Nate Diaz must have been supremely confident he would throw Donald Cerrone off his worst bull ride last Friday in UFC 141 because he was one and a half inches longer—each of his arms, that is, compared to the Cowboy’s.
This genetic disparity favoring the The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 champion was already evident when Diaz suddenly extended his already-cocked right arm upward past Cerrone’s face during the pre-fight press conference, flipping off the Cowboy’s hat. The hat took off, elevated and flew further than any cowboy hat would if subjected only to an ordinary force leveraged by an average-length lightweight arm. (It was portentous of the coming pugilistic beatdown on Friday night.)
To further rub home his anatomical advantage and intimidate Cerrone, the cocky Diaz next stretched both arms forward and pushed away his adversary. Then Diaz gave the “See what my long tentacles can do to you?” look.
Diaz already won the fight at that juncture with his arm calisthenics; Cerrone must have been psyched out and realized that there was no way he could steer through that insurmountable three-inch reach advantage.
Come fight night, the Stockton, Calif. resident overwhelmingly out-boxed his adversary from Albuquerque, N.M.
When the dust settled after the first round, the otherwise-game Cowboy, indeed, looked like he fell off a bull.
The fall (or falls, left and right) must have hurt real bad as he didn’t even try to mount Diaz even when the latter fell on his butt numerous times due to heavy Muay Thai kicks.
The desperate calls from Cerrone’s fans for a ground-and-pound went unheeded time and time again. The Jackson’s Submission Fighting wrangler appeared abjectly fearful of what submission hold those long and Cesar Gracie-trained limbs could successfully ensnare him with.
At least, the Cowboy proved that he could kick like a horse though he could no longer ride even just a foal.
At the start of the third and final round, Diaz exercised his freedom of self-expression to the fullest by flashing dirty fingers, the left and the right, at the poor Cowboy.
Good thing it’s prohibited to strike with fingers—dirty or not—or Diaz’s reach advantage would have been further accentuated. The already demoralized Cerrone would have thought, “If he could tag me with his fists, then so much more with extended fingers!”
Is it safe to assume that what ultimately spelt the difference for the Diaz win was not his talent, skills, fighting heart, training or any other abstract concept?
Other fighters should be very wary of warriors like Diaz and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones—these two don’t just brush; they reach.
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