DIAZ MAKES CLAIM FOR MMA ‘POUND FOR POUND’ TITLE WITH STRIKEFORCE WIN

During his prime pro wrestling legend Ric Flair would frequently boast “Like it or don’t like it but get used to it because it’s the best thing going today”.  Maybe it’s time that Nick Diaz adopt the ‘Nature Boy’s’ classic catch phrase.   The mercurial pride of Stockton, California made a compelling case for ‘pound for pound’ supremacy as he put on a striking clinic against tough Scott Smith before ending the fight in the third round via rear naked choke in the highlight match of Strikeforce’s card at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Saturday night. 

Much like Russian fighting god Fedor Emelianenko, who was in attendance to promote his August 1 Affliction: Trilogy bout against Josh Barnett, there’s not really a good way to fight Diaz.  You can’t beat Diaz standing up, as Smith quickly learned.  Smith landed a few power shots, one which opened a cut on Diaz’s easy to bleed browline, but paid the price as he ate multiple punches for every one he got off.   Diaz doesn’t have a lot of power, but he’s got great handspeed and boxing technique—he throws the proverbial ‘punches in bunches’ and the accumulation eventually started to wobble Smith.   Diaz won the first round with his effective aggression and striking precision, and dominated the second round culminating with a flurry in the final seconds that send Smith to the canvas.

Diaz closed the fight in spectacular fashion in the third round—almost flaunting his boxing virtuosity by quickly switching back and forth between southpaw and orthodox stances, he floored Smith with a perfectly placed shot to the liver within the first minute.  At this point, he took his opponent’s back and quickly cinched in a rear naked choke that forced the double tough Smith to tap out. 

As we alluded to above, there’s simply not a good way to fight Diaz.  While his striking skills were on prominent display here the frightening thing about Diaz is that he’s even more dangerous on the ground.   To put this into context, he’s had a couple of professional boxing matches and if he wanted to devote himself to ‘the sweet science’ full time he’d be a formidable adversary for anyone.   On the ground, however, he’s among the best in the world.  Diaz is one of only three Cesar Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belts in the world (Jake Shields and David Terrell are the other two) and his ability to control his opponent on the ground and end fights via submission is insane. 

Diaz also has a street fighter’s mentality, which combined with his technical mastery makes for an almost perfect skill set for a MMA professional.  He’s got a chip on his shoulder the size of a cinder block which gives him the ‘killer instinct’ that the best fighters possess but his technical training has paradoxically taught him how to not be overly aggressive.  His only real weakness is that he clearly loves to mix it up—on several occasions after he was tagged with solid punches by Smith he dropped his hands and told his opponent to ‘bring it on’ which is a dangerous thing to do against someone with one punch fight ending power. 

The fans in St. Louis gave Diaz a very enthusiastic reaction, which is something he’s starting to hear more and more of.  During his tenure in EliteXC they tried to cast him as a ‘heel’, but he’s got a decided ‘anti-hero’ appeal that resonates with a lot of fight fans.  He might not have the innate likability of a Forrest Griffin, but if nothing else he’s completely free of pretense.  Diaz is a completely genuine person and makes no apologies for who he is or how he lives.  He’s fought his entire life to prosper and survive, and he’s become one of the best in the world at it.  Even if you dislike his personality, there’s simply no way that you can dismiss Diaz’s heart, tenacity and awesome technical prowess.