Nate had his eye punched blind, bad weightcut, didn't get good sparring partners, smoked too much weed. Bendo didn't win because of his skills, God just didn't want Nate to win.
If Nate earns another title shot i would like to see it. As for gil, i think he will be finished in that fight. 
LayzieTheSavage -
It's no secret that Gilbert Melendez has been on the shelf with an injury, but how bad do you think it affected Nate Diaz not having Melendez to train with for a guy like Benson Henderson?
If they came to fight again down the road, is that a fight you'd be interested in seeing again?
And how do you guys think Gilbert is going to do?
i wouldn't be interested in that same fight ever again. i'd rather see nate fight others. i'm a diaz fan, but benson has his number...
gilbert's a beast. i'd like to see him mix it up w/ the ufc elite.
Nah, Ben's a terrible matchup for Nate regardless. Too much strength, speed, cardio, and sub defense for Nate.
32Hunter -caseharts -yellow wrkahlc -I wouldn't be interested. I saw Ben outclassing Diaz on the feet and on the ground before the fight occured, and that's exactly what transpired. Nate is gifted, but Ben is the more well put-together fighter and it showed in their fight.
As for Gil, I see him getting taken down throughout the fight, nonstop scrambles with Ben always coming out on top. I don't see him winning, either.
This except I think Ben can finish Gil.
you seem like a good guy, but what makes you think Gil would get finished has he even been in danger of being finished in his career?(if so it must have been over 5 years ago) plus Bendo hasn't shown a great ability to end fights recently either.
at least so far in this thread there' been civil discussion, but my god the Cesar Gracie fight team has to be the least appreciated team in the sport. if it's not bad enough that they're counted out in almost every fight then we have people saying they're gonna get finished all the time. over all the Diaz's, Gil and Jake have a total of 5 losses by stoppage.
I've never even seen Gil in trouble, let alone dominated, let alone on the verge of being stopped.
His competition. Mixed with the fact that I thought he lost his last fight aren't helping. I think he's cool but I think bendos better everywhere. Just my opinion 
"you seem like a good guy, but what makes you think Gil would get finished has he even been in danger of being finished in his career?"
Benson guillotined Gil in a grappling comp a couple years ago, supposedly :P
I think Gil has less of a chance than Nate did. Benson is better everywhere. Nate was at least equal (if not slightly better) in the BJJ department.
sillyscreenname - I don't know how much that specifically affected him but I think there were a lot of factors that played together in negatively affecting Nate's performance that night. I wanted to make a thread for this but this is a good place to post and ask you about your opinion too. I'd really like your take on this. Because I think something else might've played much more of a role here but I'm totally just speculating.
The various things that happened are:
1. As you mentioned he didn't have his usual training partner available. Definitely not a good thing.
2. He missed weight and seemed visibly upset when told about it by Dana on the stage. Now I don't know if he was upset because he had to cut more weight and already had a tough cut or because it was imply embarrassing to him to not have known about the no allowance thing for title fights. Either way this can certainly affect a fighters confidence going into the fight and just fuck with your head on top of potentially having affected his energy levels.
3. Getting punched in the eye and having a blurred vision for the rest of the fight will certainly diminish most of your standup prowess. Just look at how badly GSP did against Shields because of his impaired vision in that fight.
4. This has been overlooked by everyone as far as I know but I think it might've been the most important reason Nate didn't bring his A game even before the eye punch. It's no secret that Nate idolizes his brother a bit for getting him into MMA but considering what he said about Gilbert Melendez in his post fight interview after beating Jim Miller, the same probably holds true for Gil, I would think. If that's the case, it's possible that in the back of his head he didn't want to take Gil's opportunity to win the 155er belt.
I know the plan was for Gil to go down to 145 to fight for a title there if Nate would've won but when asked about that in an interview Gil seemed less than enthusiastic about it and said that it would be a rough cut for him to go down that far. So considering how inconvenient it would be for Gil and how much Nate respects him, do you think that could've been a factor also? I think overall just everything I listed kind of played together on top of Benson being a really strong fighter and a bad match up for Nate on any day. I would like to see a rematch some time down the line though, I really want to see a Diaz/Condit 2 some day as well.
THIS...definitely would like to see a rematch for Diaz after 2-3 wins.
Well, I think Bensons main sparring partner is Escudero, so...
Gimme a break.
caseharts - Guys. You can't put that whole fight on simply an eye. It's a legal strike. He didn't thumb Nate. Just like a brutal leg kick making someone limp isn't illegal. It sucks that Nate took one but fuck I have gifs with his hands down taunting bendo and getting dropped a good amount of times
Nate is an awesome fighter but Bendo is bendo and he's the champ for a reason.
He is the champ because he was gifted a decision over Frankie Edgar.
Nate seemed off from the very beginning of that fight to me.
LayzieTheSavage -
It's no secret that Gilbert Melendez has been on the shelf with an injury, but how bad do you think it affected Nate Diaz not having Melendez to train with for a guy like Benson Henderson?
If they came to fight again down the road, is that a fight you'd be interested in seeing again?
And how do you guys think Gilbert is going to do?
Nate really had nothing for Ben and I don't think a rematch would change anything no matter who Nate trained with. And I'm a big Diaz Bros. fan...............
Nate just looked off the entire time from the weigh ins, to the fight itself. Something wasn't right. That shot to the eye early didn't help matters either. If it was because of the lack of his regular training partner then so be it. I'm sure he will be back though.
Bendo being the better fighter that night had more to do with it than anything else. The fight wasn't competitive so a rematch near term makes no sense. Too much good comp at 155 to be doing rematches right away.
I was baffled why Nate didnt do more with the leg reap positon, he hit loads of sick entries to it, but didnt seem to hunt the sub for too long.
Im not sure if the absence of of Melendez can be attributed to that but id like to see Nate chain 4 or 5 wins together by the end of 2014, so he can have another pop at Benson and/or the title.
I do think Benson is a vastly.formidable champion, would be good to see him fight Aldo if Benson cant.be shifted for a year.or two.
PrettyBoy -caseharts - Guys. You can't put that whole fight on simply an eye. It's a legal strike. He didn't thumb Nate. Just like a brutal leg kick making someone limp isn't illegal. It sucks that Nate took one but fuck I have gifs with his hands down taunting bendo and getting dropped a good amount of times
Nate is an awesome fighter but Bendo is bendo and he's the champ for a reason.He is the champ because he was gifted a decision over Frankie Edgar.
Close fights aren't gifted decisions. The first fight was clearly bendo the 2nd was really close but bendo did say more damage. Go look at then both post fight.
What I think affected Nate the most was unwarrented guilt over getting a title shot before his best friend whom he always felt deserved one.
I think he was mentally broke going in the fight. If he wins, then what? Has all the drama of explaining why he would never fight a friend? Meanwhile Gil has to wait even longer to get the shot that Nate thinks Gil should have gotten a long time ago.
PrettyBoy -caseharts - Guys. You can't put that whole fight on simply an eye. It's a legal strike. He didn't thumb Nate. Just like a brutal leg kick making someone limp isn't illegal. It sucks that Nate took one but fuck I have gifs with his hands down taunting bendo and getting dropped a good amount of times
Nate is an awesome fighter but Bendo is bendo and he's the champ for a reason.He is the champ because he was gifted a decision over Frankie Edgar.
The first fight he was not. He won clearly. The rematch occurred due to BS controversy from fans who can't judge fights correctly.
But yes, the 2nd fight was very close. I scored it a draw
I have no interest in a rematch. Benson is a stylistic nightmare for Nate and always will be. A three month camp with Gil wouldn't change a thing -- he still has to get in the cage with a bigger, stronger, faster, smarter and more well-rounded fighter.
Nate is always going to be a top echelon LW and he may even earn himself another title shot down the road but he'll never be champ while Benson holds the belt.