How good would have been Nick Diaz chances to become a champion post GSP retirement?

DanDragon Machi

DanDragon Machi

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If Nick had remained active during that golden WW era between 2014 and 2016? The best fighters of that period were Lawler, Rory Mcdonald, Carlos Condit and Jonny Hendricks

Honestly i think that Nick has tools to beat three of the four. Hendricks would be pretty unlikely to Nick win because his wrestling. On the other hand I don't think Hendricks had a bjj defensively good enough to confortably play his game on Diaz's guard
I think Rory would be the favorite in this fight because besides having good takedowns he could survive from Demian's ground
 
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NoStoneUnturned said:
I liked Strikeforce Nick back in the day but the UFC WW division has too many solid grapplers for a fighter like Nick to climb to the top.
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But Condit nearly became a champion (many people thinks he won Lawler) having a grappling way inferior than Nick
 
DanDragon Machi said:
But Condit nearly became a champion (many people thinks he won Lawler) having a grappling way inferior than Nick
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Having to use the word nearly kind of kills the argument :)

Nick just couldn't walk into the ring and dictate terms like GSP, Hendriks, Woodley, Condit (to some degree), Usman, Lawler, etc, etc.

Nick was slow and needed the other guy to over commit and do something stupid. The guys with grappling skills knew to avoid going to the ground with Nick and because Nick couldn't dictate terms (due to a lack of athleticism) the fight was always going to stay standing. So now it becomes slow Nick vs plug in better athlete's name here. The "better" grapplers (or those with IQ) simply said, nah, we aren't going there. Being a good grappler sometimes means understanding when not to go there. Nick was slick and well conditioned. Better athletes said nope, no chance.
 
Not good at all. He's just a brawler with jitz. Think of him as a low level T ferg not in his prime. Entertaining though.
 
GluttonforPunishment said:
Not good at all. He's just a brawler with jitz. Think of him as a low level T ferg not in his prime. Entertaining though.
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That is a terrible assessment. Nick lacked athleticism but maximized his conditioning (early in his career). He tried very hard to lure the other guy into a brawl because his boxing was often times quite a bit better than his opponents. Nick's body shots were a thing of beauty, but he needed the other guy to be dumb, mad, or both. Nick was also fine with being taken down, but again, he needed the other guy to hang around on the ground with him (too slow to launch into dynamic submissions). Most top guys understood that was a mistake. Nick's fight IQ is not to ever be equated to that of brawler. He understood perfectly well what he needed to do, he unfortunately needed help to execute his plan.
 
NoStoneUnturned said:
Having to use the word nearly kind of kills the argument :)

Nick just couldn't walk into the ring and dictate terms like GSP, Hendriks, Woodley, Condit (to some degree), Usman, Lawler, etc, etc.

Nick was slow and needed the other guy to over commit and do something stupid. The guys with grappling skills knew to avoid going to the ground with Nick and because Nick couldn't dictate terms (due to a lack of athleticism) the fight was always going to stay standing. So now it becomes slow Nick vs plug in better athlete's name here. The "better" grapplers (or those with IQ) simply said, nah, we aren't going there. Being a good grappler sometimes means understanding when not to go there. Nick was slick and well conditioned. Better athletes said nope, no chance.
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Carlos Condit couldn't dictate nothing against Diaz. He used the most conservative strategy possible, almost running away from his own style
 
NoStoneUnturned said:
That is a terrible assessment. Nick lacked athleticism but maximized his conditioning (early in his career). He tried very hard to lure the other guy into a brawl because his boxing was often times quite a bit better than his opponents. Nick's body shots were a thing of beauty, but he needed the other guy to be dumb, mad, or both. Nick was also fine with being taken down, but again, he needed the other guy to hang around on the ground with him (too slow to launch into dynamic submissions). Most top guys understood that was a mistake. Nick's fight IQ is not to ever be equated to that of brawler. He understood perfectly well what he needed to do, he unfortunately needed help to execute his plan.
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Condit did a "smart" fight agains't him and and could have lost that fight (in opinion of lots of people, he did). Diaz took him down and ended the fight in his back
 
DanDragon Machi said:
Carlos Condit couldn't dictate nothing against Diaz. He used the most conservative strategy possible, almost running away from his own style
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Even that is still Condit dictating where the fight, or lack thereof, happens. Nick wasn't fast enough to cut off the ring (consistently) and didn't have the speed required to hit a takedown from distance (consistently). Nick and Nate need the other guy to engage.
 
NoStoneUnturned said:
Even that is still Condit dictating where the fight, or lack thereof, happens. Nick wasn't fast enough to cut off the ring (consistently) and didn't have the speed required to hit a takedown from distance (consistently). Nick and Nate need the other guy to engage.
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And yet it was a very close fight
 
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