[DanDavis]

From MMAWeekly.com....

Cesar Gracie appeared on Monday's MMAWeekly Radio Show and voiced his frustration over the fact that it doesn't look like he will be fighting Frank Shamrock anytime soon. Cesar said that everything was set for him to fight Frank on the WEC's August show and both sides verbally agreed to the deal, but then Shamrock never showed up on the day of the contract signing and that was the end of any potential fight in the WEC. Cesar said that it wasn't a particularly classy move on Frank's part, but he still wanted to fight Frank very much and agreed to fight him on the November ShootBox show even though it's Shamrock's show with his referees, his judges, and his company.
After both sides verbally agreed to a deal once again, the November ShootBox show was delayed/cancelled and the Cesar-Frank fight was delayed indefinitely. Gracie said that Frank didn't even have the decency to notify him of the delay/cancellation, so Cesar was training hard for a fight that had already been delayed before he finally found out about the delay from someone else. Cesar said that Frank went around telling people during interviews and seminars that he was going to be fighting Cesar in November (which Shamrock undeniably did claim), and Frank allegedly continued to make these claims long after he knew that it wasn't going to happen.

Frank Shamrock went around saying that he and Cesar Gracie had both signed the contract to fight and had also signed a contract with the arena in Las Vegas, when in fact Frank never signed anything and the arena had never even been booked, according to Gracie. Cesar said that he verified that claim with the arena, and he was disappointed that Shamrock would blatantly lie to people like that.

At some point, Frank Shamrock and his representatives started putting out the word that Frank wanted to fight Cesar, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission wouldn't sanction the fight because they were afraid it would be a huge mismatch in Shamrock's favor. (Gracie is 0-0 in full-contact MMA fights but has done very bell in Jiu-Jitsu and has tapped out numerous MMA fighters at his gym.) After Shamrock and his people started putting out the story about the athletic commission, Gracie said that he got in touch with the Nevada State Athletic Commission and verified that Shamrock's story turned out to be a complete lie. They had no problem sanctioning the bout if Shamrock would sign a contract and book an arena for the event. A dejected and discouraged Cesar Gracie said that he would still love for the fight to happen, but he doesn't think it ever will happen because this is twice now that Frank has backed out of the fight with a lot of lies and not a lot of honor.

Cesar Gracie was also asked for a status update on one of his many promising young students, Nick Diaz. Cesar said that he was very proud of Nick for his victory over Jeremy Jackson at UFC 44, and he also credited Jackson for being a good fighter as well. Cesar said that he would like to see Diaz back in the Octagon against Karo Parisyan at UFC 45 or UFC 46 given the fact that they're both welterweight fighters and they both looked impressive at UFC 44. Gracie also said that he'd love to see the UFC match Diaz up with Pete Spratt at UFC 46 in early 2004, but he added that it's all up in the air right now and the UFC might also decide to match Spratt up with Jeremy Jackson or any number of other fighters at UFC 46.

Regarding the injured orbital bone that MMAWeekly reported yesterday, Cesar Gracie confirmed that Nick Diaz does indeed have an injured orbital bone and added that it's more in the cheek-bone area than the eye socket. The athletic commission doctors listed Diaz as having a "possibly broken left orbital bone," but Gracie said that it has started to feel a lot better since UFC 44 took place and they're pretty sure that it's not broken. Just to make sure that it's a nasty bruise and not a broken bone of any kind, they are planning on having an X-ray for Diaz at some point, probably later this week. If the X-ray does end up showing a broken orbital bone, Diaz will not be cleared to fight in the state of Nevada again until March 26, 2004 (six months after UFC 44).

[The Wastrel]

I'll ask him about the orbital bone injury. If you guys have any questions about the Cesar Gracie/Frank Shamrock thing, I can ask and find out...Keep in mind, I will only pass along what I think is verifiable and true, and will also skip any shit-talking.

Although, regarding Frank and Cesar, I tell you there has been NONE. Cesar even said early on that he thought Frank would beat him.

[Blad3]

Well if it ever does happen Shamrock will beat him no problem. Cesar is a good man for admitting F.Shamrock would beat him.

[FingerorMoon?]

Things are getting weird with Frank Shamrock.
He has suddenly gone very quiet.

I hope Shootbox doesn't die as signs seem to point to it being in financial trouble.