Nick Diaz is going to lose to GSP. He will lose just as everyone loses to the long reigning king of the welterweight division—takedowns. What will transpire afterward will also be the same.
Diaz will complain about something: the judges, the commentators, Georges’ fighting style—something.
GSP will lament not being able to finish, despite not seeking any submissions and safely scoring points in Diaz‘s guard. He will explain to the fans that it is not as easy as it seems to finish a tough fighter like the Stockton bad boy.
How do I know? Watch GSP‘s fights. The pattern is as simple as an NCIS plot.
Diaz does not exude sportsmanship in victory nor in loss. Do not expect him to be gracious in accepting his decision loss to the champ. He will only have his weak takedown defense to blame, to which his stand-up straight, come forward fighting style is perfectly susceptible.
The fight will undoubtedly see Diaz score with some punches and GSP striking minimally (leg kicks most likely) to set up his shots, but there is no reason to believe that coach Greg Jackson will utilize a separate plan to defeat Diaz after his plan worked so well with Carlos Condit.
The Condit-Diaz affair was terribly anti-climatic and not at all entertaining. Carlos simply circled away toward a controversial decision that, surprise, Diaz vehemently disagreed with; it even prompted a self-induced retirement.
Disappointingly, the Johny Hendricks-Jake Ellenberger was substituted for a Hendricks-Condit clash. That would have been the most exciting fight on the card, and with Rory MacDonald off the card, it might just be that Jordan Mein will steal the show as he faces Dan Miller.
The surprise would be if the champ attempted to seek vengeance on the brash brawler and exacted the perceived comeuppance he has coming to him. However, this will be unlikely.
Be prepared to hear the Forum faithful chanting and cheering for the French-Canadian superstar. Do expect the judges to work all five rounds and to see Nick be taken down a lot. This will be a 25-minute wrestle-fest that will feature a disgruntled challenger expressing his discontentment at the tempo of the fight. Finally, expect the champion to avoid standing and exchanging.
The hype will tempt you to believe otherwise, but this will be a typical GSP win.
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