Author: Matt Saccaro

UFC 143 Results: Why Jon Fitch Should Be Nick Diaz’s Next Opponent

Enigmatic UFC welterweight Nick Diaz shouldn’t retire. If he wises up and decides not to, Jon Fitch needs to be his next opponent.The fight between Nick Diaz and Jon Fitch would be the smartest match to make, as both men are coming off losses. It …

Enigmatic UFC welterweight Nick Diaz shouldn’t retire. If he wises up and decides not to, Jon Fitch needs to be his next opponent.

The fight between Nick Diaz and Jon Fitch would be the smartest match to make, as both men are coming off losses. 

It would also be an easier sell than most other of Fitch’s fights, since Fitch seems to harbor a genuine dislike for Diaz.

However, the fight has an additional level of importance to it, aside from the matchmaking logistics of the welterweight division and pay-per-view buys.

The fight between Diaz and Fitch would be one that finally forces the MMA community to face the “exciting vs. boring” debate and settle it once and for all; MMA fans will move on and start a new era without fruitless debates about entertainment value after the fight is over.

Fitch is (wrongfully) a hated figure because he’s been successful in the UFC without providing fans with highlight reel KOs or submissions. Because of this, people think he’s a “boring” wrestler who only employs “lay and pray” tactics against his adversaries; he’s not really fighting, he’s competing/wrestling (so his detractors believe).

Some go as far as to consider a win achieved via wrestling and superior top control or “grinding” an opponent against the cage not a win at all—they call it not losing.

On the opposite side of Fitch is Diaz.

Diaz is a scrappy individual who talks trash, taunts and is always seeking to finish the fight quickly, and always puts on a show for the fans. As Bleacher Report lead MMA writer Jonathan Snowden noted, when Diaz is in the cage it’s not a sport, it’s a fight.

But which fighter and fanbase is “right”?

Is it better to be exciting or safe? Does it matter as long as you win?

Such questions would underline all of these issues heading into a Diaz-Fitch fight, and the questions would finally be resolved once one man’s hand is raised. 

Either “lay and pray” would finally be vindicated to fans or would forever rest in the ash heap of MMA history.

 

 

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UFC 143 Results: Questions Answered and Lessons Learned

UFC 143 is in the history books. Carlos Condit has shockingly upset Nick Diaz, and Fabricio Werdum battered Roy “Big Country” Nelson.There were other fights and happenings throughout the night that taught the MMA world crucial lessons and answered impo…

UFC 143 is in the history books. Carlos Condit has shockingly upset Nick Diaz, and Fabricio Werdum battered Roy “Big Country” Nelson.

There were other fights and happenings throughout the night that taught the MMA world crucial lessons and answered important, lingering questions posed by fans and pundits alike.

What were these fights and happenings, and what did they teach us? Read and find out!

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UFC 143 Fight Card: Which UFC 143 Fighter Has the Most to Gain?

On every UFC fight card, there are fighters who stand to gain a lot. But at UFC 143, no one has more to gain than the unheralded Carlos Condit.Condit is the proverbial dark horse in the welterweight division and not through any fault of his own.He’s an…

On every UFC fight card, there are fighters who stand to gain a lot. But at UFC 143, no one has more to gain than the unheralded Carlos Condit.

Condit is the proverbial dark horse in the welterweight division and not through any fault of his own.

He’s an exciting fighter who finishes yet, he’s not the one people want to see.

Instead, the people want to see the brash, fiery Nick Diaz take on his dramatic foil, the clean-cut, well-spoken, cordial (although some would say bland) UFC welterweight champion Georges St.Pierre.

So anticipated was this fight that a St.Pierre-Condit meeting was actually scrapped to allow St.Pierre-Diaz to happen.

UFC brass even insisted that Condit himself understood that this fight needed to happen so he supposedly stepped down of his own volition. The truth was later revealed; Condit did NOT give up a title shot just for the novelty of seeing a true “good guy vs. bad guy” fight at welterweight.

Thus, Condit is going into his fight with Diaz with a massive chip on his shoulder; he’s the guy who’s supposed to lose so that one of the biggest feuds in the sport can finally be resolved.

But what if this doesn’t happen? What if a wrench gets thrown into the machinations of matchmaker Joe Silva and Condit actually defeats Diaz?

He will have stolen the considerable amount of thunder that Diaz has acquired over the last few years and will have instantly made himself into a name.

Diaz vs. Condit is the most high-profile fight on the card and is the most important fight in terms of implications on MMA as a whole. 

If Condit wins, he’ll go from being a WEC guy who got lucky a few times to being a legitimate contender for St.Pierre’s title. 

And who knows, he may even win it.

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20 MMA Cliches We Never Want to Hear Again

There are cliches and then there are cliches so heinous and widespread that they evoke intense feelings of nausea and lunacy.Well…maybe they’re not that bad, but they’re bad for sure.Whether it’s an overused phrase, a false belief about a fighter or …

There are cliches and then there are cliches so heinous and widespread that they evoke intense feelings of nausea and lunacy.

Well…maybe they’re not that bad, but they’re bad for sure.

Whether it’s an overused phrase, a false belief about a fighter or group of fighters, or axiomatic truths that don’t deserve the name, we hope that MMA evolves past these horrific cliches and that we never have to hear them again.

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UFC on FOX 2 Results: Which Is Easier to Sell, Silva-Sonnen or Jones-Evans?

The UFC has two guaranteed grudge matches coming up: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II and Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans.But which is the easier fight to sell?Without a doubt, it’s Silva vs. Sonnen II.First, Silva and Sonnen have already fought once, whi…

The UFC has two guaranteed grudge matches coming up: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II and Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans.

But which is the easier fight to sell?

Without a doubt, it’s Silva vs. Sonnen II.

First, Silva and Sonnen have already fought once, which gives their feud more legitimacy and more fire.

Sonnen was the first man in the UFC to give Silva a beating, and fans remember that. They also remember Sonnen’s unbelievable, pro wrestler-like ability to “cut a promo”—or talk trash.

The UFC hype machine will have amazing ads for the Silva-Sonnen II fight that will no doubt highlight Sonnen’s words and his beatdown of Silva (as well as Silva’s ultimate victory).

Secondly, the fight is taking place in Brazil. That alone makes it a massive event rather than just another title fight.

However, Jones-Evans isn’t without its selling points, either.

It’s a classic “friends turned enemies” grudge match between the next big thing, Jon Jones, and the former champion, Rashad Evans.

The two legitimately don’t like each other (that phrase is thrown out a lot only to have the combatants hug after the fight, but in this case, it’s true) and a fight between them would definitely be easy to sell; the trash talk wouldn’t be cheesy or forced or “fake WWE stuff” like Sonnen’s is accused of being by fans who can’t handle it.

Nevertheless, Sonnen-Silva II is a much more anticipated fight and therefore, it is a bigger sell.

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UFC on FOX 2 Results: Was Phil Davis Pushed Too Far Too Fast?

At UFC on FOX 2, it was proven that Phil Davis wasn’t on the same level as Rashad Evans. But this doesn’t mean that Davis was pushed too far, too fast.In truth, the timing was just right.Davis had beaten gatekeepers, he had beaten journeymen and he had…

At UFC on FOX 2, it was proven that Phil Davis wasn’t on the same level as Rashad Evans. But this doesn’t mean that Davis was pushed too far, too fast.

In truth, the timing was just right.

Davis had beaten gatekeepers, he had beaten journeymen and he had beat a fringe contender in Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (a.k.a. “Little Nog”).

Thus, the next logical step was putting Davis in against a legit contender, which just happened to be Rashad Evans.

As it turned out, Evans was better than Davis in every department of MMA. Even Davis’ vaunted Penn State wrestling background couldn’t stop him from being beaten down.

But this doesn’t mean he was “rushed.”

For example, look at UFC middleweight Chris Weidman who also fought on FOX.

Weidman has less fights than Davis, took his fight against a contender—Demian Maia—on short notice and still came out on top!

There is no excuse for Davis; he simply got beat and wasn’t good enough. If he doesn’t work to build up his overall MMA game, he’ll never be.

Davis is fighting from a different era, an era where you could excel at wrestling and just be proficient in the other disciplines and have great success.

That doesn’t pass in modern MMA anymore—fighters must be great at everything.

Rashad Evans was great at everything on FOX, Davis wasn’t and that’s why he lost.

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