After the judges announced their decision for the fight between Nate Diaz and Rory MacDonald at UFC 129, something must have snapped inside of Diaz.
The loss signified Diaz’s fifth loss in an eight-fight span and put his UFC career in jeopardy. The classic Diaz Brother’s lore was losing some of its luster.
What good was Nate’s intimidating stare and in-fight trash-talking if he wasn’t able to consistently have his hand raised at the end of his fights?
There has never been any question regarding the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills of either Diaz brother. Nate Diaz has made a name for himself by being effective on the ground. What sets him apart from other fighters is the damage he inflicts on opponents while being in the guard.
In most cases, a fighter will take down his opponent and be in an offensive position. This doesn’t hold true for an opponent of Diaz’s. Throughout his career he has been placed on his back only to continue his offensive attack. Whether it is by elbow, punches, or throwing his legs up for a triangle, Nate is a dangerous fighter regardless of his position.
As dangerous of a fighter he is, opponents were still managing to figure him out and win. Clay Guida, Joe Stevenson, Gray Maynard, Kim Dong-Hyun and Rory MacDonald all tasted victory over Nate Diaz between 2009 and 2011.
His losing streak can be attributed to being in the wrong weight class for his lanky build, but he also didn’t possess munch power in his punches.
This all changed at UFC 135 against Takanori Gomi. Back in the more comfortable lightweight division, Diaz showcased his fine-tuned boxing skills in battering Gomi to the ground and eventually winning the fight via armbar submission.
Nate Diaz continued his transformation into Nick Diaz 2.0 against Donald Cerrone at UFC 141. His boxing technique was reminiscent of his big brother’s fight against B.J. Penn. Nate landed 258 of 314 punches (82 percent), and never took the fight to the ground. It was a masterful performance filled with quick jabs, powerful combos and pinpoint accuracy.
Over his last two fights, Nate has morphed into another version of Nick. No longer is he a fighter that needs to shoot for take downs and get his opponent on their back. He is able to stand toe-to-toe with a stand-up style opponent and land powerful shots in the same way his brother has been for years.
Make no mistake about it, there is an entire camp Nate owes thanks to, but there may not be a more important person to credit his boxing transformation to than Richard Perez. Perez has worked with Nate extensively in adding power and precision to his boxing skill set. One cannot argue with the results thus far.
Now, Nate has boxing skills that are inching up to the same level as his brother. The trash-talking is right on par, and they are both phenomenal at BJJ. He just needs to string together another win or two and we may be talking about the Diaz brothers each holding a title in their respective divisions.
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