Nick Diaz

[INDYjon22]

So, most of the regulars throughout the MMA section on this forum already know that Nick Diaz won the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship this past Saturday against a formidable opponent in Marius Zaromskis. Diaz finally grabbed the preverbial brass ring by finally winning a major championship.

My question is this, what do you want to see next? Personally, I feel as though the next step is a fight with Jay Hieron. It should be noted that Jay Heiron is actually was scheduled to fight Diaz a while back for the WW title but Diaz no showed the drug test and the fight was turned into a non title fight against Jessie Taylor. Jay has since signed a new contract with Strikeforce and I believe as though a fight between Diaz and Hieron needs to happen next to solidify who the undisputed champion is. I would love to see this fight happen because it was not fair what happened to Hieron and his title shot i the first place.

Also, how do you feel Diaz would do in a fight with WW kingpen George St-Pierre. Both are recognized champions of their respective weight division and the speculation should begin on if a fight were to happen who would win.
I think it would be a much closer fight then anyone would give it credit to be. Both men are about equal on all fight aspects besides strength in GSP's advantage and submissions in Diaz's advantage. I think overall GSP would win but it would be a very close fight.

So what are your thoughts on what should be next for Nick Diaz and about a hypothetical fight with St-Pierre?

 

[jmt225]

The problem is that Strikeforce doesn't have any competition for him, outside of Jake Shields, but of course they won't fight since they're teammates and since Shields has moved up to 185 anyway.

Right now the rumor is though that Diaz's next fight will be Hayato Sakurai, which is basically Strikeforce protecting Diaz, basically, and I don't like it, and I'm sure he doesn't either. The guy doesn't need to be protected. Give the man anyone, and he'll fight him and most likely kick his ass. But why give him the guy Zaromskis beat before he fought Diaz? Makes no sense.

Jay Hieron... while a much better option than Sakurai, Diaz would still kill him, pretty easily actually. There's not an aspect Hieron is better at than Diaz, except for maybe wrestling, but even that's not something to be blown away by. Regardless, if Hieron keeps winning fights, then I guess you have to give him a shot eventually. However, I think he needs a main card fight before that ever happens.

Now, if it were up to me... Diaz would be fighting GSP next in the UFC. However, to give a more realistic answer... I would get KJ Noons for Diaz. Noons could easily fight at 170 if he wanted to, and that's just a fight everyone wants to see, including myself and the fighters themselves (unless Noons pusses out). Noons is really the only dark spot on Diaz's record in his last 12 fights, and it'd be nice to see him avenge that "loss".

If Noons wants to stay at 155, though, then shit... I guess feed him Hieron. After that though, there won't be anyone else. Diaz would just have to move to Middleweight and fight guys like Mayhem, Le, Lawler, etc. Would love to see Diaz vs. Mayhem though. That fight would be epic.

 

[Rizza]

I personally want a KJ Noons rematch. I still think Hieron isn't quite ready for Diaz yet, I mean he couldn't even finish Joe Riggs, and out of 12 losses Joe Riggs has been finished 10 times. Not bashing Riggs though, he is one of my favorite Journymen of all time. I really think KJ couldn't touch Diaz as this point though, Diaz just has been looking great recently. Thats what I want though, a Noons rematch for the WW title, if KJ will go up to 170 .

But why give him the guy Zaromskis beat before he fought Diaz? Makes no sense.

I dont know why shit like this happens, I know this is off subject but, is the same thing in the UFC right now with Sam Stout, he beat Lauzon, then his next fight is Jeremy Stephens, the guy that Lauzon tapped out in his fight before Stout. I just don't get it sometimes.

In a hypothetical fight with GSP and Diaz, I would take the safe bet and go with GSP, I think he would get the takedown and use his strength and wrestling to keep Diaz on his back, then pull out a decision win.

 

[INDYjon22]

I have been running the pros and cons of a Nick Diaz vs. George St-Pierre fight for a couple days now and have come to a conclusion. Nick Diaz could very easily beat GSP if this fight happened. Now hear me out. Both men are very close in skill and ability.

GSP has solid stand up, as does Nick Diaz. I would actually go as far as saying Nick Diaz would pick GSP apart on the feet. When they showed the graphic of how many strikes Diaz threw and landed on Marius it was astounding. He is so good on the feet and would easily out strike GSP.

GSP is stronger then Nick and easily has better wrestling however, Diaz has great takedown defense and could stuff GSP easily. I think you hit the nail on the head, Rizza. GSP's best gameplan would be to take the fight to the ground and eek out a decision victory because he would get beat in every other category. Also, Matt Serra proved that GSP has a suspect chin. No one else has been able to land a punch square on his chin since. I have a feeling he has the Andrei Arlovski complex where if anyone makes clean contact his lights will go out.

Nick Diaz easily would win a grappling match against George and I think he would flat out destroy GSP on the ground. Diaz is sick with his submissions and I have no doubt he could catch George.

I could definitely see Nick Diaz beating GSP if they ever had a title fight. GSP is a great fighter but his gameplans leave a lot to be desired and Nick Diaz can counter act the lay and pray tactics of Pierre. He has very good boxing to GSP's above average boxing. His submission skills are vastly greater. The only question mark would be if Diaz could defend the take down, if he can't then GSP will grind out a decision, but if he can then I would expect Diaz to win.

 

[Via Armbar]

Strikeforce's talent pool isn't very deep to begin with. I feel it's even more shallow at WW. Hieron isn't a terrible choice, but it's not like there's a whole ton of choices for Diaz. And Hieron has pretty good wrestling so it would be nice to see how he handles Diaz's stellar bjj.

Personally i'd like to see a rematch with Noons. Diaz has improved by leaps and bounds since the first fight, and mixed with Noon's absence in a cage for over a year and a half makes for an interesting dynamic.

But if we're talking a UFC return in the future i think Diaz is going to be in much deeper water with hungrier sharks. Even outside GSP, can he handle guys with excellent wrestling like Koscheck or Fitch or a handful of the AKA fighters ha. Or could he be able to stand with better strikers like Semtex or Rumble?

But all of his UFC losses were all decisions i believe, and some of them could have gone the other way.

 

[Via Armbar]

GSP is stronger then Nick and easily has better wrestling however, Diaz has great takedown defense and could stuff GSP easily. I think you hit the nail on the head, Rizza. GSP's best gameplan would be to take the fight to the ground and eek out a decision victory because he would get beat in every other category. Also, Matt Serra proved that GSP has a suspect chin. No one else has been able to land a punch square on his chin since. I have a feeling he has the Andrei Arlovski complex where if anyone makes clean contact his lights will go out.

Nick Diaz easily would win a grappling match against George and I think he would flat out destroy GSP on the ground. Diaz is sick with his submissions and I have no doubt he could catch George.

I could definitely see Nick Diaz beating GSP if they ever had a title fight. GSP is a great fighter but his gameplans leave a lot to be desired and Nick Diaz can counter act the lay and pray tactics of Pierre. He has very good boxing to GSP's above average boxing. His submission skills are vastly greater. The only question mark would be if Diaz could defend the take down, if he can't then GSP will grind out a decision, but if he can then I would expect Diaz to win.

Going to have to STRONLY disagree, respectfully. If Penn couldn't stuff GSP's takedowns there's no way in hell Diaz could. Penns TDD is top notch, easily the best in LW and probably top 5 in WW. And GSP took him down will little trouble. Same with Hughes in their first fight.

Now i know that mma math never really works out, but i just have to go with logic and it says that GSP takes down Diaz, no question about it.

Now what happens when they get there is a little different, but still i give the advantage to GSP. He controls the top like no one else. Again with Penn, he has an AMAZING gaurd. And he never really had an answer for GSP.

Not to downplay Diaz's bjj, because i think he' still underated in that sense, but against the guy who uses translates wrestling so well into his mma game its completly nullified.

As far as standup goes, i think this is where they're the most evenly matched. Diaz has shown good power in his boxing but so has GSP, just maybe not so much his last couple fights. You can use Alves as an example. Alves is one of the best strikers in the division as far as all around striking is concerned not just boxing. And Rush wasn't completly dominated in the standup in that fight, so i have no reason to believe Diaz would have much more to offer.

 

[INDYjon22]

Going to have to STRONLY disagree, respectfully. If Penn couldn't stuff GSP's takedowns there's no way in hell Diaz could. Penns TDD is top notch, easily the best in LW and probably top 5 in WW. And GSP took him down will little trouble. Same with Hughes in their first fight.

Now i know that mma math never really works out, but i just have to go with logic and it says that GSP takes down Diaz, no question about it.

Now what happens when they get there is a little different, but still i give the advantage to GSP. He controls the top like no one else. Again with Penn, he has an AMAZING gaurd. And he never really had an answer for GSP.

Not to downplay Diaz's bjj, because i think he' still underated in that sense, but against the guy who uses translates wrestling so well into his mma game its completly nullified.

As far as standup goes, i think this is where they're the most evenly matched. Diaz has shown good power in his boxing but so has GSP, just maybe not so much his last couple fights. You can use Alves as an example. Alves is one of the best strikers in the division as far as all around striking is concerned not just boxing. And Rush wasn't completly dominated in the standup in that fight, so i have no reason to believe Diaz would have much more to offer.

Trust me man, it is hard for me to go against GSP and I am not trying to say I am going against him, but this fight is much closer then anyone thinks, in my opinion.

I completely agree that GSP is stronger and will attempt to take down Diaz. Now if he can do that or not is unknown at this time, it would appear that he can but we will never know unless this fight actually happens. My guess is that GSP would get the take down and then lay and pray for the rest of the fight.

I really do believe that Nick Diaz has better strikes then GSP, granted GSP has not thrown nearly as much for awhile now. GSP is very good on his feet but I thin Diaz is better. Just take a look at the stats from his Zaromskis fight and those stats were accumulated in one round of fighting. Diaz is absolutely vicious with strikes and is pin point with his accuracy.

However, we will have to wait and see if this fight ever happens. Hopefully it does but it would not appear so right now. For the time being I see his next fight being against Jay Hieron, then a possible rematch with Noons, as long as Noons doesn't back out.

 

[jmt225]

Whoa there now IndyJon, let's not get too ahead of ourselves.

You know there's no one in the sport I respect more than Nick Diaz, and of course if Diaz vs. GSP did go down, I would support Nick 100%. However, since it's most likely never going to happen, I can stay a tad bit realistic about it.

GSP is the one guy it seems in the sport who was a fantastic wrestler, got a little stand-up ability, but instead of completely turning into a striker, he used his striking to improve what already was a tremendous takedown. If only the other great wrestlers in the sport had the same thought process...

Now, Nick Diaz is a guy who is ALWAYS moving forward, which makes him much more vulnerable to be taken down, and against someone like GSP, if they both fight like they normally do, then Diaz would most likely get taken down at will and the match would turn into a grappling contest, something of which Diaz would not win. Sure, Diaz would have his moments in the fight, no doubt, but overall, it'd be Jake Shields vs. Mayhem Miller all over again, with ironically enough GSP being Shields and Diaz being Mayhem. There's just no other way the fight would go, unless one of the fighters showed up with a completely different style than normal (like if Diaz took a more Machida like approach, or if GSP got it in his mind that he could beat Diaz in a striking match, which of course in both case Diaz would stand a much better chance of winning).

 

[INDYjon22]

Well I don't want to seem ridiculously pro Nick Diaz. This is MMA after all and anything can happen. If this fight were to ever happen I would still give GSP the nod as my favorite going in. I am just trying to say that I feel as though Nick Diaz could potentially give GSP his hardest fight yet. As much as I love my AKA boys Nick Diaz would beat the hell out of both Koscheck and Swick and he would give Jon Fitch a serious run for his money.

Once again it should be noted that I am one of the many Diaz brother haters but I think he would give Pierre a run for his money.

 

[jmt225]

So, I was on Sherdog, and came across this radio interview Nick Diaz did a couple of days before his fight against Marius Zaromskis. Of course I listened to it, and in it, the interviewer brought up Nick's run in the UFC, and one of the fights brought up was his fight against Karo Parisyan. In my opinion, even though Nick got screwed in that one, that fight is still an all-time classic. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, seek it out. It's great.

Anyway, hearing that name... it dawned on my, why the fuck isn't Karo Parisyan in Strikeforce? I mean, honestly... with their lack of depth in their Welterweight Division, he'd be a FANTASTIC addition.

So, with that said, there's a simple solution to all this. Sign Karo Parisyan, then book Karo vs. Jay Hieron on the MAIN CARD, with the winner of that fight getting a shot at Nick's Welterweight Title. Seriously, it couldn't be more win-win. Karo is already a well-respected fighter, who just needs a victory, while all Hieron is missing is a win over a big name on a main card. Moreover, on that same card, you could have Nick main event the show against someone like Mayhem or Robbie Lawler in a catchweight fight at something like 180.

So, does this make any sense to anyone else, or am I dreaming here? To me, this is by far the best and most logical choice to get that division to keep moving in Strikeforce. What do you guys think?

 

[Via Armbar]

So, I was on Sherdog, and came across this radio interview Nick Diaz did a couple of days before his fight against Marius Zaromskis. Of course I listened to it, and in it, the interviewer brought up Nick's run in the UFC, and one of the fights brought up was his fight against Karo Parisyan. In my opinion, even though Nick got screwed in that one, that fight is still an all-time classic. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, seek it out. It's great.

Anyway, hearing that name... it dawned on my, why the fuck isn't Karo Parisyan in Strikeforce? I mean, honestly... with their lack of depth in their Welterweight Division, he'd be a FANTASTIC addition.

So, with that said, there's a simple solution to all this. Sign Karo Parisyan, then book Karo vs. Jay Hieron on the MAIN CARD, with the winner of that fight getting a shot at Nick's Welterweight Title. Seriously, it couldn't be more win-win. Karo is already a well-respected fighter, who just needs a victory, while all Hieron is missing is a win over a big name on a main card. Moreover, on that same card, you could have Nick main event the show against someone like Mayhem or Robbie Lawler in a catchweight fight at something like 180.

So, does this make any sense to anyone else, or am I dreaming here? To me, this is by far the best and most logical choice to get that division to keep moving in Strikeforce. What do you guys think?

Im sure your aware of Karo's departure from the UFC right? And the circumstances under which he left? I think he's a liability to the company right now. He needs to get his personal demons handled before he steps into a cage again.

With that being said, yuor right about it being a classic fight. I think Parisyan is the best example of translating Judo into mma. Judo never really found its foothole int he sport and only had some success in the early 90's when the sport was less evolved and bjj hadnt become more popular. But the dudes judo is sick. Ive always felt he was an underated fighter and bad luck combined with some personal problems took his career of course.

If he can get his shit together i'd love to see a rematch. Theres alot of other good fight options he has in Strikeforce, as well as in the UFC still.

 

[jmt225]

Im sure your aware of Karo's departure from the UFC right? And the circumstances under which he left? I think he's a liability to the company right now. He needs to get his personal demons handled before he steps into a cage again.

The thing about that is from his side of the story, everything got fucked up because of the Las Vegas Athletic Commission. Assuming he's telling the truth, if he did sign with Strikeforce, then he wouldn't have to worry about that again, since Strikeforce never fights in Las Vegas anyway.

But yeah.. I thought someone would bring this up, and you do have a point to a certain extent, but if I was Strikeforce I would at least talk to the guy and see where his head is at. If everything's okay, then I'd sign him as soon as possible. I really think they need him right now.

With that being said, yuor right about it being a classic fight. I think Parisyan is the best example of translating Judo into mma. Judo never really found its foothole int he sport and only had some success in the early 90's when the sport was less evolved and bjj hadnt become more popular. But the dudes judo is sick. Ive always felt he was an underated fighter and bad luck combined with some personal problems took his career of course.

100% agree. People just lost all faith in him after the Alves fight, for some reason.