Did Nick Diaz waste his prime years?

[The Schmoop]

He would’ve never been anything special in the wrestler heavy welterweight division. Fun to watch but he never adapted his ground game or boasted anything that resembles TDD. He’s good on the mat but he was also easily controlled on his back. When he fought people with good cardio that he couldn’t drown, he looked average. I don’t know if it was his pride or what but he never figured out how to compete against wrestlers.

 

[Blond]

Eh the future wasn't looking too bright for him after the Anderson fight - he was over 30, 35 fights into his career, taken ton of damage and mentally burned out.

Look at how well his rival in Carlos Condit did post 2015 - gained virtually nothing from his activity other than some prelim bucks. Same goes for most other top WWs from that era.

 

[Ronin13]

You mean the guy who spent the last 10 years of his athletic prime partying and doing triathlons?

Hard to say.

You have a pretty compelling point there. Wasting it would be not having fun. Go balls deep while you can.

 

[Ghostoftheville]

Did he waste his prime? Only if you mean did he waste years of earning potential. It's not like Nick was about to be UFC champion.
The suspension cost him a little more than a year from his last fight. The man doesn't like fighting, I don't believe he wants to fight and he was getting figured out, he was done.

 

[RockyLockridge]

He started young his prime was earlier.

 

[The Renegade]

As a fighter? Of course. But if he legitimately hates fighting and is actually a multimillionaire then he did pretty fucking well for himself.

 

[Deleted member 359865]

it was the beginning of the end after they unnecessarily cancelled Nick Diaz vs GSP the first time. He was motivated in his prime and on an incredible run but then he was given BJ Penn for no reason and you can tell his motivation started to dip sharply after.

 

[Dude Incredible]

Eh the future wasn't looking too bright for him after the Anderson fight - he was over 30, 35 fights into his career, taken ton of damage and mentally burned out.

Look at how well his rival in Carlos Condit did post 2015 - gained virtually nothing from his activity other than some prelim bucks. Same goes for most other top WWs from that era.

It deeply hurts me to post this but - One was a fucking title fight, the next was a headliner, and the rest were on the main card. As was his most recent with Matt Brown. Maybe not the court McGee fight. He was not relegated to just getting 'prelim bucks'

 

[Dude Incredible]

It looks like we might find out if they are actually a waste or not.
Dana White Changes Outlook on Nick Diaz Return: ‘It’s Looking Promising’ (sherdog.com)

 

[Bluntforce420]

He fought through his prime

When you start at 18 and fight more than 35 times, your prime ends at a younger age than most. He missed out on a couple big paychecks for sure, but he had peaked in terms of fighting ability

 

[panem-et-circenses]

He had his big moment. Lost. I think that was the last real hurrah. Diaz built a brand without the UFC, had fun fights, part of infamous mma moments, and should be commended.

 

[ocfightfan]

I guess that depends on what Nick wants out of life. If his goal was to be the best in the world, or to win championships, or to make a lot of money, then yes. But if he just wanted a house to hang out in with his buddies and to smoke dope all day then probably not.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Yes but he's been fighting for a very long time .

Imo Nick has mismanaged his career pretty badly but then again he said he's been fighting this entire time to survive

 

[gluehuffer1776]

he chose pot over success.

 

[panem-et-circenses]

it was the beginning of the end after they unnecessarily cancelled Nick Diaz vs GSP the first time. He was motivated in his prime and on an incredible run but then he was given BJ Penn for no reason and you can tell his motivation started to dip sharply after.

I think that was a misstep too. But BJ Penn was a softball. After the fight… we all remember the callout. It’s one of those iconic mma moments. I think he was motivated, It’s just that GSP was always going to beat Nick. The missing of the press conference and the weirdness leading up to the championship fight — Diaz being Diaz.

 

[TheGreatA]

I think we already saw his prime. He made the right call to retire early. Probably going to appreciate it as he gets older.

 

[560ti]

As much as I loved Nick, he has to be one of the most overrated popular fighters. He had a few good wins. But for the most part, he lost when faced with good competition.

Agreed. Loved how his fans bitched about Condit when reality was Condit went on to have 4 more FOTN performances and arguably won the belt.

What did Diaz do ? 2 boring ass fights, bitched about retirement every 6 months, and most notable moment was a streamed court hearing.

Look at how well his rival in Carlos Condit did post 2015 - gained virtually nothing from his activity other than some prelim bucks

To be fair Condit arguably won the WW title in 2016 so he did a little more than chase prelim bucks post 2015 (not only that he only fought on the prelims once in that entire 6 year span)

 

[Deleted member 359865]

I think that was a misstep too. But BJ Penn was a softball. After the fight… we all remember the callout. It’s one of those iconic mma moments. I think he was motivated, It’s just that GSP was always going to beat Nick. The missing of the press conference and the weirdness leading up to the championship fight — Diaz being Diaz.

he may have still lost but I do think it would have been a lot more competitive then when it actually went down, he also had that weird ass fight with Condit when Greg Jackson's point fighting was taking over MMA.

 

[Garnet_StrongerThanYou]

Did you waste your prime years?

 

[OrigFan255]

You mean the guy who spent the last 10 years of his athletic prime partying and doing triathlons?

Hard to say.

Are we talking about Arona?