Conor vs Nate was a classic case of a cherry pick gone wrong

And Nate said a lot about how it seemed that they knew about the fight long in advance. RDA might have pulled out sooner, but they kept quiet about it, or they might have paid RDA to claim he was injured. They wanted a last minute Diaz fight so Conor could win and set up the GSP/Conor fight which would have been the biggest cash grab they've ever had. Bad cherry pick since even an out of camp Nate is in better shape than most fighters in camp.
 
Hi-Tech said:
Nate derailed the hype train big time and even Conor winning the rematch now can't change that. Conor was supposed to fight GSP at UFC 200, that's why the whole 170 limit. GSP was in the audience for that fight. Conor was supposed to call him out.

After RDA (another relative cherry pick over Edgar) was injured Nate was cherry-picked by Conor. A striker who doesn't take down people and is a relative draw because of his brother, it seemed like a perfect fight. At that time Conor seemed invincible in the stand up.

I think Conor vs Nate is up there in the history of the biggest cherry picks gone wrong with Broner vs Maidana and Martinez vs Cotto.
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Conor was suppoused to fight rda at 155
 
Hi-Tech said:
Make no mistake about it, Conor definitely regrets fighting Nate Diaz big time. He lost much more money in the long run than he made that night.
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That fight was meant to be the jump from mmas top draw to crossover mainstream sports stardom. But he slipped on the diving board and ate shit.

So much money lost in the long run, he and Dana blew it big $$$
 
You lost me when you said RDA was a cherry pick

If moving up a division to fight the champ is cherry picking then every fighter in the UFC cherry picks every single fight

Diaz sure but it was short notice. But RDA? Come on man be fair
 
Hi-Tech said:
I made this thread to point out what I thought was obvious to every hardcore MMA fan.

It's ridiculous that some people try to paint Conor fighting Nate as Conor "stepping up", "taking risks", "fighting the bigger man" when this seemed as by far the best possible option when it comes to risk vs award AT THE TIME.
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Picking Nate played into their built up narrative that Conor takes on all opponents no matter size or weight. They thought they could catch Nate sleeping after calling Conor out after the MJ win, Nate on vacation hopefully out of shape, on short notice, will strike. Most of all the things Conor likes in his short notice replacements. I too believe they wanted that GSP return @200 facing Conor. Dana & comapny wanted to build Conor into some legendary status instead it showed their star boy had major fight holes.
 
Arm Barbarian said:
For sure.

Both Conor and Dana saw it being a 'gimme' fight, as Nate wasn't even training (he was on vacation in Cabo), and they knew Diaz would stand and trade with McG, which plays into his strenghs.

But they both grossly underestimated Nates TOUGHNESS, and it blew up in their faces.
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Its always been a big weakness of Dana that he buys his own hype, Chuck/Rampage 2 was another obvious example.
 
definitely made the wrong choice

nates chin, reach, and cardio separate him from the other potential replacements. cowboy is a slow starter with less of a chin and reach. pettis has great kicks but doesnt have the hands or reach

it may be the biggest marketing blunder in the history of the ufc if conor loses the rematch. if this fight blows up bigger than ufc 200 and conor wrecks diaz, it looks like a marketing masterpiece. both conor and nates stock will have skyrocketed from these 2 fights
 
That's why cant wait next weekend.Some will laugh while others whine(dana).It will be fun...
 
A taller guy with weight and reach on him, a problem he had not yet faced, was cherry-picked? Also short - notice replacement back the fact he wasn't cherry-picked up also.

And the 170-limit to play in with GSP?? Once again, Conor was set to fight RDA and it woud be for the lightweight (155 pounds) belt.....

For a bunch of ppl that complained Conor fans were trolls, you all seem tobe just as if not more toxic with all the hate.
 
It was the biggest fight available at the time, Conor is confident enough to face any body, that is his biggest flaw IMO. That loss will ground him a bit hopefully and make him a better fighter, can't keep looking for those one hitters especially in the LW division. His stand up was at its best when he was fighting Holloway, who IMO is a better fighter then Nate.
 
Hi-Tech said:
I made this thread to point out what I thought was obvious to every hardcore MMA fan.

It's ridiculous that some people try to paint Conor fighting Nate as Conor "stepping up", "taking risks", "fighting the bigger man" when this seemed as by far the best possible option when it comes to risk vs award AT THE TIME.
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it's rewriting history. lots of lightweights stepped in to fight Conor. he chose Nate who wasn't fighting fit and didn't ask when Cerrone just finished camp, won his fight and was ready to go again...
 
CPH said:
Another reason why I loved that fight. Coddling goes a long way ...but then you run into Nate Diaz.
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Coddling? You realize he was supposed to fight RDA, but he stubbed his toe.
 
Stopped reading at RDA the current dominate lightweight champ at the time was a cherry picked opponent.
 
A
basementdweller said:
it's rewriting history. lots of lightweights stepped in to fight Conor. he chose Nate who wasn't fighting fit and didn't ask when Cerrone just finished camp, won his fight and was ready to go again...
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A lot of people forget hat a few fighters in camp called out Conor but they were completely ignored. Wish someone had taken screenshots of the call outs.
 
How about the fact that they approached several other fighters who turned it down before they went to Nate?
 
SmilinDesperado said:
Hm. Interesting. I hadn't seen that before.
.. I was trying to give the UFC a bit more credit as a sport..
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