Being the younger sibling of a superstar athlete is not an easy life. Sure, you might have access to some cool parties and people might suck up to you in an effort to have access to your brother, but just imagine the amount of pressure that would be …
Being the younger sibling of a superstar athlete is not an easy life.
Sure, you might have access to some cool parties and people might suck up to you in an effort to have access to your brother, but just imagine the amount of pressure that would be on you if you want to be an athlete yourself.
That’s what Nate Diaz has had to deal with throughout his life, being the younger brother of superstar welterweight Nick Diaz. When you add in the fact that he was trying to make it in the same sport, the pressure only gets even greater.
But after his performance at UFC 141 when he thoroughly schooled Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Nate Diaz may have finally figured out how to meet the lofty expectations set by the media because of his older brother.
A former winner of The Ultimate Fighter, Diaz’s UFC career actually started off extremely impressively. The lightweight winner won the show and quickly parlayed that into an impressive five-fight win streak inside the Octagon.
However, since that streak, Diaz’s UFC career has been somewhat of a roller-coaster. Though he is often involved in entertaining fights, Diaz has struggled mightily to create any sort of consistency. He even opted to make a change by moving up to the welterweight division for a while, though that experiment did not go very well and he made his return to lightweight at UFC 135.
It was in that bout against Takanori Gomi that Nate Diaz seemed to finally realize his full potential. The kid from Stockton smacked Gomi around on the feet before the fight went to the ground where he was able to secure an armbar and a subsequent submission.
As great as Diaz looked in that fight, he looked even better at UFC 141 when he picked apart Donald Cerrone for the entire bout on his way to winning a unanimous decision.
In each of these past two fights, Nate’s style has begun to look increasingly more like Nick’s. Not just on the ground where both Diaz brothers are expert submission artists, but particularly in the stand-up—the style that Nate deployed against Donald Cerrone almost seemed to be a carbon copy of what Nick did against BJ Penn at UFC 137.
The “slap-boxing” that Nick is known for was on full display in Nate’s fight against Cerrone as he repeatedly snapped his jab into “Cowboy’s” grill, dropping his hands and taunting him the entire time—a trademark of his older brother.
The Diaz attitude was also on display as he stood in his corner between rounds and proceeded to flip Cerrone off from across the cage.
As he heads into 2012, Nate Diaz is firing on all cylinders. His physical skills have finally caught up to his mouth and he appears to be ready to make a real run in the next 12 months.
With Nick Diaz on his way to a shot at the UFC welterweight title in February and Nate Diaz appearing ready to make a run in the lightweight division, there is a real chance that the UFC could be looking at two new champions in 2012…and both of their names could end in Diaz.
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In the sport of mixed martial arts, the majority of fighters prefer not to fight with emotion. This is in large part due to the impact it has on a fighter’s ability to focus and execute their game plan.