Nick Diaz Calls Out Georges St. Pierre

I know everybody starts a story about a guy that they are about to criticize with the standard or classic “I respect (insert name here) but…” and go on to grill a guy without showing much in the way of ‘respect’ but I legitimately respect Nick Diaz as a fighter.  As Dana White put it he is a “true fighter” and Diaz will fight anyone, anytime and anywhere – without question.

Nick Diaz possesses solid all-around skills with a good boxing game, awesome ju-jitsu and a nasty mean streak that more than a few opponents have felt the wrath of over his career.  Diaz, only 28 years old feels like he should be in his late 30s with the amount of experience and fights he has had but is really only hitting his prime fighting years now.

In short, he is a fighter who deserves respect and he had mine until he disrespected a guy who has not only fought whoever Dana White has told him to but a who’s who of elite cage fighters – a list that makes Nick Diaz’s career hit list look rather, well, lame.  Maybe Diaz was a bit discombobulated after taking quite a few solid shots from the out of shape BJ Penn when the fight was over and called out GSP.

Rumors circulated that Diaz wasn’t happy about fighting Penn, whom he considered a friend, and was exceptionally angry at St. Pierre. When St. Pierre was injured in training, the fight with Condit fell off the card and White moved Penn-Diaz to the main.

Diaz, though, was angry he was meeting Penn and not St. Pierre. He shouted to St. Pierre from the cage after the bout ended.

“I don’t think Georges was hurt,” Diaz said. “I think he was scared.”

Apparently St. Pierre approached White moments after the fight. The UFC’s ultimate good guy was angry that Diaz continually disrespected him and questioned his injury.

Saying GSP was scared is not only laughable it is borderline ridiculous.  Let’s compare the two fighters, their past 5 years of fights, opponents and results and see if Diaz has a case.  First, tale of the tape:

	GSP	Nick Diaz
Age	30	28
Height	5’10”	6’1”
Weight	170 (fight night 185+)	170 (fight night around 180)
Reach	76”	74”
Record	22-2	26-7

Without question GSP will be the bigger and stronger man on fight night but Diaz will not give up much (if anything) with respect to cardiovascular conditioning.  Still, GSP will have a slight reach advantage and will definitely be able to impose his will physically in the clinch, on the ground and against the fence.  Diaz is a crafty and smart fighter but has shown a weakness against powerful wrestlers in the past which could be a key component to the matchup.

There have only been three common opponents that have faced both Diaz and St. Pierre – BJ Penn, Karo Parisyan and Sean Sherk.  Nick Diaz lost to both Parisyan and Sherk via decision while GSP defeated both rather easily (Sherk via TKO and Parisyan via DEC).  Nick Diaz recently defeated a horribly conditioned BJ Penn who managed to hold his own in the first round but was literally out on his feet and dead tired to start the second round – though Diaz could not finish him. 

GSP fought BJ Penn twice and after a subpar performance on March 3^rd, 2006 where [GSP] won a split-decision he absolutely dominated Penn with a TKO stoppage in January/2010 – the worse loss of Penn’s career. 

Diaz lost to another ground and pound specialist when Diego Sanchez defeated him on November 5^th, 2005 in a unanimous decision victory for ‘The Nightmare’.  The relevance of that fight is the fact St. Pierre is another guy who can dominate the ground game with strong takedowns and ground-and-pound skills. 

What about Diaz’s claim that GSP has been scared to fight?

GSP is currently on an impressive nine-fight winning streak since his loss to Matt Serra on April 7^th, 2007 and hasn’t even been tested in any of those contests (outside of an accidental eye poke to Jake Shields).

Date	Opponent	Result
8/25/2007	Josh Kosheck	Unanimous Decision
12/29/2007	Matt Hughes	Submission – Arm bar
4/19/2008	Matt Serra	TKO – referee stoppage
8/9/2008	Jon Fitch	Unanimous Decision
1/31/2009	BJ Penn	TKO –referee stoppage
7/11/2009	Thiago Alves	Unanimous Decision
3/27/2010	Dan Hardy	Unanimous Decision
12/11/2010	Josh Koscheck	Unanimous Decision
4/30/2011	Jake Shields	Unanimous Decision

None of these fights have even been close with most being complete blowouts/shutouts for GSP against a who’s who of MMA elite. 

Josh Koscheck has been nearly unbeatable against stellar competition himself but posed no threat at all to GSP (twice).  “Kos” has defeated Matt Hughes, Paul Daley, Anthony Johnson, Chris Lytle, Diego Sanchez (who defeated Nick Diaz) and Dustin Hazelett.

Jon Fitch is essentially undefeated in his MMA career outside of one of the worst beat downs of his career at the hands on GSP in August/2008.  Fitch, though not the most exciting fighter in the world (a criticism of GSP as well) has been a winner with an overall record of 22-3-1.  He also defeated Diego Sanchez (who defeated Nick Diaz).

BJ Penn was actually in great shape for the rematch against GSP for the belt in January/2009 and was totally outclassed and destroyed over 4 brutal rounds.  GSP leaned on him, beat him down and made him eat his own words when BJ Penn was forced to “quit”.  We don’t need to rehash Penn’s amazing resume and pedigree – he is a fighter’s fighter and a true MMA warrior/legend. 

Thiago Alves was the scariest welterweight in the world with highlight reel knockouts and GSP made him look like an inferior fighter in all aspects of MMA (including striking).  Prior to his loss to GSP in July/2009 Alves had looked to be one of the top fighters in the UFC with impressive victories over Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Karo Parisyan and Chris Lytle.

Prior to fighting St. Pierre Jake Shields was undefeated since December/2004 (a 15-fight win streak) but was dominated by GSP on their feet for five rounds.  An eye-poke forced GSP to fight at a disadvantage for a majority of the fight but he still handily defeated him 4 rounds to 1 in a one-side fight.  Shields was unable to take GSP down or mount much in the way of a sustained attack.

Comparatively Nick Diaz is on a ten fight win streak and has not lost since his November 10^th, 2007 TKO loss to KJ Noons.

Date	Opponent	Result
5/11/2008	Katsuya Inoue	TKO – referee stoppage
6/14/2008	Muhsin Corbbrey	TKO – referee stoppage
7/26/2008	Thomas Denny	TKO – referee stoppage
4/11/2009	Frank Shamrock	TKO – referee stoppage
6/6/2009	Scott Smith	Submission – Choke
1/30/2010	Marius Zaromskis	TKO – referee stoppage
10/09/2010	KJ Noons	Unanimous Decision
1/29/2010	Evangelista Santos	Submission – Arm Bar
4/9/2011	Paul Daley	TKO – referee stoppage
10/29/2011	BJ Penn	Unanimous Decision

A ten fight winning streak is nothing to joke about especially in MMA and the fact Diaz was able to stop/finish so many of his opponents is a true testament to his fighting spirit (only two decisions in ten fights) and I do not mean to downplay his opponents in any way but that list isn’t exactly filled with elite MMA talent. 

I’d venture a guess and say if GSP fought those same 10 fights he would probably have as many stoppages as Diaz.  Conversely is Diaz had to go through the past 9 opponents of GSP I am not confident he would even be victorious over Josh Koscheck (pains me to say that), Jon Fitch (awful matchup for him) or Jake Shields for that matter – let alone look as positively dominant as GSP did.

It has to be said that Nick Diaz wasn’t in the UFC at the time due to contractual obligations with Strikeforce/Elite XC so his potential pool of opponents was always going to be weaker.  However for him to claim GSP is afraid to fight Diaz, Condit or whoever after looking at the above information shows Diaz is either misinformed or just ignorant to the type of career dominance GSP has managed over the past 5-6 years.

Barring any possible setbacks or complications (which aren’t out of the question given the past couple months) Nick Diaz will have a chance to back up his brash remarks on February 4^th, 2012 (Superbowl Weekend) when he gets his long-awaited UFC Welterweight title shot versus incumbent super-champion Georges St. Pierre.

Photos by MMAWeekly.com!

How do Diaz and St. Pierre matchup?

Honestly I think it is an awful matchup for Diaz given St. Pierre’s wrestling acumen and Diaz’s past subpar performance against the strong wrestlers but at the very least it will be an excited lead-up and countdown to what might be the biggest fight in UFC history when the two finally square off in the octagon. 

Given their respective resumes and “strength of schedule” over the past 5 years I expect GSP to go in as a relatively big favorite (my guess betting line will be GSP -250).  St. Pierre said he respects Diaz’s talent and won’t underestimate him.  Dana White said at Saturday’s post-fight news conference that St. Pierre told him Diaz “is the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met, and I’m going to put the worst beating you’ve ever seen on him in the UFC.”

St. Pierre wouldn’t go nearly so far while speaking to Yahoo! Sports, but he sounded as if he were counting the days until Feb. 4.

“This is a fight I am looking forward to very much, and it’s a fight that I wanted very badly,” he said. “This is a very important fight to me personally. I am glad that the UFC did it for us.”

Nick Diaz will give St. Pierre a first-rate challenge and GSP will definitely not go unscathed given Diaz’s ‘never say die’ warrior mentality but I do not see him being able to do what Koscheck, Shields, Hughes, Penn, Alves, Fitch and others could not over the past nine fights– defeat Georges St. Pierre (or even win a round). 

In the end isn’t GSP just in another class by himself (in the welterweight division)?   He trains with the best in each discipline (and spends a fortune on his training camps), is given the best game plans for his opponents (Greg Jackson disciple) and has fought the absolute best of the best in the world.  Nick Diaz, while a gamer has had some losses to a few opponents who aren’t exactly on GSPs level (Joe Riggs, Karo Parisyan, Diego Sanchez, Sean Sherk and KJ Noons).

I can see GSP working off his strong jab to setup Diaz for bigger strikes (kicks) while also utilizing his far superior strength to impose his will on Diaz.  GSP will take Diaz down, control the fight on the mat with some nasty ground and pound, and simply win rounds.  Seeing what happened the last time an opponent used his mouth to goad St. Pierre I could also see this being a vicious one-sided beat down (think Koscheck, Josh, orbital bone).

My predictions: GSP defeats Nick Diaz via unanimous decision.

Who Can Stop The Great Jon Jones?

As if beating the legendary “Shogun” Rua to become the youngest UFC champion in history (23 years old) wasn’t enough for Jon “Bones” Jones how about the fact he also subdued a man who minutes earlier attacked an elderly couple only mere hours before this fight even took place?  Much like his opponents superlatives simply are no match for what Jon Jones is and what he can become, he appears unbeatable.

It has to be said that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua didn’t look to be in the greatest shape of his career and he appeared at least to me noticeably less muscular overall.  Questions about condition aside it likely wouldn’t have made much of a difference after watching them circle each other in the octagon for about 15 seconds as Jones looked like he fought two weight classes above Shogun. 

Jon Jones is the Dwight Howard of MMA, a freak show possessing unreal skills.  A physical specimen built to unleash hell on any who dare step into the octagon with him.  He doesn’t only win, he maims, he pillages and he dominates like no other.  He has become so dominant that it appears so easy for him I felt he could’ve ended the fight in the first round had he felt so inclined.

He has patience, poise and a fighter’s spirit at least a decade older than he actually is – he is a warrior.  Who could potentially even give him a good workout let alone a serious challenge in the 205 light heavyweight division?  His next victim opponent is his friend and training partner Rashad Evans whom most feel is a massive underdog to the seemingly invincible Jon Jones. 

Jones is too long, too big and too strong for Evans who will struggle getting close enough to do damage and probably not strong enough to impose his will and take the fight to the ground.  The scary part is Jones is a relative baby to a sport dominated by men well into their thirties.  Jones will soon be counted among the very best in the pound-for-pound argument.

Armed with a fighting style and spirit than cannot possibly be trained or prepared for in the least, who can possibly dethrone him?

“Rampage” Jackson – has not looked overly impressive against opponents who bring less overall skill and talent than Jones.  I think the size/length differential would frustrate the boxer Jackson, who is too one dimensional to pose a real threat.

Lyoto Machida – he will have to put a few impressive wins together to get a shot but this could be a guy who might matchup well with Jones, if there is such a thing.  A highly patient and technical counter-striker might work well but again, the length and sheer size of Jones would make this a difficult fight for Machida.

Thiago Silva – will not be intimidated but does not have overall game to hang with Jones.

There are other contenders like Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin, Randy Couture and “Little” Nog but it’s hard to imagine any of them warranting or taking advantage of a potential title shot versus Jones.  That leaves other divisional champions and the one that is first mentioned is “The Spider” Anderson Silva.  It would no doubt go down as most anticipated matchup in the history of MMA.

A few problems could arise before Dana White and Joe Silva even contemplate this potential super fight.  First, Silva is getting older and only has a handful of fights left and the rumour mill of a Silva versus Canadian Georges St. Pierre won’t stop churning.  Second, Silva walks around over 200 lbs between fights but I think the size differential would be massive and perhaps too much that Silva wouldn’t even contemplate stepping into the ring with Jones.

Silva has a lot more to lose than Jones in a fight like this as he nears the end of his career a loss would do serious damage to his legacy and possibly even his health.  Though there is a size differential between Silva and GSP there is no one in their right mind who thinks GSP will even consider standing toe-to-toe with Silva.  But Silva’s strength is his stand up game and there is no chance he could take Jon Jones down, nor control him if it did land there.

So if there isn’t a challenge from below than we must look up, way up, all the way to the UFC heavyweight division.  With Jon Jones massive frame still filling out there is little doubt he will land in the heavyweight division eventually anyway.  Can you imagine Jones attempting to hold two belts at the same time and take on current champ who also looks near unbeatable Cain Velasquez?

Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Alistair Overeem and Junior Dos Santos would also be juicy matches in the heavyweight division.  Or if Dana White has a nasty streak he can put an end to his long time nemesis Fedor Emelianko once and for all with Jon Jones serving as the assassin.  The fact we are even contemplating a lot of these fantasy matchups is a testament to the rising star of Jon Jones, get used to him folks he isn’t going anywhere, for a good long while.

“Super-Fight” In Name Only

Photos by MMAWeekly.com!

Although nothing has been officially announced or confirmed after Anderson Silva stunned Vitor Belfort with a front kick knockout (seriously, a front kick KO?) there has at least been overtures made by UFC ‘Don’ Dana White about a potential super-fight versus  welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. 

These are the two preeminent pound-for-pound kingpins and the two most dominant champions of their respective divisions and it is certainly a fight that based on the two names involved alone will qualify as a “super-fight”.  However I contend if the two do end up in the octagon together it won’t be much of an actual fight.

First I have to say that I respect Anderson Silva and the skills he brings to the table, he hasn’t lost in the UFC and outside of one round to Dan Henderson and four and a half to Chael Sonnen he has looked as dominant as anyone in the history of the sport.  But when Georges St. Pierre defeats Jake Shields (likely another 5 round decisive decision victory) and decides to dedicate himself to moving up to the 185-pound division, Silva is in deep trouble.

We have seen the blueprint to potentially defeating ‘The Spider’ and it is fairly clear, take him down, pound on him and frustrate him.  Travis Lutter did this for one round (until completely gassing) and even had Silva mounted late in the first round and in some trouble.  Dan Henderson took Anderson down and pounded on him for a round until taking a few brutal knees while standing and essentially giving up.

Chael Sonnen absolutely dominated Silva for four and a half rounds, beating him every single minute of the fight until seemingly tiring and getting himself caught in a triangle choke for one of the most miraculous comebacks in MMA history.  None of Lutter, Henderson or Sonnen is in the same league as the pound-for-pound best fighter Georges St. Pierre.

GSP is in a league to himself in terms of his wrestling prowess and overall all-around mixed martial arts skill.  Since being knocked out by Matt Serra GSP has run through the division with ease, not even losing a single round against some formidable opponents.  While Anderson Silva has yet to lose a fight it is hard to compare the two in terms of competition fought during their respective careers.

Silva has beat a game but outclassed high-school teacher turned journeyman fighter Rich Franklin, the aging Dan Henderson and Vitor Belfort and that’s about it.  GSP has beaten one of the greatest fighters in UFC history in Matt Hughes twice, the legendary prodigy BJ Penn twice, a prime Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch as well as the underrated Josh Koscheck (twice).

Alves and Fitch have literally cleaned out the same division themselves and neither could even manage a single round against St. Pierre.

The issue of size has been brought up given that Silva fights at 185 and walks around over 200 lbs where as GSP fights at 170 and walks around at 190 lbs or so but I would argue that GSP is in fact the stronger man and better overall athlete, a scale be damned.  GSP has already gone on record as saying if he is to move up in class (to middleweight, 185 lbs) he is going to remain there for good and gain weight slowly and properly.

Give GSP a task like that and I am scared to think of what will be the result given his unheralded work ethic and freakish genetics.  Come fight night I wouldn’t give Silva any advantage at all in terms of strength and power, none.  Silva is the bigger overall man of course but he isn’t known for his strength or power, he is known for having the best, most accurate and deadly striking skills in combat sports.

The only size factor is length and reach but if GSP tries to stand with Silva he is a fool, but we all know nobody in MMA brings a more well prepared and sound game plan to each fight than St. Pierre.  St. Pierre is probably the best athlete in MMA and given that Chael Sonnen showed us the way to beat Silva I just don’t see how Silva can possibly defeat St. Pierre unless GSP decides to try his luck standing with the best striker in the world.

The fight won’t be easy for either man and beating Silva who some regard as unbeatable is an unenviable task but if GSP uses his main strength (wrestling) which just so happens to be Silva’s biggest and most glaring weakness I don’t see how Silva will be able to stop what Hughes, Penn, Alves, Fitch, Koscheck, Hardy and countless other fights haven’t.

Georges St. Pierre will handily beat Anderson Silva, either via the usual dominating five round decision or he will catch Silva in a submission in round three or four after frustrating and tiring Silva on the ground.  Anderson Silva will go into the fight as a slight to strong favourite if and when a bout is announced but I give him only the usual puncher’s chance against GSP, it just isn’t a good matchup for him.

A Lazy X-Mas Post On The World Of Sports

I think the Christmas season has made me slightly lazy so no full post here just a few thoughts, musings and observations on the world of sport.

NHL – The Maple Leafs are still playing uninspired hockey and are certainly a long shot at this point to make the playoffs.  I still write about them, quite regularly at one of the best hockey sites on the net “Maple Leafs Hot Stove”. 

NBA – Well, the Miami Heat (whom I just wrote about) are playing some very solid basketball and are now 24-9 on the season and only 2 games behind the Eastern Conference leading Boston Celtics (24-5).  I for one can’t wait for the playoff matchup between them.

The Christmas day games were busts, offering the viewer little in actual NBA basketball.  If I were a betting man (wait, I am) I would have taken the under on both ABC games and made out like a bandit as there was some awful shooting (especially the Lakers) and lack of interest most of the game.  My question is why waste the best matchup(s) on a day when most of the players want to be with their families.

Blake Griffin (Rookie, Los Angeles Clippers) is a beast, a man-child, a – you get the point.  He makes Vince Carter (in his prime dunking days) look like Eric Montross.  The kid plays above the rim, like way above.

Orlando made some big moves acquiring Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkuglu (yuck) and Gilbert Arenas and while I feel it likely makes them better this season, it’s all window dressing at this point, they can’t beat Boston or Miami in a series and I think they know it.

The Toronto Raptors play hard and are well coached but I don’t mind seeing a few losses as it gets them closer to a better pick in the lottery.

NFL – Michael Vick is the MVP, comeback player of the year and when I start my Madden 11 franchise, likely the QB I will target!  Tom Brady will likely win the actual MVP award but Vick is most deserving.

MMA – Georges St. Pierre is the undisputed pound for pound best fighter in the world.  He didn’t finish Koscheck, so what, give Kos credit, he hung tough but in the process took one of the worst beatings of his career.  Worse for him (Kos) is that GSP said he won’t ever fight him again, tough luck kid.

I love Anderson Silva and the muay thai approach and laser guided strikes but Chael Sonnen just showed us how to beat him – great wrestling, ground and pound and heart.  GSP is a superior wrestler (MMA wise) to Sonnen, has shown a better ground and pound and of course has great heart and outstanding cardio.

GSP would take him down, and with his vastly superior BJJ (to Sonnen) would not likely have gotten caught in that triangle choke (that caught Sonnen late in the 5^th round).  If they fight, I will wager on GSP, hard.

MLB – A lot of people questioned the Jays decision to move our “top” starter in Shaun Marcum for top prospect (and Canadian) Brett Lawrie.  I didn’t mind the move and it’s not because I am overly sold on Lawrie (he will be a solid 6 or 7 hole hitter and likely play RF) but we were dealing from strength (starting pitching). 

Talent wise I would have ranked the Jays hurlers Morrow, Romero, Cecil and then Marcum.  With Kyle Drabek on his way up Marcum might have even ranked 5^th at the end of the 2011 season if still with the team.  So they were proactive with an eye towards 2012 and beyond, while adding the highest ever drafted Canadian in the confident Lawrie.

I am involved in a minor league draft in my simulation DMB league and the first round is now completed.  I now see why MLB has such an amazing product, TALENT TALENT TALENT.  There are some unbelievable talents that make their MLB and MILB debuts every season and it is almost a never ending supply.  I picked 16 out of 16 (yeah, my team is that good) and here are the results:

Bryce Harper, OF
Dustin Ackley, 2B
Michael Pineda, P
Jesus Montero, C
Mike Trout, OF
Zach Stewart, P
Julio Teheran, P
Martin Perez, P

Eric Hosmer, 1B
Matt Dominguez, 3B.
Jacob Turner, P
Wil Myers, C
Jameson Taillon, P
Matt Moore, P
John Lamb, P
Mike Moustakas, 3B

 I was shocked when Mike Trout wasn’t automatically taken after the prodigious Bryce Harper and I think Pineda was taken maybe a full round too early, but when it comes to prospects, who really knows?  Zach Stewart probably could’ve lasted another round (maybe two) as his stock took a slight hit this year but the rest of the picks look pretty damn solid.

 I was pleasantly surprised to see Moustakas hanging around when my pick came up and I think he will rank in the Top Five in most “Prospect” publications/circles after a massive 36 HR campaign as he was also named the top player in the Texas League (AA) by Baseball America.  Possesses massive power, and though some feel he might not stick at 3B, his bat plays anywhere on the diamond.

 For those of you unaware the Kansas City Royals are poised to join the elite in the AL Central with one of the strongest minor league systems in the history of the game.  Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers, John Lamb and Mike Moustakas are just four of the many that are ready to make a contribution at the big league level in the next 3-5 years.  Watch out MLB.