before so it appeared that the contest would go ahead until the event got underway and the former Strikeforce welterweight champion didn’t show up.
For Diaz this is just the latest in a string of no-shows for important engagements, with his most infamous instance occuring last year when he failed to attend a number of media appearances including a press conference for his fight with UFC welterweight champion Georges St.Pierre which led to UFC president Dana White announcing that he had been pulled off the card.
Responding to the news via his Twitter account White appeared to be keen to keep his distance, saying, “Not my problem. The promoter of that shows problem. I have enough of my own.”
Diaz, who is currently suspended from competing in MMA after testing positive for marijuana following his last fight in the UFC, has yet to comment on the matter, while his manager Cesar Gracie said he hadn’t seen him and could only guess that he was annoyed with Estima’s failure to make weight on time as agreed.
Watch Estima’s reaction to last night’s news at a media scrum at the event below.
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