Cesar Gracie was recently a guest on the popular radio show Sherdog Radio where he spoke on his student Nick Diaz who took on BJ Penn at UFC 137 as the main event bout of the pay-per-view.
Gracie explained his reasoning for wanting the fight after taking heat from the Penn camp prior to the contest, and also invited Penn back to his camp if he does decide to fight again:
“I think this fight had to happen. In a way, everything that happened was fate. These two had to fight each other. People needed to see this fight, and I think it kind of cements Nick’s legacy. I’m personally glad this fight happened for that reason. In the history of fighting, I think that was an important fight to have.”
“I’ve been cool with B.J. I’ve never had a problem with the guy. Coming up, he was actually on our team when he first started. … The animosity — I mean, there’s not animosity. These guys can be cool again. I talked to B.J. afterwards. He was talking about being too old for this stuff, the whole thing. He’s only 32 years old. Really, I think, he’s in his prime. I would love to see him fight again. I would love to have him come to our school. If he does decide to come back and fight, I would definitely be giving him the invitation to come train with us. The only thing I would ask is probably that he leaves Matt Hughes at the door, and that’s about it.”
