3 observations from the Diaz Lawler fight...

Diaz is not receiving enough heat for quitting in the octagon. While it was the smart thing to do for his brain, it is more shameful IMO than taping to strike.
This article disagrees with you, and says it better than I could.

I guess if you see things in a vacuum, you could say Diaz quit. But that’s unfair to Diaz and to all the men and women who fight for a living. To label someone who is locked in a cage and fighting another person, a coward or a quitter is a cheap shot and an oversimplification of a terribly complicated equation.

Diaz has been around the game to know what some see as bravery is sometimes nothing more than stupidity. Sure, he could have been “brave” and taken more of a beating from Lawler, but at what benefit? Would he make more money? No. Would he get a title shot? No. Knowing Lawler was the better man at UFC 266 and realizing and then admitting that going on would do nothing but get him hurt more than he already was, Diaz opted to do the wise thing. He admitted he was done and, in doing so, limited the damage by walking away from the fight.
I guess the only thing I might add is, if fans give shit to Nick Diaz and call him a coward or a quitter after his years of battles in the cage and octagon, who wouldn't get a pass? Or put another way, is there any fighter fans won't bash?

If you have a counter, please read the article first in it's entirety and then counter it. I'd love to hear it. Cheers.
 
Diaz is not receiving enough heat for quitting in the octagon. While it was the smart thing to do for his brain, it is more shameful IMO than taping to strike.
what he did was like tapping to strikes
 
I remember Shogun being absolutely shit on for tapping to strikes against a dominant Jones, yet Nick just refuses to stand up and everyone's cool with it.
yup. there's some serious denial going around here right now.
 
Nothing shameful about that performance. Diaz threw like 200 punches in the first two rounds. The constant pressure from Lawlor and the accumulated damage put a stop to Diaz. What's the point in getting more punches to the head when you know you have nothing left and can't win? Diaz actually fought well, he had a good performance, Lawlor was just better.
 
It was right in our face for the whole fight week what was going to happen. That's my only take away. Nick looked and sounded terrible. I hope he made good money.
 
What a curious fight. I wonder wtf Nick meant by his management messing up the fight? Either way, Lawler was the perfect opponent. Diaz accuracy is still pretty damn good without the speed. Just hope he saved his money and can chill from here on out.
 
I am in favor of quitting, just hate the hypocrisy of some. You are the only one btw who answered on the body shots observation. Seems like no one is talking about this.
Yeah I hate the weird double standard: tapping to a submission like an RNC is totally fine, but if you’re stuck underneath an opponent who’s beating your brains into mush and you can’t get out, tapping then is somehow unacceptable. Makes no sense.

And I totally think the body shot made the difference. I’m no doctor, but it sure seems like ppl who drink/used substances (like Cerrone, or Matt Brown) get absolutely melted when they’re hit in the liver. Apparently Nick does too now.
By the end of rd 1, I thought Nick was outstiking Robbie and was really going to put it on him in rd 2. That liver shot changed the whole fight.
 
I think a lot of people are forgetting the fact that Nick hasn't fought for 6 years and that he got old.
This is nothing new for nick.
The dude never fights.
Even before that 6 years/ the silva fight it was almost 2 years since he fought and another year before that. Not since 2011 has nick strung more one fight together in the space of a year .

let us address the real talk here. The dude was never as good as People make him out to be.
He literally has one win in his second tenure in the ufc against BJ Penn. A man half his size and fresh off of back to back losses to little francie Edgar.
Anyone decent nick fought in the ufc he lost to plain and simple.

When he re entered the ufc he was 28 years old and in his physical prime. There's no excuse.
He never evolved and is very one dimensional. Even in his forte of striking battles he would lose if anyone implemented any semblance of a gameplan or diverse kicking game.
Fun to watch but not a great mma fighter.
 
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Lawler was in amazing shape, looked like a beast. Nick was right to stop, he would have taken a pounding.
 
I think a lot of people are forgetting the fact that Nick hasn't fought for 6 years and that he got old.
Maybe but I also think that a lot of fans feel a sort of covenant between their expectations and the reality of the actual fight. Especially when they feel as though the fighter and/or promotion was responsible for setting said expectations. Whether they’re realistic or not.

Not saying that’s right or wrong, but I definitely think it happens. I know a fair number of people who should have been smart enough to know that Diaz wasn’t going to look like a world beater yet they still expected some version of the old Diaz back in action and were disappointed when that didn’t come to fruition.

But yeah, I think all doubt should have been removed as soon as a guy known for his cardio and fitness showed up 15 lbs overweight.
 
Lawler diazed Diaz: He did not put all his energy behind his punches. Kind of was going at around 60% which is what Diaz does all the time, which allowed him to keep the pressure constant.

After the fight, no one is talking about the body shots : While Diaz went down after eating some punches to the face, I think he quitted because of the many punches and kicks he received to the liver just before. You could tell he was fading following those.

Diaz is not receiving enough heat for quitting in the octagon. While it was the smart thing to do for his brain, it is more shameful IMO than taping to strike.

Are you sharing any of those views?

Everything except Diaz quitting and getting heat for that.

Come on man! If anything, Nick should be getting praise.
 
I'm not big at taping fights ahead of time like some for betting, but I did catch a lot of Robbie/Rory prior to this fight. I think people forgot how Lawler can fight standing since he's faced so many grapplers recently. He threw a lot of jabs and quick shots against Rory too. He kept a very high volume in a war. I was surprised people thought Diaz would wear him out because I don't view Lawler as a guy to wear out in a standup fight.
Lawler is also a fighter that has been seen just defending for 3 rounds and not doing anything, lately.
 
I remember Shogun being absolutely shit on for tapping to strikes against a dominant Jones, yet Nick just refuses to stand up and everyone's cool with it.

Everyone? Where have you been in the past 24hrs?
 
Nick pressured and took shots better than I thought he would. He seemed so calm and careless leading up to it. To say he showed up just for a check is nuts. Did you guys see Lawler's face after the fight?

UFC-266-Robbie-Lawler-post-fight-interview-.jpg


Facts: Nick hasn't fought in 6 years and 7 months, got put in a 5-round fight after his huge lay-off against a guy that loves to scrap just like him, went all the way to the 3rd round instead of just going out there and flopping at the first barrage. He showed up to win, but that's a huge time away and to return to Lawler is not an easy fight.

Smart to throw in the towel the way he did instead of trying to please the Just Bleed casuals that want to see Nick get his head smashed just to prove a point that he's willing to go out like a "man" instead of just calling things off the way he did.
 
Everything except Diaz quitting and getting heat for that.

Come on man! If anything, Nick should be getting praise.
I know, I should have added "compared to those who tapped to strike". I am in favor of quitting when you have no fight left.
 
My three takeaways in order of importance:
1) Nick should not fight anymore.
2) Nick should not fight anymore.
3) Nick should not fight anymore.
 
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