Surprised so many pros picking Diaz over Henderson

[Joe_Armstrong]

It's because Diaz finishes fights.
No fan of both, but Nate has some sick subs.
When he was young he was already training and
getting subbed by bigger guys.

He subbed Miller. And he might get it saturday.

 

[BackyardBandit]

yea i notice pros tend to pick the challenger alot of the time as well

 

[PRIDExxFC]

The pros picked Mir over Carwin.

 

[Thanatos2]

Mir over Carwin? lol

I saw Carwin ko-ing Mir a mile away. Mir's way to chinny to fight guys with that kind of power.

 

[Metallicalabran]

Um? According to the sherdog vote I believe 2/3ths of Sherdog have Nate winning.
According to casino odds I believe its +125 Nate -125 Bendo. Those are almost dead even odds.
So what are we facing again?

My all time favorite fighter is Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz is awesome too... but two facts:

- Pro Fighters ALWAYS pick his friends/teammates when reporters ask them.

- A well rounded wrestler ALWAYS gonna be favorite against the Diaz brothers, did you even see rory macdonald vs nate diaz?? this fight is gonna be very similar.

Sadly because i really like the diaz, and i want them to be champions, but is impossible for them against wrestlers like GSP, Bendo, or MacDonald.

 

[Metallicalabran]

yea i notice pros tend to pick the challenger alot of the time as well

pros pick ALWAYS, his friends and team mates, what pros picks means NOTHING

 

[Gio]

I'd like to add that pros pick Sonnen prior to the Silva/Sonnen 2 fight
It was like Sonnen - 10, Andy 3
That's about it

 

[SickSouthpaw]

Nate is a beast but he's fighting the wrong type of guy right about now. Strong wrestler, add in the taekwondo and Ben will be a f'n handfull for Nate. Only way Nate wins is if he catchs him in a exchange n knocks him out. If not, I see Nate gettin manhandled over 5rds.

 

[Francis Rossi]

ever evolving game.

What, walking forward throwing air punches?

 

[BackyardBandit]

pros pick ALWAYS, his friends and team mates, what pros picks means NOTHING

not EVERY pro is friends or teammates with the fighters in question

 

[tdluxon]

In his welterweight stint, he got manhandled by Rory Macdonald and Dong Hyun Kim. In his previous stint at lightweight, he got outwrestled by Joe Stevenson, Gray Maynard and Clay Guida. Ben Henderson has very good wrestling, he's very strong, very athletic and explosive.

I never really though of Henderson as an especially good wrestler or being really strong for the LW division. He's definitely not as strong or as good of a wrestler as some of the guys your listing (who are welterweights). I'd say Maynard is a much better wrestler too.

 

[Metallicalabran]

not EVERY pro is friends or teammates with the fighters in question

a half at least... thats enough.

the pros picks are always extremely biased.

 

[Kinku]

Nate is a beast but he's fighting the wrong type of guy right about now. Strong wrestler, add in the taekwondo and Ben will be a f'n handfull for Nate. Only way Nate wins is if he catchs him in a exchange n knocks him out. If not, I see Nate gettin manhandled over 5rds.

Naw, the way Nate fights he press foward Ben will just snipe him. This will be a stand up fight for sure I dont see them taking it to the ground at all.

 

[Islam Imamate]

I actually see this being a bad match up for Bendo. I may be biased though.
I also think Bendos sub defense and cardio is really overrated. It was pretty clear he gassed during the first Cerrone fight and the Pettis fight. He was spamming TDs and looked like a wrestler who was gassed holding on to the ankles of his opponent. I also don't see how close submissions make you hard to submit. If anything that just shows you are submission prone. A guy with good sub defense would never be caught in those positions. Nate has the technique to finish close submissions that Cerrone and others couldn't. He really only got out of those spots because of his strength. Strength isn't going to work with Nates level of BJJ.

Only way I see Bendo winning is if he takes Diaz down and works that standing up GNP from the guard and pound on Nate like he did in his first fight with Cerrone. He just can't gas or fight the way he did in the latter parts versus Cerrone because if he does, Nate is finishing him. Taking Nate down is an issue too, he seemed to leave his neck out there with his TDs. Nate can sub him if he does leave his neck out there.

I agree with a lot of what you said and I'd like to add Nate showed improved TDD against miller so taking him down isn't going to be easy and using leg kicks isn't going to be easy either given Cerrone wasn't able to do it and he's likely a better kicker

 

[IIIIIIII]

i'm guessing that a lot of these picks for diaz, are a result of his fighting style.

they're pretty much saying that they want diaz to win. that's my general impression, anyway.

 

[Ring Rust]

Coutre picked Diaz and Couture is usually wrong... I actually think he may always be wrong. Who has he picked in Jon Jones's fights? I'm sure he's done predictions for those fights.

 

[hot carl]

thanks for teh info.

i was surprised that the pros picks were as inaccurate as they were.

 

[aali14]

Rooting for Diaz but predicting Bendo to take it

 

[Tony-The-Tiger]

Nate has had trouble with wrestlers in the past, but his last few fights he has looked like a demon.

Nate by beast mode.

 

[Texan6533]

I'm not, Diaz is a good fighter and has proven his worth. Although I'm picking Bendo, I think Diaz will give him a good fight.