Yeah I definitely think Diego was not cutting weight properly at 155. He easily had the frame to do it but he seemed completely flat and lacking power. Maybe he should have hired that fraud Mike Dolce, remember him?
Yes the Guida fight (like the later Melendez fight) gets wildly overrated by people who only remember about 30 seconds of it. Both are actually fairly lackluster for the most part and a far cry from what Diego used to be.
I actually think that Diego would have remained a contender at 170 for a while if he had stayed at Jackson's but I think the quality of his coaching went WAY downhill after which led to him becoming a wild brawler compared to the more well rounded fighter he once was.
Like many of the Jackson fighters, his offensive BJJ was wildly overrated and I do agree with everyone that his striking was nowhere near as good as it was hyped to be but with that being said, I do give him a slight chance at 170 against Penn in that hypothetical fight.
Penn had the striking advantage and the BJJ advantage but I can't act like the BJ who fought Diego/Sherk/Florian was the version we most often saw. BJ was known to have wildly inconsistent performances and often faded after a strong first round so I absolutely think a non-depleted Diego could make things interesting in the late rounds if Penn didn't show up on his A game.
I highly doubt he would stop BJ but a grinding comeback decision was absolutely possible IMHO. I also think Sherk probably would have beaten BJ if he didn't have a mental breakdown and decide to become a striker in his last few fights.
GSP would beat Diego 100 times out of 100 though IMO
