One of the most underrated observations about Nate Diaz’s career is that while he is usually a top WW, he has never had success at WW. Stun Gun and Rory both dominated him.
I know he lost to Leon, but I think that was the best he has ever looked at WW. Leon won, but Nate wasn’t any more overmatched than Muhammand or RDA were against him – in fact, he looked better than RDA, IMO. And then he came pretty damn close to a finish at the end. That was a far better WW than the guy who Rory ragdolled, IMO.
All that said, I’d like to see the following:
Nick Diaz v. Masvidal at WW.
Nate goes down for big fights at LW. (Including the Conor trilogy is Dustin beats Conor)
If he doesn’t land that big punch in the last minute of the fight, it’s a relatively easy fight to score 50-45, with Leon clearly winning the striking and the grappling, with Nate looking like a fucking horror movie, bleeding from multiple cuts, leg all fucked up, and Leon without taking any real damage to speak of.
I didn’t think Diaz looked good at all. He didn’t look bad or anything, but he didn’t look any better here than he did in the other 170 pound fights he lost…until the last 60 seconds, that is.
It completely changed everyone’s perception of the fight, and most definitely earned him another big payday. I’m happy for the guy, but I saw nothing in that fight that makes me think “I’d love to see him vs wonder boy or Colby.” Those last 60 seconds remind everyone why we like watching the guy fight. He’s unpredictable and never out of any fight. Dude can lose 24 minutes of a fight, land one clean shot, show up to the press conference talking about how “I won that fight if we were on the street” and everyone goes crazy, with every headline being about Diaz. Absolutely perfect outcome for the UFC. The “real” contender won and can take a fight with Usman or another top guy, and Nate’s stock likely went up, even though he lost 24 minutes of that fight.
I’ve been saying it for a little while now, I think he fights the loser of Conor and Poirier…and from there possibly Masvidal again…and depending on how things shake out, if the winner of Conor vs Poirier loses a title fight (or some other fight) then Nate fights the other one eventually. It wouldn’t shock me if we see Nate fight 3 more times in his career and never won a fight again. It also wouldn’t shock me if he finds a way to win one.
The best case scenario for the UFC is that he finds a way to beat Masvidal so they can trilogy the fucking thing.
I don’t disagree that it was an easy 50-45 before the punch. But, 1) the punch happened and 2) to me, it was still much closer than the Rory fight and even closer than Nate’s fights with Benson and RDA at LW.
Agreed.
Nate should definitely fight the DP v. CM loser. If he wins and looks good, the UFC should carve a path to the title for him at LW, IMO.
Nick v. Masvidal is, I think, the fight to make at WW.
I agree 100%. If you’re the UFC and the goal is to sell PPVs, the fights to make are 100% nick vs masvidal and Nate vs the loser of Conor/Poirier. No doubt. Regardless of the outcome of nick vs masvidal, you can always sell masvidal vs Nate again, no matter the outcome of their other fights…and no matter how you slice it, you’ll have 4 guys coming off at least one loss (multiple losses for Nate, nick and masvidal currently) and get 2 of those guys a win.
So let’s say poirier beats Conor and you book Diaz vs Conor…one of those dudes has to win, and will have “a huge win over Conor/Nate” to set up whatever is next for them. Same with nick/masvidal. One of those two will go from being a fun fighter who hasn’t won in a while to a guy coming off a big win.
It doesn’t just get the UFC 2 big fights if they book nick/jorge and Nate vs loser Conor/poirier, it gets you 4 big fights because 2 guys come away with a big win.
If you book Colby vs masvidal now and Colby beats the fuck out of him, what do you do with masvidal if he’s coming off 3 straight losses? If Conor loses to poirier, you can’t really book him with Chandler or something. I mean, you could but wtf do you do if he loses 3 in a row?
And yes, on Nate…you’re correct, the punch landed thus making it better than his other performances…but we’re setting the bar pretty low here. We’ve seen guys like Lando Vannata land a big shot against Tony Ferguson, then lose to multiple guys outside the top 15. So yeah, Diaz looked better here than he did against Rory…but that doesn’t mean I’d give him much of a chance against the bigger 170 pounders. There are guys like Burns he might be able to beat though. It’s a weird time at welterweight currently. Guys like burns and Chiesa who aren’t huge for 170 and lost to some guys I’d pick Nate to beat at 155, and they happen to be near the top of the rankings at 170. There’s definitely fun fights for Nate, and I think he’ll make it interesting with anyone he fights, but that’s kinda the reputation of nick and Nate. They’re fun to watch, aren’t an easy out for anyone, but rarely beat the top contenders. They’ll make top contenders work, making everyone think they’re also top contenders, but if they never beat any of those guys…are they top contenders?
Nate would be a GOAT if this was 1995 and there were no rounds or time limits (His cardio+durability+ju jitsu == almost unbeatable) but he simply doesn’t have the will or ability to adapt to the way things are now …
Still, I fucking love watching the motherfucker fight and always will … I look forward to the day his name is enshrined in the HOF …
Nate appeals to a certain group of people, especially those with a middle school mentality who think giving someone the finger is a devastating tough guy move. He’s a journeyman, not a HOF’er.
I think he looked like shit to be honest Wiggs. Had nothing over 24.5 minutes or so just his usual toughness and cardio. Could not get anything going. The bright side is that he may have landed one of the hardest single shots he ever has but ….
He also got out grappled on the ground for the brief spots it hit the mat. Yes I know Nate and Nick are both not explosive grapplers and need time to cook shit up but still Leon was supposed to be a straight striker too.
Also, not sure what weight the Pettis fight was at but are his 4 legit WW fights Kim, Rory, Mas and Leon? If they are, I believe with the exception of that one punch back Leon at the 11th hour, he’s been dominated for all 4 fights save that one punch, no?
Also Wiggs, isn’t it fair to expect that 6 foot Nate do better against 6’1” Leon than 5’8” RDA?
