Nate Diaz Was and Continues to Be a Gift Matchup for Conor

legkicktko

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That doesn't mean Conor will win. I'm picking Nate again.

Nate has his strengths. His chin and his cardio do complicate things for Conor. But make no mistake, he is one of the most favorable matchup in the top 10. When I say he's a gift matchup, its not because he's an easy fight. Its because you'd be hard pressed to try and convince another guy in the top 10 to not out grapple Conor, not employ an elusive strategy, or a kick heavy strategy, but instead, just stand in front of him and throw bombs. That is as good a matchup as Conor can ask for at LW.

But here are the facts for all the fan girls who keep acting like he's the worst matchup in the division.


  • Nate is not fast or athletic
  • Nate has no threat of kicks
  • Nate has always had questionable defense. In other words, he doesn't get hit too much, but he is very bomb prone. When he does get hit, they are huge shots but he relies on his chin to keep him in the fight. (Remember that "no one can take the left hand", so it wasn't supposed to matter).
  • He has a steep ground advantage, but unlike most fighters at LW, he makes no effort to employ it. The only reason Conor got submitted is because he took the fight to the ground, not Nate.
  • Nate Takedown threat is non existent. Everyone knows the Diaz's brothers' weakness is wrestling.
  • Nate has been known to have very limited punching power. He can overwhelm you, but he is not a one-punch hurt you kinda guy, except against Conor apparently

Just think about it. Why on earth did the UFC give Conor the Diaz fight on short notice when Cerrone was also available, and willing to make the right weight?

Guys in the division like Cerrone, Ferguson, RDA, Khabib, Alvarez, etc. Would grapplefuck the living shit out of Conor, especially the Conor that showed up to fight Nate. They would rape him on the ground.

Just look at this takedown defense
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This could be the only fucking single leg Diaz hits his entire career.
 
"Gift match up for Conor but I'm picking Nate"

?????
 
Wrong Nate is the worst match up for Conor. Conor style is about backing up fighters till they fold and crumble. Nate was only stopped 1 time in over 30+ fights so realistically its near an impossible task to stop Nate with a finish. Conor took the hardest fight as he mainly a striker.

Cowboy chin would not survive that onslaught be realistic. Nate is the closet thing to Rocky MMA has right now. Nate has holes with he game, but he just never stops till the fight is over.
 
not fast or athletic? diaz bros are probably the most athletic with an insane gas tank. no defense? they have the best boxing technique in mma. you sound a bit naive on the diaz bros
 
Wrong Nate is the worst match up for Conor. Conor style is about backing up fighters till they fold and crumble. Nate was only stopped 1 time in over 30+ fights so realistically its near an impossible task to stop Nate with a finish. Conor took the hardest fight as he mainly a striker.

Cowboy chin would not survive that onslaught be realistic. Nate is the closet thing to Rocky MMA has right now. Nate has holes with hes games but he just never stops till the fight is over.
Cowboy would hit a takedown on bamby 10 seconds into the fight and submit him. Again, part of what makes Nate a gift matchup is that he's practically guaranteed to stand and trade punches.
 
not fast or athletic? diaz bros are probably the most athletic with an insane gas tank. no defense? they have the best boxing technique in mma. you sound a bit naive on the diaz bros
I'm pretty much indifferent with Nate. Regardless, I wasn't talking about their cardio. When I say athletic, I'm speaking of speed, power, explosiveness, suddenness, etc. They are not gifted at all in those areas. They aren't fast twitch at all.

Also, their boxing is great, offensively, but both are extremely tag prone. Hence why they get a chance to show off their amazing chins nearly every fight.
 
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Cowboy would hit a takedown on bamby 10 seconds into the fight and submit him. Again, part of what makes Nate a gift matchup is that he's practically guaranteed to stand and trade punches.

Conor did fine in the first round against Nate was beating him up. Nate beat Cowboy up. If Conor unloaded on Cowboy it be over fast.
 
I don't think I ever bought into the idea that Nate was a tailor-made match up for Conor. The only thing tailor made about the match up was that Nate wasn't gonna take Conor down, but in terms of striking, Nate might have been the worst style fight in the LW division. He's tall, lanky, doesn't get tired and can take a punch really well. He's not fast, but it doesn't really matter because when your punches slow down eventually, his just don't. There's not that many guys in the LW division that would have taken the punches from Conor that Nate took.
 
I'm pretty much indifferent with Nate. Regardless, I wasn't talking about their cardio. When I say athletic, I'm speaking of speed, power, explosiveness, suddenness, etc. They are not gifted at all in those areas.

Also, their boxing is great, offensively, but both are extremely tag prone. Hence why they get a chance to show off their amazing chins nearly every fight.


nate puts himself in trouble in the pocket or baits a fighter in and capitalizes on a counter. nate has hand speed to hit you with a left jab and already come back with the right jab. nate has been a top contender in the uff for a very long time, connor just got started. as far as styles are concerned, nate has this second fight in the bag.
 
nate puts himself in trouble in the pocket or baits a fighter in and capitalizes on a counter. nate has hand speed to hit you with a left jab and already come back with the right jab. nate has been a top contender in the uff for a very long time, connor just got started. as far as styles are concerned, nate has this second fight in the bag.
Possibly. Don't get me wrong, I think Nate is the better fighter (albeit I wouldn't count Conor out completely). When I say he's a gift matchup, I mean style wise strictly. Conor has huge weaknesses that Nate likely won't even try to exploit.
 
I don't think I ever bought into the idea that Nate was a tailor-made match up for Conor. The only thing tailor made about the match up was that Nate wasn't gonna take Conor down, but in terms of striking, Nate might have been the worst style fight in the LW division. He's tall, lanky, doesn't get tired and can take a punch really well. He's not fast, but it doesn't really matter because when your punches slow down eventually, his just don't. There's not that many guys in the LW division that would have taken the punches from Conor that Nate took.
That's the false argument that too many people make though. I don't know if there is another LW period who would stand in front of Conor and trade like that, throwing caution to the wind. So you might look at a guy like RDA and say: "Oh he couldn't take the same shots Diaz did." But the thing is, he wouldn't have to. He doesn't stand in the pocket and block punches with his face like Nate. He would have gone for a takedown 10 seconds into the fight.
 
Did you not get the underlined part?

Conor is very dangerous in the first round has been in all hes fights. You saw how explosive he was in the 1th round against Nate.. Cowboy folded against RDA in 1 round. Conor would be just too much for Cowboy to handle. I think he beats must fighters who can't take those power shots. Nate is just a one of a kind type of fighter and if Conor can beat him even stop in a rematch hes just did something to Nate that fighters at WW could not do!
 
Conor is very dangerous in the first round has been in all hes fights. You saw how explosive he was in the 1th round against Nate.. Cowboy folded against RDA in 1 round. Conor would be just too much for Cowboy to handle. I think he beats must fighters who can't take those power shots. Nate is just a one of a kind type of fighter and if Conor can beat him even stop in a rematch hes just did something to Nate that fighters at WW could not do!
You still didn't read it... Cerrone goes for takedowns when he fights dangerous strikers or anyone he has a steep advantage against on the ground. He took down Cote right away in their fight, He shot on Edson Barboza in the first 6 seconds as soon as Edson exploded for the first time. He also did it to the other Cowboy dude. To assume Conor would have the first round to unload is ridiculous. He doesn't possess the skills to keep the fight standing.
 
That's the false argument that too many people make though. I don't know if there is another LW period who would stand in front of Conor and trade like that, throwing caution to the wind. So you might look at a guy like RDA and say: "Oh he couldn't take the same shots Diaz did." But the thing is, he wouldn't have to. He doesn't stand in the pocket and block punches with his face like Nate. He would have gone for a takedown 10 seconds into the fight.

I'm not doubting that RDA might not open himself up to those kind of shots, all I'm saying is that he wouldn't be able to if Conor landed any of the several punches he landed on Diaz. No one is saying that RDA is a good match up for Conor, but Nate isn't the easiest he could ask for.
 
I'm not doubting that RDA might not open himself up to those kind of shots, all I'm saying is that he wouldn't be able to if Conor landed any of the several punches he landed on Diaz. No one is saying that RDA is a good match up for Conor, but Nate isn't the easiest he could ask for.
I see what you're saying. Yeah, I think the fact that Nate guarantees you a stand up fight, with no kicks or "KO power" (at least that's what they said before the fight), to me makes him a favorable matchup. What I'm basically saying is that there aren't many lightweights who wouldn't try to expose Conor on the ground. Even strikers like MJ are far more elusive and fast than Nate which presents different problems. I feel Nate is favorable in that him and Conor have the exact same gameplay and neither will exploit the others weak area.
 
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