Neiman Gracie trains out of Renzo Gracie’s in New York. Now this is a gym Danis has had many beefs with over the years. Not that it’s stopped him to aim sight on the dominant fighter hoping for his next bout.
My team reached out to @ScottCoker @rich_chou they’re going to offer you a fight against me in New York. Last time we supposed to fight they couldn’t find you for 2 weeks. Let’s see who has better jiujitsu in a fist fight @arielhelwani https://t.co/bBaWkkoTdg
— Neiman Gracie (@NeimanGracie) May 4, 2018
don’t speak outta turn kiddo 👋🏻 https://t.co/mllFMzs8Pg
— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) May 4, 2018
As it turns out the two were set to duel at the Bellator NY card but Danis ended up turning it down in the end
“They offered me the fight,” Neiman told MMA Fighting. “I accepted the fight, he accepted the fight and now he said no. I never asked for the fight, but I say yes. But I understand. I know I’m a bad matchup for him. I know he’s just starting fighting and nobody wants to start their career 0-1. I wouldn’t take the fight neither.”
And when it comes to being a Gracie Neiman is used to carrying the heavy load of his last name:
“It doesn’t bother me,” Gracie told MMAjunkie. “For me, it’s an honor to represent my family. It’s normal. People want to know. But it’s like I said after the fight: I think everything my family had to prove, they already did way back then. We wanted to prove that jiu-jitsu was the best art for self-defense, and I think Royce, Renzo, Rickson – they proved it. So, for me, it’s easier.
“I don’t carry as much of the weight to prove jiu-jitsu is the best art. And it changed a little too. My last opponent, for instance, was a jiu-jitsu black belt. Everyone knows jiu-jitsu now. I think it changed, and I don’t feel the weight as much. I think, win or lose today, it’s more on me than it is on the entire family, because history has been written.”
Gracie doesn’t really have sights set on Danis – he just wants that belt:
“I’d like to have this belt around my waist in 2018,” Gracie said. “And I hope my plans work out.”
