Tag: UFC 183

UFC 183: What a Victory Against Anderson Silva Would Mean for Nick Diaz

Nick Diaz needs to feed his family that he can hopefully someday acquire if he survives this s–t. 
That’s the simple answer to the question of what a victory would mean for Nick Diaz, the former Strikeforce welterweight champion and evergreen MMA…

Nick Diaz needs to feed his family that he can hopefully someday acquire if he survives this s–t. 

That’s the simple answer to the question of what a victory would mean for Nick Diaz, the former Strikeforce welterweight champion and evergreen MMA fan darling. It’s been a long road full of suspensions and retirement, but now we’re here, with Nick Diaz looking across the cage from Anderson Silva. How did we get to this matchup that seems like it was created by an immaculate glitch in a videogame?

In February of 2012, Nick Diaz was searching for his smile by the time he stepped into the Octagon against Carlos Condit for the interim welterweight title at UFC 143, which would soon be known as UFC 143: Diaz 1, 2, 5. Diaz had a purpose then. Momentum. And he had to ride that momentum towards UFC gold.  
But he lost and then the dagger was twisted. Retirement was imminent.

Even if Diaz had defeated Carlos Condit and had become the UFC welterweight champion, it wouldn’t have mattered. Diaz would test positive for marijuana metabolites and we would watch Nick mean mug into the smoky night, banned from the sport for a year.

Then Nick Diaz would come back in March of 2013 to play mind games on GSP, lose convincingly to the GOAT, then retire minutes after the the judge’s unanimous scorecards were read. Again.

In retrospect, there’s nothing wrong with ending a decade-long 36-fight career on the heels of two back-to-back losses. But we all knew Diaz would be back if the circumstances were correct and his hometown of Stockton aligned perfectly with the third full moon of the year. 

Has Nick Diaz found what he’s looking for over the last two years away from the sport? Was it that classic Diaz Smile™? Does it matter? Nick Diaz is back and he’s getting what he wants: big fights that equal big money. A win or a loss won’t change that desire.

What does a victory mean for Nick Diaz? Does it mean he’ll get his smile back? Is his smile back? Does his smile need to be returned and why are we even worrying about turning his perpetual frown upside down? 
Nick Diaz hates fighting. He’s said it himself:

“Fighting is not something I enjoy doing. Fighting is something I feel I have to do, and that’s just the way it is.” 

“I don’t get excited to fight. I don’t use that word in this sport. I use that word [excited] like maybe I’m starving and food is showing up. That’s the kind of excitement I get. I get excited to have a couple of days off.

“I think people are confused with that term when it comes to fighting,” he said.

A victory for Nick Diaz means a payday for doing what Nick does best, moving to a weight class he hasn’t fought near since he subbed Scott Smith in the summer of 2009, months after beating up Frank Shamrock at 179 pounds. 

A victory for Nick Diaz means a win over one of the greatest middleweights ever. A victory means a bigger payday. A victory means Nick Diaz didn’t have his consciousness taken from him by Anderson Silva. 

“Would you enjoy fighting Anderson Silva?” Nick Diaz would ask at a recent presser. “Definitely not.”

A victory for Nick Diaz means he can feed his family that he can hopefully someday acquire if he survives this s–t. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 183 Preview: What’s Nick Diaz’s Best Path to Victory over Anderson Silva?

Conventional wisdom says Nick Diaz probably can’t beat Anderson Silva on Saturday at UFC 183.
At least, not the Diaz we’ve all come to know and love during his 11-plus years in the spotlight.
Oddsmakers see a mismatch in the offing here, wi…

Conventional wisdom says Nick Diaz probably can’t beat Anderson Silva on Saturday at UFC 183.

At least, not the Diaz we’ve all come to know and love during his 11-plus years in the spotlight.

Oddsmakers see a mismatch in the offing here, with our partners at Odds Shark posting Diaz as nearly a 4-to-1 underdog. Even those numbers feel a bit conservative, and despite a last-minute promotional push, many spectators are preparing for a one-sided drubbing:

Setting aside the obvious—that Diaz is a welterweight, winless since 2011, jumping up in weight to challenge the greatest MMA fighter of all time—this bout represents a stylistic nightmare for him. The entire time we’ve known him, he’s been all about forward pressure, unbridled aggression and a high-volume striking attack.

Against a potent counterstriker like Silva, that’s a clear recipe for disaster.

So—knowing that Diaz likely won’t win if he fights a conventional Nick Diaz fight—perhaps the most intriguing question is whether the notoriously stubborn Stockton native is willing to choose a different path.

The only way Diaz gets the better of a striking match against Silva is if the former middleweight champion shows up looking like a run-of-the-mill 39-year-old coming off a career-threatening injury. In other words, Diaz’s best hope is for Silva to have suddenly gotten old and, frankly, that seems like a long shot.

No, Diaz’s best chance to make a competitive showing likely isn’t on the feet at all. It’s to put Silva on the ground. Shoot takedowns. Clinch and trip. Pull guard, if he has to do it—anything to take “The Spider” out of a world where he’ll clearly dominate.

It bears repeating, of course, that despite a career-long focus on boxing, Diaz is also a fearsome Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. The few times he’s been forced to show us his ground skills—in the closing moments of victories over Takanori Gomi, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and Scott Smith—the results have been breathtaking.

Go ahead, watch Diaz take Carlos Condit’s back during the final 90 seconds of a loss at UFC 154 and see if you don’t come away feeling like he should rely more on his prodigious grappling skills.

 

Against Silva, this obviously won’t be a magic fix. The former No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world has historically had pretty stellar takedown defense and has warded off the wrestling attempts of much larger men. His submission skills are also nothing to overlook, as Silva himself boasts a BJJ black belt.

But if there are lingering questions about that surgically repaired leg, about Silva’s overall fitness and about how he’ll react to spending the last 14 months in rehab, I’m willing to bet the best way to test him will be in the grappling stages.

The biggest obstacle to all of this may be Diaz himself. At least publicly, he’s shown very little interest over the years in trifles like growth and change. To say he seems set in his ways feels like a major understatement. There is no indication that he would consider a wholesale switch in style, even if it might give him the best chance to actually break out of his current 0-2 slump.

After all, Diaz spent much of the last year disinterested in fighting at all. As recently as April 2014, he told MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani that he’d “rather work at Walmart” than fight in the UFC again. Since agreeing to return, he’s scoffed at the notion that he would be excited to fight Silva and has said he doesn’t care much about the title.

It was the lure of big money and a big fight against the recuperating Silva that coaxed him out of his semi-retirement.

Will the allure of victory be enough to make him break his own mold? That’s the most interesting question about an otherwise cut-and-dried matchup.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Joe Schilling Says Anderson Silva ‘Would Get Wasted Under Kickboxing Rules’

Joe Schilling has been helping to prep Nick Diaz for his UFC 183 showdown with Anderson “The Spider” Silva. Through studying, the Brazilian and helping Diaz get ready, Schilling believes he has a good idea of Silva’s striking abilities.
Speaking to Joh…

Joe Schilling has been helping to prep Nick Diaz for his UFC 183 showdown with Anderson “The Spider” Silva. Through studying, the Brazilian and helping Diaz get ready, Schilling believes he has a good idea of Silva’s striking abilities.

Speaking to John Joe O’Regan of BloodyElbow.com, Schilling didn’t heap the praise MMA fans are used to hearing in regards to Silva’s striking.

“I think it would be embarrassing for him in there with me,” Schilling said. “The more I have studied Anderson Silva for this fight camp of Nick’s the more I think he is good at kickboxing for MMA but in a professional kickboxing fight he would get wasted.”

Schilling certainly has the background to provide a proper critique of Silva’s striking ability. The Brazilian has been widely panned as being among the best in MMA, combat sports fans have always debated how Silva would fare in striking-only sports.

Discussions of Silva engaging in a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. were rumored, but ultimately nixed by Silva’s decision to sign a new contract with the UFC. That would’ve been an interesting match, even if it was just an exhibition, as Silva has a lot of similar traits to the former boxing star.

Schilling’s breakdown of Silva’s striking is nothing new of stars in combat sports discussing MMA fighters’ striking level.

James Toney, prior to his one and only UFC appearance, claimed that MMA wasn’t “a real sport.” In 2013, heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury told ESPN.com that MMA is rubbish and that he would take Cain Velasquez out. Dana White promptly invited Fury to step into the Octagon, but nothing ever came of the back-and-forth.

The criticism of the level of striking in MMA by boxers/kickboxers is ultimately an apples-to-oranges argument. While there is certainly some crossover between the two (Schilling told O’Regan that Chris Weidman wouldn’t look out of place and that Donald Cerrone would get murdered in glory), there are things that would work in one but not the other.

For example, kickboxers tend to stand more upright (not having to worry about a takedown), use a defensive shell more often (bigger gloves), and often choose to stand in front of one another instead of circling around. An example is Pat Barry claiming he used the wrong block for smaller gloves in his knockout loss to Cheick Kongo.

Despite Schilling’s critique, Silva will still be considered one of the greatest strikers in the MMA world. And considering that’s where Silva will remain, that’s likely all that matters to the future Hall of Famer.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Silva vs. Diaz: A Complete Guide to UFC 183 Fight Card

UFC 183 comes to you this Saturday night with a middleweight showcase main event between two returning stars of the sport.
Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz both come off long layoffs to entertain the crowd in Las Vegas.
That is not the only good fight on t…

UFC 183 comes to you this Saturday night with a middleweight showcase main event between two returning stars of the sport.

Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz both come off long layoffs to entertain the crowd in Las Vegas.

That is not the only good fight on this card. Continuing its fantastic open to 2015, the UFC has stacked UFC 183 from top to bottom. In the co-main event, welterweights Tyron Woodley and Kelvin Gastelum will clash in the hopes of establishing themselves as serious contenders in the division.

Ten more bouts help fill out the card that includes multiple ranked fighters and potential contenders.

Here is your complete guide to UFC 183. Find out where the fights will air, who is fighting and who is predicted to win each contest. Without further ado, let’s march forward to the first bout with the UFC’s next installment of exciting fights.

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Distinguishing “The Fighter” From “The Mixed Martial Artist”: Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz

(Countdown to UFC 183: Silva vs. Diaz via the UFC’s Youtube channel)

By CagePotato reader Rory Daniel

The phrase “fighting is in our DNA” is thrown around a lot these days and has inspired many a high quality piece of merchandise (LMAO), but does it actually have any bearing on real people? Like many hyperbolic, stupid, “sportsy” statements, it is both frustratingly vague and can be applied to both of this weekends main eventers, albeit in completely different ways.


(Countdown to UFC 183: Silva vs. Diaz via the UFC’s Youtube channel)

By CagePotato reader Rory Daniel

The phrase “fighting is in our DNA” is thrown around a lot these days and has inspired many a high quality piece of merchandise (LMAO), but does it actually have any bearing on real people? Like many hyperbolic, stupid, “sportsy” statements, it is both frustratingly vague and can be applied to both of this weekends main eventers, albeit in completely different ways.

Eddie Alvarez returned to the UFC recently, and a quote of his from Countdown to UFC 178 really struck me: “I’m not going to sit here and say I’m the most talented guy, but when it comes to fighting, when it comes to giving damage and taking damage, that’s where I’m the best at.” Of course Alvarez then ran into the currently unstoppable/ clinically insane Donald Cerrone, but the sentiment is what is important. He is doing what so many ‘fighters’ in the UFC’s employ fail to do: very simply identifying his job correctly. He is not employed by the UFC to cerebrally win enough of each round to win the fight, or to showcase superior spinning shit skillz (yes the ‘z’ is absolutely necessary), he is employed to fight.

A fighter who could never be accused of playing the point fighting game is super-nasty-horrible-bad-boy Nick Diaz who has been throwing around some interesting quotes of his own (other than this bit of absolute gold). “In order to love fighting, I have to hate it. You love so bad that you push yourself to where you hate it. I’m there. I’m ready to fight.” How much of this Diaz actually said is debatable, because I saw it on the official UFC instagram and we all know how accurate that is, but it tells you exactly who Nick Diaz is. He is a fighter who fights not because you get a lifetime supply of ivory suits for doing it, but because it is all he knows. Another quote from Nick: “They call me whenever they need a real fighter.”

On the other side of the cage to him will be “The Greatest Of All Time” (apart from GSP or any champion with an upcoming title fight obviously, but forget about them): Anderson Silva. For everything Diaz is, and everything this admittedly rather excellent Countdown show says he is (see above), Silva is the opposite. I’m not saying he’s a lay-on-top-of-you-like-a-punk-ass-bitch or even a point fighter  – just forget the Maia fight, I know it’s hard — but he is a martial artist more than a fighter.

“What’s the distinction?” I hear you ask (or if it’s not you I need to start seeing my shrink again). The attitude is the difference. All Anderson wants to do is get his belt back. He says as much in the Countdown show, he’s said as much in countless interviews; he still believes the gold Chris Weidman‘s holding is *his* belt and that’s all he’s pursuing.

Nick, on the other hand, is chasing a paycheck and the chance to test himself against the best of the best. He doesn’t care about the gold. He wants to say “I fought Anderson Silva and Frenchy St. Pierre, and I beat one of them.” He has an old school pride that says “Thou shalt not f*ck with me, homie.” He is always ready to step in and beat up Jason Miller, not because it’ll win him a belt, but because fighting is in his f*cking DNA, bro. Or it was in his upbringing, which seems more likely, but either way he is a fighter.

Of course, Nick still has incredible martial arts skillz, but he is a fighter before he is a martial artist, and like countless others before him, this will be his downfall. Don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for Diaz, but Anderson Silva does what few fighters, and only the true greats, can accomplish. He has combined the mentality of fighter and martial artist. When he throws a strike, you see the aggressive, nasty side, the fighter, shine through. When he hangs back and lures his opponent in to him, he’s a martial artist and then, *snap*, he’s a fighter again (or he’s broken his leg). Jon Jones does this, Jose Aldo does this, even Ronda Rousey, the least established of these, does this — though she has a little more of the ‘fighter’ in her than others.

There are so few fighters in the UFC’s employ who truly understand their job role. If you don’t have Anderson Silva’s martial arts skillz (still necessary), you need to fight. You need to be allowed to bang, bro. You need to NOT POINT FIGHT AND COMPLAIN WHEN YOU LOSE A CLOSE DECISION, BENSON HENDERSON. Fighting may not be in our DNA, but if fighters can get it into their constantly battered nogs that sometimes you must simply fight, then lo, God shall rain down horribly restrictive eight fight contracts on you. Or to put it another way, there is a reason Brad Pickett is one of Dana White’s favourite fighters, and it’s not (only) his cockney charm.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is to keep a look out for ‘fighters’ and ‘martial artists’ because there is a distinct difference, and every once in a while, we get a rare talent who is both. Enjoy them while they last, even if they get ridiculous gorilla tattoos.

UFC 183 Preliminary Card Predictions

The UFC continues its string of consecutive shows this weekend with UFC 183. Live on pay-per-view in Las Vegas, the card features a number of top fighters in their divisions, as well as some interesting prospects. 
Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz mee…

The UFC continues its string of consecutive shows this weekend with UFC 183. Live on pay-per-view in Las Vegas, the card features a number of top fighters in their divisions, as well as some interesting prospects. 

Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz meet in what can be considered a superfight. Silva returns after a gruesome leg injury that could have ended his career against a popular, trash-talking boxer in Diaz. It should be entertaining.

Before that, we have the preliminary card. My record at UFC on Fox was .500, which put a damper on a strong start to the year. We look to get back to our winning ways here in the seven fights on the undercard.

Without further ado, here are the preliminary card predictions for UFC 183 on Saturday.

2015 Riley’s Record: 14-8

Last Event: UFC on Fox 14 (4-4)

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