"The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never excuses himself."

- Henry Ward Beecher

Well, in that case, Cesar Gracie is as real as they come.

Monday, hours after UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre defeated Nick Diaz by unanimous decision at UFC 158, Gracie gave an excuse so ripe Tito Ortiz even blushed.

"...it's almost like 'GSP' really knew the moves that Nick was going to do from bottom. It's interesting, you know? That's my ideas watching the fight. It was really weird. Because Nick does stuff that's very unique and he hasn't even, he does it in grappling but he doesn't necessarily do it in fighting. And he was doing it more in fighting and it was kind of like, wait a minute, this guy is like one step ahead, he knows exactly...it was kind of odd. Almost like someone from out team, or something, not a current member, you know? I don't know, it was one of those things, but, that's whatever. I don't want to make out an issue at all. I don't know without all of the facts," said Grace, on the MMA Hour.

Gracie, despite having the vernacular of a drunken sorority girl, truly seems to believe this idea. But then he doesn't. But then he does. But, then he doesn't have "all the facts".

Gracie, apart from painting a picture that will inevitably lead a journalist to strap "gate" onto the end any word having to do with UFC 158, illuminated in just a few sentences the very problem with his camp. Consistency.

Although Gracie holds a wealth of mixed martial arts knowledge, he seems to lack the ability to separate "reality" from reality. He scoffs at the idea of UFC Countdown shows, yet demands UFC give Diaz more limelight. He publicly requested a plane ticket upgrade for Diaz, then later admitted it was not a big deal. This week, Gracie believed he had uncovered a covert operation to keep Diaz from becoming the champion, only to accept a few sentences later that he may not have all of the facts.

However, chances are, Gracie has all of the facts. He knows GSP won. He knows Diaz lost.

Now, if only Gracie could see through the polluted smog of the "209" and into a mirror, maybe he could stop being so real.