Cesar Gracie: Anderson Silva’s Chin Can No Longer Hold Up

The trash talking between the camps of Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz have already commenced this early.

Diaz's coach Cesar Gracie is confident in his proclamation that his ward will dominate in the upcoming January 2015 bout with the Spider. While he has a lot of trust in the ground game of his ward, Gracie predicts that the battle will happen on both feet. He places his confidence on the belief that Silva's chin is not what it used to be and will be his Achilles heel.

"I believe it's going to be a standup fight the entire time," Gracie said per Yahoo! Sports. "Nick is better on the ground, his jiu-jitsu is better, but I believe it's going to be a standup fight and it won't last five rounds. I think it will be over before five rounds, someone will get knocked out."

Gracie points out to history of Diaz who has only knocked out once in his storied accomplishments and that putdown happened during the beginning of Diaz's career. He also put weight on the age of Silva who is turning 40 and suffered back to back losses to Chris Weidman, the last one so devastating that the sporting world was abuzz that the legendary grappler is set to retire after suffering a broken leg.

The only thing that is concerning the coach is the moving up in weight of Diaz to 185 pounds. The last time he fought at that weight was in 2009 when he prevailed over Frank Shamrock at Strikeforce. The former Strikeforce welterweight championed inked a three fight deal with UFC President Dana White just a few weeks ago. It will be almost two years since the 31-year old fighter last sniffed the Octagon. Diaz briefly retired from MMA after suffering a beating from Georges St. Pierre and is raring to go back atop the UFC rankings.