Lavar Johnson was on pace to have a 2010 Chris Leben-like resurgence. He knocked out Joey Beltran in his UFC debut. He followed this up with a first-round TKO of Pat Barry. Then, he got called in to take on Stefan Struve after Mark Hunt withdrew from U…
Lavar Johnson was on pace to have a 2010 Chris Leben-like resurgence. He knocked out Joey Beltran in his UFC debut. He followed this up with a first-round TKO of Pat Barry. Then, he got called in to take on Stefan Struve after Mark Hunt withdrew from UFC 146 with a knee injury.
He was in position to put together a three-fight win streak, something that almost no fighters in the UFC’s heavyweight division have right now.
He was in position to claim a spot on top-10 heavyweight lists.
He was in position to make his back-to-back losses to Shane del Rosario and Shawn Jordan in Strikeforce a distant memory.
Then he got caught by an awkward Stefan Struve armbar only a minute into the fight. This is an undeniably harsh change for somebody that had rocketing stock, and could have had one of the best single years for a fighter, ever.
Now that Lavar Johnson has been slapped back into reality, the question then turns to who should he try and make a comeback against? There are a few good options available for him at this time.
Poor, poor Jason Miller. The man held a special place in many MMA fans’ hearts, simply because he actually seemed like he was having fun out there. Make no mistake, he was a deceptively good fighter (this stayed under the radar for many years). His rol…
Poor, poor Jason Miller.
The man held a special place in many MMA fans’ hearts, simply because he actually seemed like he was having fun out there.
Make no mistake, he was a deceptively good fighter (this stayed under the radar for many years). His role on MTV’s Bully Beatdown made him famous to all, but his actual skills went somewhat unnoticed.
He had one of the better ground games in the middleweight division and had solid stand-up. A short UFC career and a lack of respect from Strikeforce fans due to his feud with the ever-popular Cesar Gracie camp made it so his cage savvy consistently took his reputation’s backseat.
Ultimately, though, the UFC (and basically any pro sport) asks “what have you done for me lately?”
So what has he done for them lately? He gave them a lukewarm season of The Ultimate Fighter. He gave one of the single worst performances in UFC history in his Coaches’ Fight with Michael Bisping. He gave a less-than-awesome performance against CB Dollaway. He gave them a mysterious locker room incident.
That was enough for Dana White to give him a slip that matched his pink trunks, pink boa and pink boombox.
Even the most irrational of Miller-haters would say that his two most recent fights are not representative of his actual skills. White said the locker room incident was not physical, which automatically makes this incident more benign than almost anything Nick Diaz has done.
Ultimately, this seems to be building to a decree that has actually been years in the making.
The UFC brass wants the Octagon to be a fun-free zone. In an interview following UFC 146, Dana White said of Miller, “When you get embarrassed the way he did against Michael Bisping, then you show up in that pink whatever that thing was, I’m not into that stuff. It’s not my thing…If you want to be a clown do that stuff on your reality show.”
This is far from the first time the UFC President has taken issue with somebody who has treated MMA as something other than a soul-numbing job. After all, he wagged a finger at Roy Nelson for his celebratory belly-rubbing and choice in walk-out music (he had Weird Al Yankovic’s “Fat” for his first few fights).
Dennis Hallman is another example. Hallman, who allegedly lost a bet that resulted in him wearing some teeny-tiny trunks into the cage, “horrified” White to the point where he instituted a dress code. Seriously!
Though Miller certainly earned his way out of the UFC, many fighters have gained fans by reminding everyone that mixed martial arts is still fun.
This writer will admit it is a bit early to declare Dana White the disgruntled Dean of Students to Pat Barry and Tom Lawlor’s “Animal House.” Still, it is a bit disappointing that the UFC is taking an increasingly hard stance on something that fans clearly enjoy.
Over the top walk-out entrances, unfortunately, seem to be going the way of the touchdown dance. While you may enjoy Tom Lawlor doing his impression of Apollo Creed, Dana White does not.
As has been illustrated many times now, Dana gets what Dana wants.
Cain Velasquez is one of the hottest fighters in MMA right now.With a well-rounded style in the cage and the perfect personality to captivate fans outside it, he is always somebody worth making the effort to try and watch. That said, there are still so…
Cain Velasquez is one of the hottest fighters in MMA right now.
With a well-rounded style in the cage and the perfect personality to captivate fans outside it, he is always somebody worth making the effort to try and watch.
That said, there are still some questions regarding Velasquez. With only eleven career fights, his limits have not yet been tested and it is still left to be seen how great he is capable of being.
While his domination of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva should be downright scary for anybody near the top of the heavyweight division, this is still a great time to analyze where is as a fighter, as a brand and as a former champion. Shall we?
“The one shot power of Junior dos Santos! Who can stop that man?” “…Frank Mir!” Or at least, that is what is being pitched to fans in the UFC’s well-proliferated ad for the upcoming UFC 146 event. As is custom when it comes to…
“The one shot power of Junior dos Santos! Who can stop that man?”
Or at least, that is what is being pitched to fans in the UFC’s well-proliferated ad for the upcoming UFC 146 event.
As is custom when it comes to title fights where one guy is a heavy favorite, MMA pundits and the UFC’s marketing department are trying to confabulate a way that this could be a close fight. We have seen this before.
Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami are all custom-built to beat Anderson Silva. Right?
Dan Hardy totally stood a chance against Georges St. Pierre. Right?
Dan Henderson’s one-punch power is still totally good enough to beat Jon Jones, who has over a foot of reach advantage. Right?
Obviously not. There are people working overtime, trying to figure out ways to trick fans into feeling that this is a tossup of a fight. Make no mistake, though. Junior dos Santos is a heavy, heavy favorite.
Frank Mir is a good fighter, for sure. Definitely a top five heavyweight at this time. Regardless, short of a flukey punch that happens to KO dos Santos, or dos Santos willingly engaging on the ground (all signs indicate that he is too smart for this, however) Mir stands almost no chance against him.
This writer does not find Junior dos Santos as unbeatable as many do. The problem, though, is not dos Santos’ explosive fists. The problem is Frank Mir’s long, storied history of putting together bad game plans in his biggest fights.
Look over Frank Mir’s bouts the last few years, and many of them are marred by this.
At UFC 100, Mir was set for a rematch with Brock Lesnar in a heavyweight title unification bout. Mir, who was walking around at about 245 pounds at the time, was at a serious disadvantage clinched, or on the ground, as Lesnar had a serious size advantage, walking around at about 285 pounds. This was a great compliment to his strong wrestling skills, and would be a big red flag for most fighters.
Lesnar, though, had an untested chin and his stand-up was not especially strong. Mir’s best chance was to work his takedown defense, keep the fight standing and try to rock Lesnar in order to set up for a submission victory.
Mir, instead, opted to try and out-grapple Lesnar, doing little to resist being pinned to the ground while working for a submission. Lesnar pounded him mercilessly for seven minutes until the referee saw that Mir was unable to respond.
After that, Mir scored a quick victory over kickboxer Cheick Kongo to qualify for an interim championship bout with Shane Carwin.
Carwin, at the time 3-0 in the UFC, had beaten all of those opponents by knockout. In fact, he was running through competition so quickly, that he had spent under three and a half minutes in the Octagon in those three fights.
After losing to Lesnar, Mir bulked up in a big way. Size-wise, Mir was about the same size as Carwin (though a little smaller). Mir had reasonably good hands, but not nearly as good as Carwin’s and more importantly, Mir lacked the knockout power his opponent was demonstrating at that point. Carwin was a NCAA Division II wrestler, but had not demonstrated that in the UFC yet while Mir was still undeniably one of the best ground fighters at the time.
Logically, Mir would want to tap into his own wrestling past, take Carwin down and try to submit the relatively inexperienced knockout artist. Nope.
Mir tried to stand and bang with Carwin with unsurprising results. The two clinched and Carwin spun Mir into the cage, and started landing short punches. While those punches would not be much from most fighters, effortlessly generating power is Carwin’s biggest strength, which resulted in Mir wilting to the mat in the first round.
While Mir lost both those fights, poor strategic moves end up a part of his victories, as well.
Mir’s most recent fight, a rematch with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, is a great example of this. Mir and Nogueira, on paper, were comparably skilled both standing and on the ground. Mir’s greatest edge against “Big Nog” was his size. Mir had about 20 pounds on him, and he is quite good at bullying people around the cage.
He would have been wise to clinch Nogueira, strike from that position, keep him against the cage and then employ some lay and pray. This is Frank Mir, though!
While the bout famously ended with Nogueira getting a new joint in his arm, most of it took place standing up. Nogueira rocked Mir twice and was very close to having the referee call it a fight. Though ultimately, this bout is considered one of Mir’s greatest wins, it still showed some of his bigger weaknesses.
This bout with Nogueira (with some help from Alistair Overeem) set up for another title fight for Mir. Junior dos Santos is possibly the best boxer in MMA today, but is yet to be challenged on the ground in the Octagon. This, obviously, is Mir’s biggest strength.
While it would make sense for Mir to try and go for a single-leg takedown, look for him instead to try to clinch, then drag dos Santos down. Mir has a suspect chin making it unlikely that he can get close enough for long enough to pull this off. This adds up to a likely knockout loss.
Again, Mir really is a strong fighter and one of the best stories in MMA. Regardless, he probably lacks the tools to beat Junior dos Santos. But even if he does have them, history shows he is probably going to leave them at home.
What a surprise. Nick Diaz went and screwed up his career, again. Even though Diaz is MMA’s most chronic abuser of fans, his followers just cannot help but to ask for more—despite knowing it’s just a matter of time before they get another shot to…
What a surprise. Nick Diaz went and screwed up his career, again.
Even though Diaz is MMA‘s most chronic abuser of fans, his followers just cannot help but to ask for more—despite knowing it’s just a matter of time before they get another shot to the back of the head. This would leave any other athlete in any other sport a pariah. Diaz fans, though, are the first to come to his defense and the last to realize that he is not somebody to put stake into.
It is sad and painful to watch.
While there are many reasons to hate Diaz, it should be framed in why people like him.
He is an exciting fighter. Plain and simple.
Diaz is a serious threat anywhere in the cage, and always looks to finish a fight—a serious change of pace from the distance-focused fighters like Georges St-Pierre and Jon Fitch, who dominated the welterweight division for a long while. From 2008-2011, in 11 fights, Diaz only made the judges earn their paychecks twice.
That, though, is the extent of his likability.
Diaz is consistently disrespectful to his opponents in and out of the cage. He and his brother, historically, are possibly the best in the business at instantly hating somebody for no reason other than having to fight them.
This turns into vitriolic smack-talk before fights, moronic taunting during and, if he happens to lose (or sometimes, even if he wins), nonsensical complaining after. He is also no favorite of the press, typically coming off as disinterested or confused during press conferences and conference calls.
Okay, so he could use some work on his verbal skills. He still is a total professional, right?
Well, no. As previously mentioned, he is not especially savvy with a microphone in his face. But a bigger problem than that is how he tends to not show up to media obligations. His highest-profile misstep was his bout with Georges St-Pierre. What was easily the biggest fight of his career, and one of the biggest fights for the UFC in 2011, got nixed because of his absolute refusal to attend required promotional and press events.
So his people skills are not great. Professionally? Eh…not so great there, either. At least he behaves himself.
Ha! Nope. That would actually be his biggest downfall—with a lengthy history of self-control problems and one of the longest rap sheets in MMA history.
He threw a shoe at Diego Sanchez before they fought at the TUF2 Finale.
He picked a fight with Joe Riggs at a hospital after losing to him in the cage.
He has repeatedly failed drug tests due to his frequent use of marijuana; and probably would have failed at least one more if he did not skip a drug test before a title fight with Jay Hieron.
He was the central figure in a post-fight brawl at Strikeforce: Nashville that got the promotion kicked off of network television.
All that and he is still one of the most popular figures in MMA. Why? Why do his fans put up with this?
I’m not a psychologist, but it seems pretty clear Diaz has some type of fear of success. He has, after all, cheated himself and his inexplicably loyal fans out of three (four, technically) title fights between Jay Hieron, Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit (twice, really, because even if he beat Condit, the bout would have probably turned into a no contest, and then his positive test would have stripped him of the chance for an immediate rematch).
Worst of all, he has a Josh Barnett-like allergy to taking responsibility for his actions. There is always an excuse—whether he thought the weed would be flushed out of his system, he was just getting his boy’s back or he perceived something that somebody did as disrespectful. He never simply made a mistake.
There was a big hubbub just a week ago about Diaz truanting a BJJ event he was headlining. Cesar Gracie, Diaz’s manager/trainer/babysitter, was quick to defend him, giving a nonsensical explanation about how his would-be opponent, Braulio Estima, came in overweight and lied about the nature of his MMA training.
Estima came out and ripped Cesar Gracie, dismantling his argument piece-by-piece. Gracie flip-flopped and tried to deflect the criticism toward Nalty Junior, the event’s marketer. Ultimately, though, this is entirely irrelevant. The bottom line is that fans paid to see Nick Diaz and did not get their money’s worth; for reasons nobody really knows—possibly not even Diaz himself.
This seems almost an eternity ago now, however, with Diaz officially being suspended for a year by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for again testing positive for marijuana metabolites.
Diaz’s handlers and fans are obviously disappointed, but the case his lawyer was trying to make was never logically sound or likely to succeed (he tried focusing in on a technicality in the wording of the rules). Diaz now has to wait until February 2013 for another fight. In all likelihood, he has denied his fans the opportunity to see a rematch with Condit, a bout with Georges St-Pierre or anything other than BJJ events he may, or may not, attend.
Whether or not you disagree with the suspension is irrelevant. This is not some unfortunate misstep by Diaz. This was not supposed to be a huge, transcendent event where everyone figures out that weed is whatever you think it is. This was Diaz’s “trial.” They were supposed to determine if he broke the rules (and he did), and determine how harsh his punishment should be.
Most of all, though, Nick Diaz did something stupid and put his career at risk. It’s something you saw coming; admit it.
Nick Diaz is a 28 year-old man. He is, in all likelihood, as mature as he is ever going to be. To be a Diaz fan is to embrace the fact that any given accomplishment will be followed by disappointment and ridicule.
Diaz fans, you can do better.
Lose that zero. You can put that enthusiasm behind his brother, Nate, who is probably going to be fighting for the lightweight belt later this year, or in early 2013.
You can get behind Carlos Condit, who has demonstrated knockout power alongside an ability to game plan and adjust during fights—which he used to beat Diaz in lopsided fashion in February.
If you are looking for somebody with a bad attitude and arm-snapping skills, Ronda Rousey can use more fans.
Either way, you can do better than Nick Diaz. You are only setting yourself up for more disappointment.
It is genuinely perplexing how people can be willfully ignorant, whether it is in Hollywood with folks like R. Kelly or Washington with politicians like Ron Paul. People just seem so prone to this “beaten wife” mindset, constantly defending the apple o…
It is genuinely perplexing how people can be willfully ignorant, whether it is in Hollywood with folks like R. Kelly or Washington with politicians like Ron Paul. People just seem so prone to this “beaten wife” mindset, constantly defending the apple of their eye no matter how many times reality slaps them in the face.
Nick Diaz is MMA’s most chronic abuser of fans, but they just can’t help but to ask for more, knowing all the while that it is just a matter of time before they get another one across the mouth. Then, every time they have to put on sunglasses, they pull out the Big Book of Excuses and say why their abuser is not to blame.
It is sad. It is painful to watch. It always ends in tragedy.
Before listing off the many reasons to hate Diaz, it should be framed in why people like him. He is an exciting fighter. Plain and simple.
Diaz is a serious threat anywhere in the cage and always looks to finish a fight—a serious change of pace from the distance-focused fighters like Georges St-Pierre and Jon Fitch who dominated the welterweight division for a long while. In eleven fights from 2008-2011 Diaz only made the judges earn their paychecks twice.
That is the extent of his likability on any level.
Diaz is consistently disrespectful to his opponents in and out of the cage. Historically he and his brother are possibly the best in the business at instantly hating somebody for no reason other than that they are going to be doing battle.
This turns into vitriolic smack-talk before fights, moronic taunting during and, if he happens to lose—or sometimes even if he wins—nonsensical complaining after. He is also no favorite for the press, typically coming off as disinterested or confused for press conferences and conference calls.
Okay. So he could use some work on his verbal skills. He still is a total professional, right?
Well, no. As mentioned he is not especially savvy with a microphone in his face, but a bigger problem than that is how he tends to not actually show up to media obligations. His highest-profile misstep was his bout with Georges St-Pierre. What was easily the biggest fight of his career and one of the biggest fights for the UFC in 2011 got nixed because of his absolute refusal to attend required promotional and press events.
So his people skills are not great. Professionally? Eh. Not so great there either. At least he behaves himself.
Ha! Nope. That would actually be his biggest downfall, with a lengthy history of trouble controlling himself and one of the longest rap sheets in MMA history.
He threw a shoe at Diego Sanchez before they fought at the TUF2 Finale.
He picked a fight with Joe Riggs at a hospital after losing to him in the cage.
He has repeatedly failed drug tests due to his frequent use of marijuana and probably would have failed at least one more if he did not skip a drug test before a title fight with Jay Hieron.
He was the central figure in a post-fight brawl at Strikeforce: Nashville that got the promotion kicked off of network television.
All that and he is still one of the most popular figures in MMA. Why? Why would his fans do this to themselves?
This writer is not a psychologist but it seems pretty clear that he has some manner of fear of success. He has, after all, cheated himself and his inexplicably loyal fans out of three (technically four) title fights between Jay Hieron, Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit (twice, really, because even if he beat Condit, the bout would have probably turned into a No Contest and then his positive test stripped him of the chance for an immediate rematch).
Worst of all he has a Josh Barnett-like allergy to taking responsibility for his actions. Whether he thought the weed would be flushed out of his system, that he was just getting his boy’s back or that he perceived something that somebody did as disrespectful. There is always an excuse. He never simply made a mistake.
There was a big hubbub just a week ago about Diaz truanting a BJJ event he was headlining. Cesar Gracie, Diaz’s manager/trainer/babysitter, was quick to defend him, giving a generally nonsensical explanation that his would-be opponent, Braulio Estima, came in over weight and that he lied about the nature of his MMA training.
Estima himself came out and ripped Cesar Gracie, dismantling his argument piece-by-piece. Gracie flip-flopped and tried to deflect the criticism toward Nalty Junior, the event’s marketer. Ultimately though, this is entirely irrelevant.
The bottom line is that fans paid to see Nick Diaz, and did not get their money’s worth for reasons nobody really knows. Possibly not even Diaz himself.
This seems almost an eternity ago now, however, with Diaz officially being suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for testing positive for marijuana metabolites. Again.
Diaz’s handlers and fans are obviously disappointed, but the case his lawyer was trying to make was never logically sound or likely to succeed (he tried focusing in on a technicality in the wording of the rules). Diaz now has to wait until February 2013 for another fight and has denied his fans the opportunity to see a rematch with Condit, a bout with Georges St-Pierre or anything other than BJJ events he may or may not decide to attend.
Nick Diaz is a 28 year-old man. He is in all likelihood as mature as he is ever going to be. To be a Diaz fan is to embrace the fact that any given accomplishment will be followed by disappointment and ridicule.
Diaz fans—you can do better. No matter what he tells you, it is not your fault.
Lose that zero. You can put that enthusiasm behind his brother, Nate, who is (probably) going to be fighting for the lightweight belt later this year or in early 2013.
You can get behind Carlos Condit who has demonstrated knockout power alongside an ability to game-plan and adjust during fights, which he used to beat Diaz in lopsided fashion in February.
If you are looking for somebody with a bad attitude and arm-snapping skills, Ronda Rousey can use more fans.
Either way, you can do better than Nick Diaz. You are only setting yourself up for more of the same.
