I’m just really hoping we can put this whole “Nick can still win the belt” shit to bed. Robbie came into the fight losing 5 of his last 6, with his most recent loss coming to Magny, who is currently ranked 8th. I love Robbie, one of my all time favorites…but his time as a top 5 guy was clearly behind him. Nick’s been talking about coming back for a while, and everyone says he’s been training…then he shows up chubby and gets beat and it’s all “he wasn’t in shape, the UFC bullied him into fighting sooner than he was ready” and I just can’t do it anymore with those guys. There’s always something.
Nick had a great career, is still fun to watch, but at this point he is what he is…and I don’t know what they do with him at this point. The Masvidal fight would have been fun, but after losing to Robbie, it’s tough to set up Masvidal vs Nick…unless Masvidal loses again and is outside the top 10 or something.
I mean, maybe Damien Maia? Even that, I’m not sure if enough people care.
Kamijo is a terrible judge.
I had it 20-18 Diaz but could make an argument 19-18. Nick was doing surprisingly well to be honest. The wiring is still intact.
what crack do they have in your parts? Diaz clearly lost both rds. octagon control was all Robbie. power/better shots all Robbie. Diaz landed a few good body shots and a few jabs. that’s it. Robbie landed that body kick to the liver and Diaz crumbled back to the cage. it was pure domination.
Y’all, I’m 50 years old and I’m talking to the younger members who might hear what I’m saying. There’s a lesson to be learned in this, Sat night was like watching Nick Diaz from 6 years ago… only in slow motion. The old ND ran triathlons, and ATE CLEAN and didn’t DRINK ALCOHOL. Alcohol is a toxin. No amount of it is ever good, you will always be one can/glass/shot less than you were before you ingested it. Six years isn’t a long time, and yes age is a factor but we’ve seen a lot of Nick’s peers age much better. Alcohol is the worst shit you can put in your body.
Nick won no round. You can’t win a round when at best you’re even with your opponent in significant strikes while being absolutely bullied across the cage. Nick was hurt by big shots in every round.
Watching Nick get his ass kicked for 3 rounds was glorious. The fact Lawler beat him at his own game, outboxed and out cardioed Diaz is some straight up gangster shit.
There were some flashes of the old skills, but I don’t think Diaz was winning that fight at all. Still, after seeing the kick thing at the start of round one, I was convinced that he was just fucking around and would immediately take a dive, so I was very pleasantly surprised by how he did.
Lawler isn’t getting any credit, but I thought he did a great job of blocking and rolling punches.
IDK how I would have scored the rounds, they were close, but I was almost shocked Nick could land so many good strikes, while at times looking sooooo slow. I really felt that all his past years of training showed up, yet not very sure Nick had trained properly at all for THIS bout.
He came out of shape. No excuse. That being said (excuse), I don’t think he’s pickled and all that shit is just that, shit. Yeah he drank, partied, ect. He def found a way to get out of shape…
But that’s just it. Out of shape. That was the undoing and I don’t think it’s anything other than not doing the work. He knows that. He’s been in shape in the last year.
He didn’t feel like doing shit, got fat and thought 6 weeks was enough to rectify it. 6 weeks is enough to rectify being fat…now for a camp. Not for a fight.
To me, what I saw, the skills were there. It’s a weird style for mma, but it works, especially for nick…but it’s cardio based and the style requires the effort to work.
To me, it’s like any of us. Sometimes you’re motivated. Sometimes you’re not. Sometimes you’re motivated tomorrow when you’re drunk for today.
Nick was 100% for one night…not for 365 nights. Robby was both.
