UFC Fight Night: Maynard vs. Diaz

[jmt225]

Main card

• Lightweight bout: Gray Maynard vs. Nate Diaz
• Lightweight bout: Efrain Escudero vs. Evan Dunham
• Middleweight bout: Tom Lawlor vs. Aaron Simpson
• Welterweight bout: Amir Sadollah vs. Brad Blackburn

Preliminary Card

• Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Jay Silva
• Welterweight bout: Rick Story vs. Jesse Lennox
• Lightweight bout: Thiago Tavares vs. Nik Lentz
• Welterweight bout: Mike Guymon vs. Rory MacDonald
• Lightweight bout: Kyle Bradley vs. Rafael dos Anjos
• Middleweight bout: Gerald Harris vs. Mike Massenzio
• Middleweight bout: Nick Catone vs. Jesse Forbes

...............................................................................................​

Very, very excited for the main event of this show.

For those who don't know, Nate Diaz and Gray Maynard fought each other during the 5th Season of The Ultimate Fighter, and Diaz controlled the entire fight, and finished Maynard off with a guillotine choke in the 2nd Round. Diaz went on to win the show, but is 1-2 in his last 3 fights, while Maynard is on a 6 fight win streak in the UFC, and with a win here, will be most likely given a shot at BJ Penn's Lightweight Championship.

So, very intriguing match-up. Maynard has obviously improved since TUF, in every aspect of his game. He's always been a great wrestler, but now his stand-up is better and his Jiu-Jitsu is there as well. And of course, Diaz has also improved, but his two losses were against wrestlers... did they expose him? Will Maynard be able to do to Diaz what Stevenson and Guida did (though, if you ask me, Diaz won both those fights, especially against Guida), or will Maynard decide to stand and trade with Diaz?

Of course, I'm a huge Diaz bros. fan, so I'm definitely rooting for Diaz to put Maynard away like he did when they first fought. And I have the utmost confidence in him doing so. Should be a great, very fun fight. Can't wait to see it.

As far as the rest of the card... meh. Only one-name fights, basically. Efrain Escudero vs. no name, Tom Lawlor vs. no name, and Amir Sadollah vs. no name. Now, looking at these no names wiki pages, they all actually seem pretty good on paper, but still... none of them have beaten anybody to gain any recognition, so it's hard to get excited for fights like these. Also, hopefully the Chris Leben fight makes the broadcast. He's always fun to watch, and I'm really rooting for him to make a comeback.

 

[kokobwareofdog]

I actually love the Fight Night cards for the simple fact that they expose a lot of up and coming fighters to the masses. Rafael Dos Anjos is a legit fighter, and like you said, Leben is always fun to watch!

 

[RAUl Mf. L0wk0]

So, very intriguing match-up. Maynard has obviously improved since TUF, in every aspect of his game. He's always been a great wrestler, but now his stand-up is better and his Jiu-Jitsu is there as well. And of course, Diaz has also improved, but his two losses were against wrestlers... did they expose him? Will Maynard be able to do to Diaz what Stevenson and Guida did (though, if you ask me, Diaz won both those fights, especially against Guida), or will Maynard decide to stand and trade with Diaz?

Nate is always improving, his bjj his awesome and he has above average striking. And i gotta agree with youu thoo Nate did win both those fights. Both Guida and Stevenson basically pinned him down and hold him especially Guida, they really gotta fix there point system but thats another disscussion.

I really cant wait for this card, especially im fans of both the Diaz Bros also. Even though i like Maynard and hes been a roll lately i see "Mr. Fight Night" Nate Diaz taking this! Maynard has improved since they last fought tho i see Maynard trying to stand with him for some reason and then taking to the ground like at the end of the 2nd which he will get submitted!...in my opinion anyways, WAR NATE! hhaha..

And isnt this fight some kind of number one contender kinda bout? Either way, I doubt either of these guys are ready for a shot at BJ Penn's title. And i wonder how they could throw Edgar into this mix, shit even Kenny Florian. We'll see how this plays out in a couple of months.

...And the rest of the Card im not really interested in maybe Efrain and Amir but there just giving them easy wins to build them upp. Chris Leben is always exciting to see, that if he even makes in on the show.

Kyle Bradley vs. Rafael dos Anjos? haha i see the loser of that fight eventually getting cut. dos Anjos did have a submission win not too long ago if im not mistaken, but whens the last time Kyle Bradleys won but good thing there prelims. But cant wait! xD!

 

[jmt225]

And isnt this fight some kind of numuber one contender kinda bout? Either way, I doubt either of these guys are ready for a shot at BJ Penn's title. And i wonder how they could throw Edgar into this mix, shit even Kenny Florian. We'll see how this plays out in a couple of months.

Right now, maybe maybe not.

The rumor is though that BJ is for sure going to put his Lightweight Title on the line at UFC 112, and as I type this, Frankie Edgar looks to be the top contender. However, you have to think that they're holding off announcing BJ's opponent to see what happens with Maynard vs. Diaz. If Maynard wins decisively, then I really don't see how Edgar would get a shot over him. However, if Diaz wins, then I see Edgar getting the shot. Diaz would have to win two or three more fights after this to get a shot at BJ, since after UFC 112, there's no doubt BJ will fight Takanori Gomi if/when Gomi beats Florian.

 

[Rizza]

Can't complain for a Fight Night card, I mean most of the main card fights are one named fights but we are going to get to see Maynard-Diaz on free TV, which pretty much makes up for it for me anyways. I like Nate Diaz, I always have, I have no problem with the way he(or his brother for that matter) hypes up a fight with plenty of smack talk, which I assume is why alot of people don't like him and I really don't care for Maynard, nothing against him, he is just sorta boring. This could go either way, Maynard could lay on him for 3 rounds and pull out the decision, but I think it is plenty possible for Nate to catch him a submission on the ground if Maynard makes one mistake, I don't think that Maynard has faced somebody with the Jiu-Jitsu of Diaz before so I think he might be in for some trouble there. Can't really call the stand up game, and I really don't think the fight will be on the feet for long either, I just hope like hell he wins, I say Diaz by 3rd round Guillotine.

Don't really care too much for some of the other fights, I hope Dunham beats Escudero dont really care for Efrain and Evan Dunham's KO over Per Eklund was badass.

I also want Amir Sodallah to pull one out, he really needs to get some more wins, that Baroni win still didn't cover up his disappointing loss to Johny Hendricks, he needs to win his next few fights if he wants to be a credible name and make everyone forget about that loss. Although, there is no shame in losing to Johnny Hendricks, he is a very, very talented fighter, who IMO is a diamond in the rough, the dudes for real.

 

[jmt225]

Man... what a disappointing main event.

Not only was the fight itself a disappointment, but so was the decision, as Diaz CLEARLY won Rounds 1 and 3. In Round 1, Maynard literally landed NOTHING. He was the aggressor, swinging for the fences, but regardless... abo****ely nothing hit Diaz, and while Diaz's shots didn't look too effective (enough for a cut, though), he was still at least landing a few of them. In Round 2, I'll give that to Maynard since he did land about 2 good punches, plus a knee that rocked Diaz. In the 3rd, Diaz completely controlled the ENTIRE Round. Maynard landed one decent shot, and that was it. Diaz on the other hand hit Maynard non-stop in that round. How could a judge possibly score that for Maynard? Makes no fucking sense. Again... what a disappointment. All you have to do to realize who won that fight is afterward look at Maynard and then look at Diaz. Maynard's face was busted up, while Diaz didn't have a scratch on him. Diaz won this fight, end of story. And personally, after seeing this I don't think Maynard deserves a shot at BJ Penn. Victory or not, that is not the type of win that earns a title shot. Besides, BJ would kill this guy within the first two minutes of the fight anyway, so what would be the point?

That said, Nate also isn't anywhere near BJ's league like I thought he was, either. I'll admit now that I've been hyping Nate way too much. He's a good fighter, but he's nowhere near the caliber fighter of his brother, Nick. Nowhere near. At least, not his boxing, anyway. I seriously think Nate ought to consider bulking up some and moving up to Welterweight. I don't think he can ever live up to his potential having to make that cut to 155 every fight, because while he clearly should have gotten the decision tonight, Diaz still looked pretty terrible in there.

Anyway, the undercard was still pretty good, regardless.

Amir Sadollah looked AWESOME in his fight against Brad Blackburn. I mean, his stand-up was absolutely spectacular. I was very, very impressed. I really believe this guy can be a future threat in the Welterweight Division. His Muay-Thai is excellent, and of course he's also pretty damn good on the ground, including off his back. I'm really, really looking forward to seeing this dude elevate to the fighter I think he can become, because not only is he exciting as shit to watch, but he seems like a great guy, as well.

Was it my imagination, or was Tom Lawlor's theme music tonight Hulk Hogan's WWF entrance song? I could of sworn I was hearing that damn song when the show came back from commercial and Lawlor and Simpson were standing in the octagon waiting for the announcements. Haha... anyway, as far as the fight itself... it was great. Lawlor came out kicking some serious ass. However, unfortunately for him, Simpson has a hell of a chin and Lawlor couldn't put him away, while also blowing his load at the same time. It was clear that Lawlor gassed towards the end of the 1st, and Simpson being the high caliber wrestler he is, of course didn't even get winded by the time the fight was completely over. Great heart shown by Simpson. Great heart. And even though he lost, it was still an impressive performance for Lawlor as well. He just needs to work on his gas tank, as it's obvious that he would have won this fight easily if he hadn't gassed out.

Efrain Escudero vs. Evan Dunham was a pretty damn good fight as well. I thought for sure that Efrain was going to cruise in this one after that first round, but you have to hand it to Dunham... that dude hung in there, weathered the storm, and made one hell of a comeback. Not only did he control Round 2 from the very start, but he was able to finish Efrain in the 3rd with an absolutely SICK armbar. Very impressive. This kid could be going places....

And lastly... it was nice to hear that Chris Leben won his fight against Jay Silva decisively. If you haven't heard, Leben won a unanimous decision with each judge scoring the fight 30-27. Hopefully this will be the first fight of a great comeback for Leben.

 

[Khalifa]

Well I have recently just started getting into MMA, and boy I love it. I mainly watch the Ultimate Figther seaons seeing as they will give me an idea on who is on the up and coming, and who has been there before etc etc.

I watched #5 the other day and wow, Diaz is just a machine. He will get beat and yet he will keep himself calm, and just keep going for submission after submisson. I dunno if he would have beaten Manny tho in the Finale but anyways. Diaz, yes is improving, and I am seeing him winning this one.

I will actually be expecting a TKO as Manyard will be expecting it to stay up because he think he will isn't as good at stand up as ground, so he will under estimate Diaz, then Diaz will knock him down and just keep on pounding. Fuck I love the like dog in Diaz, Just never giving up.

 

[INDYjon22]

This card was a bit of a let down, in my opinion. It had such potential to show case the smaller guys in the UFC but just did not live up to what I thought it was going to, especially for a show that was going head to head with the juggernaut known as Monday Night Raw, and I do not blame the fighters one bit. I know they have an incredible tough job and that tonight was just an off night.

Amir Sadollah versus Brad Blackburn was possible my favorite fight of the night. Not because it was all that great or memorable or anything, but because we finally got to see Amir Sadollah come out of his shell and show us the fighter that he is becoming. My god did his stand up look amazing or what? He was absolutely deadly with his strikes and he has made me a believer once again, much like he did on the Ultimate Fighter. If he continues improving, I see some great things for him in the future.

Tom Lawlor versus Aaron Simpson was another very good fight. I love me some Filthy Tom Lawlor and boy did he show up to fight in that first round. His stand up was the best that I have ever seen it. That being said, Aaron Simpson has some fucking heart. He took that beating like a man and came back strong. He really did deserve to win this fight. I would love to see some sort of rematch in the future between these two.

Efrain Escudero disappointed the hell out of me. He looked pretty good at the start of the fight but Evan Dunham showed some heart and came back to finish him. Good showing by Dunham but I do not see anything special in his future. Escudero on the other hand needs to learn from this loss and come back stronger.

The main event was the biggest disappointment of the night. I expected some fireworks between Maynard and Diaz and even though we got some shit talk neither man really let loose on the other. The fight really could have gone either way, though I did think Maynard won that fight. However, if he fights that way against BJ he will get his ass beat and badly at that.