Neiman Gracie is just honing his name in the mma community in spite of being a member of the Gracie family. A little while back Gracie confirmed Bellator had offered him the fight with jiu-jitsu champ Dillon Danis and while Gracie agred Danis ended up turning it down.
Danis much prefered going out to IBJJF Worlds – where he didn’t have the best of times being eliminated in the first rounds of both division and absolute by Lucas Hulk Barbosa and Luiz Panza yet he still considers himself “the face of jiu-jitsu”.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t care about him,” Gracie told MMA Fighting. “I accepted the fight and he didn’t. I think he has to fight first because we’re here talking about an amateur. He didn’t fight anyone and is talking a lot.
“He’s 0-0, he never fought anyone, so he has to fight before he talks about anyone. He needs to work, and then I’ll get this fight at any time. First, he has to stop talking and actually fight. He’s an amateur, I’m a professional.”
Still Gracie would accept the bout again in a heart beat
“I’ll accept it, I’ll accept it, but… Ah, whatever, I don’t like to talk about it,” he said. “But I’d take it, yes.”
Gracie also often trains alongside Jake Shields at Renzo’s NY academy – Shields who won at SUG against Danis:
“I train with him every day and I know how tough he is,” Gracie said of Shields. “To face a guy like Jake Shields and don’t take him seriously, I think you should stop with the talking and do more.”
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