Back at UFC 202, Cody Garbrandt put his record and standing in the UFC’s bantamweight division on the line against Takeya Mizugaki in a meeting of contenders.
In short order, the 25-yea…
Back at UFC 202, Cody Garbrandt put his record and standing in the UFC’s bantamweight division on the line against Takeya Mizugaki in a meeting of contenders.
In short order, the 25-year-old Garbrandt proved why he just might be the future of the 135-pound division, taking out Mizugaki and moving into a meeting with champion Dominick Cruz at UFC 207.
Garbrandt and Cruz will square off December 30 in the co-main event of UFC 207 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Garbrandt, a member of Team Alpha Male, will try to do what mentor Urijah Faber was unable to do in taking the strap off “The Dominator.”
Check out a complete fight replay off the Garbrandt-Mizugaki contest in the video above.
In addition to the ruling handed down to Brock Lesnar for his failed UFC 200 drug tests, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) also issued their verdict regarding the repercussions Nate Diaz will face for his end i…
https://youtu.be/MSdGLVV6rz0
In addition to the ruling handed down to Brock Lesnar for his failed UFC 200 drug tests, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) also issued their verdict regarding the repercussions Nate Diaz will face for his end in the infamous “Bottle Gate” fiasco with Conor McGregor back in August.
At the final official pre-fight press conference ahead of their record-breaking UFC 202 rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada, both Diaz and McGregor were involved in a melee that saw McGregor chucking water bottles and Monster Energy Drink cans at Diaz and his camp, who fired the bottles and cans back at the Irish mega-star.
Diaz was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and serve 50 hours of community service at the NSAC hearing that covered the subject on Thursday. The 50k fine amount represents 2.5 percent of the purse Diaz reportedly received for his fight at UFC 202, which is equivalent to the fine handed down to McGregor ($75,000) back in October.
Diaz, who defeated McGregor via submission in their first fight, lost to McGregor via decision in an all-out battle for the ages in the main event of UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor 2 back on August 20, 2016 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Earlier today (Thursday December 15, 2016) the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) met to determine the punishment for No. 5-ranked UFC lightweight Nate Diaz after his pre-fight press conference water bottle war with Conor McGregor at UFC 202 this past August. The two brash rivals and their camps engaged in a water bottle war during the
Earlier today (Thursday December 15, 2016) the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) met to determine the punishment for No. 5-ranked UFC lightweight Nate Diaz after his pre-fight press conference water bottle war with Conor McGregor at UFC 202 this past August.
The two brash rivals and their camps engaged in a water bottle war during the August 17th pre-fight press conference, stemming from Diaz walking out during the middle of the event followed by the two men yelling obscenities at one another from across the room. Someone from the Diaz camp threw a water bottle from across the room at McGregor, prompting the lightweight champ to retaliate with a Hail Mary of his own.
The NAC ruled that Diaz would be subject to 50 hours of community service, as well as having to pay a $50,000 fine for his shenanigans. Diaz’s punishment is similar to that of McGregor’s, as both men have been charged with 2.5% of their respective fight purses.
Diaz took home $2 million after his war with McGregor, while the Irishman cashed a check for $3 million and was fined $75,000 along with his 50 hours of community service; but was also subject to participate in a public service announcement (also worth $75,000). McGregor has refused to pay the hefty price tag and has filed for a notice of judicial review with the Clark County civil court.
As for the Stockton Native, Diaz is allowed to compete in combat sports outside of the state of Nevada, however, he will not be allowed to fight in ‘The Fight Capital Of The World’ until his fine is paid in full.
There is no doubt that two of the most game fighters in the UFC today, and in the history of the promotion altogether, are Stockton, California born and bred brothers Nick and Nate Diaz. Older Diaz brother, Nick, is a former welterweight title challenger who’s brash competitive nature has resonated with mixed martial arts (MMA)
There is no doubt that two of the most game fighters in the UFC today, and in the history of the promotion altogether, are Stockton, California born and bred brothers Nick and Nate Diaz.
Older Diaz brother, Nick, is a former welterweight title challenger who’s brash competitive nature has resonated with mixed martial arts (MMA) fans across the world throughout his nine-year UFC career. Diaz’s high-volume boxing style mixed with his Gracie jiu jitsu black belt ground game has made him an imposing force inside the Octagon, as he earns 13 knockouts and eight submission victories in his career.
Before he threw down inside the Octagon, however, Diaz first had to slug it out as a youngster in high school, as he detailed during a recent interview on Opie Radio(courtesy of MMA Fighting), and it greatly affected his performance in the classroom:
“I was never, like, picking on people or anything like that. I was more the other way around,” Diaz said. “I was a little insecure, I was broke. I was on welfare getting dropped off around the corner. My mom, she dropped me off down the street, she’s driving a sh*tty car. And I wouldn’t go to school unless my clothes looked right or something. I had a really hot girlfriend in high school and I’d get into fights over that. And by the time I got into high school, I was moved around into a lot of schools, so I was getting into fights in high school.
“And then I had bad attendance. They put me on some half-day thing where they’re like, ‘okay, you’re dangerous. We want you to make perfect attendance before you can come back to a full day, and we’re going to escort you from class to class.’ So I’m, like, already embarrassed and insecure enough to be in school, I’m getting in fights all the time, and then my mom, she was kind of a pushover. She wasn’t going to go, ‘hey, this is bullsh*t,’ so I just basically had no shot at doing well in school. So I dropped out sophomore year and starting competing in jiu-jitsu.”
Once Diaz began training in jiu jitsu he learned that he could choke out even the biggest of foes that he’d come across in the mean streets of Stockton. Diaz stated that he was so confident in his ability that he once told a friend that he could choke out his father:
“I was 15 years old,” Diaz said. “You had a bunch of wannabe pro bodybuilders, football players, and pro wrestling — everybody was doing pro wrestling back in the day and a lot of those guys tried to transition over. So I always had different looks in the gym, like strong guys, steroids. … I was already doing martial arts and I was already getting into fights. I actually went to go train to learn how to fight better, so when I ended up in a fight over my girlfriend or over whatever gangster bullsh*t I had that was going on back then, I was going to get the better of it.
“And then I started having real confidence. I’d come home and tell my friends, like, ‘yo, dude, I just tapped out this guy, he’s buff.’ I’d be like, ‘dude, I could choke your dad, you don’t understand.’ I’m 14, I could whoop your dad’s ass. I was fanatical about it then. But once I turned pro, that was it, it was over. I was like, okay, this sucks.”
Diaz believes that one key to his success inside the Octagon is the fact that he doesn’t have a ‘nice wife and nice life’ to come home to everyday, unlike fighters such as the now-former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez who Diaz used as a prime example to his argument:
“People don’t understand,” Diaz said. “You want to come into this with a nice wife and a nice life? I’m like, mother*cker, I didn’t get none of that. I don’t get to go home to my nice wife and nice life. And if you’re doing that every day, you’re putting all that effort into your nice wife, I’m putting 100-percent into what I do. I’m going to f*ck your whole world up right in front of your nice wife and your nice life. It’s not going to be fun.
“Like (Eddie) Alvarez, I’m just saying: look, he ended up (being) the guy for the job too, but now you’re fighting (Conor) McGregor, okay? You got so much riding on it, you can’t act the way that I act and say the things that I’m capable of saying. I live a fight life, I can do what I want to win a fight. You have to worry about what people are going to think about you, and then when all of that goes out into the media, people start believing the hype. They start buying into the hype. Now the people around you, including your family and everybody, starts buying into that hype too and they start bringing nervous energy around you.
“It’s just negative every. It’s just negativity, and you’ve got to just ignore it. But when you have the whole family, you’ve got too much riding on all that stuff to be able to have the freedom to do what you want, say what you want. If I want to say ‘f*ck you’ and look at you to your face and say, ‘hey, f*ck your mother,’ then I can do that. I don’t have to worry about being a good role model.”
Diaz hasn’t seen Octagon action since his match-up with Anderson Silva at UFC 183 in January of 2015, which was originally ruled a unanimous decision win for ‘The Spider’, but was later ruled a No Contest after Silva tested positive for banned substances and Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites. He has yet to be booked for a return to action as of late, but an announcement is expected soon.
You can check out Diaz’s full interview on Opie Radio here:
Former UFC welterweight title challenger Nick Diaz believes that had the UFC allowed him to be in his brother’s corner at UFC 202 for his match-up against Conor McGregor, the outcome would have been different for his younger sibling. Diaz believes that ‘one inch’ would have made the difference in his younger brother Nate’s majority
Former UFC welterweight title challenger Nick Diaz believes that had the UFC allowed him to be in his brother’s corner at UFC 202 for his match-up against Conor McGregor, the outcome would have been different for his younger sibling.
Diaz believes that ‘one inch’ would have made the difference in his younger brother Nate’s majority decision loss to the two-weight champion in Las Vegas, and that he himself could have served as that inch had he been in Nate’s corner that night.
Recently speaking to Opie Radio (courtesy of MMA Fighting), Diaz stated that there were plenty of things going on in the fight that he would have called out, and had he been there he possibly could have set up a finish for his brother to capitalize on:
“Just one inch, that’s the difference between how that fight could’ve gone,” Nick said. “As far as I’m concerned, I definitely would’ve been that inch. … They just wanted to keep me out of there. They know that it would’ve definitely helped him out a lot.
“I was seeing things in that fight that I would’ve called and told him. I was seeing things that he wasn’t seeing, because I do these things and I know how they work out for me. It’s kind of like a formula, you know what I mean? And I’m like, hey look, this is what you do. Come the third and fourth round, I think if I would’ve been there, we would’ve been able to put it together and got that guy out of there.”
Instead of having Nick in his corner, Nate instead was advised by longtime training partner and fellow ‘Scrap Pack’ member Gilbert Melendez, as well as longtime boxing coach Richard Perez. While Nick credits Melendez for his great ability to corner fighters, ‘El Nino’s’ style of fighting is a tad different from his brother’s:
“The thing is, Melendez is there,” Nick said. “The thing about Melendez is, he’s great. He’s really smart. He knows what he’s looking at. But they’re training partners, and so they’re like kinda opposites stylistically, because he’s more of a wrestler and he goes on top. So the things that Gilbert would tell him to do is more of like what Gilbert would do, and what I would tell him to do is more of what he would do.
“I’m not saying that it wasn’t helping having Gilbert there telling him to do the wrong stuff — Gilbert wasn’t necessarily telling him to do the wrong stuff, he just wasn’t going to see the things that I was seeing. So that was kinda rough. It’s hard enough to watch being there, and I’m watching on TV, I can’t do anything. … It was rough. I thought he had [McGregor] out of there, for sure, at one point in time. The third round, I guess. I was like, there’s just no way you’re coming back from that.”
When asked what advice he would have given his brother had he been in his corner, Diaz stated that he would have not thrown punches at ‘The Notorious One’ at all, but instead tried to play with his mind inside the Octagon:
“I would’ve told him not to throw punches at that dude at all, because he’s going to sit there and watch you and try to counter everything,” Nick said. “So all you do is fake at him and flick at him and f*ck with him, and that’s how you do that. But he went out there and just, he just didn’t have it together in the first round, and I think I could’ve clicked him into the right mindset.
“Plus, me standing in front of him, fooling around with him and standing in front of him with my right hand forward — all three of us stand the same way, so he doesn’t have anybody else like that to kinda work with him, and I just think that it would’ve definitely helped out having me there a little bit.”
With McGregor and Diaz now holding one win over each other this past year a rubber match has been much discussed, however, the Irish champ has stated the third contest would have to take place at 155 pounds. If Nick is able to corner his little brother the third time around, do you believe the contest would go in the Stockton Boys’ favor?
You can check out Diaz’s full interview with Opie Radio here:
With newly-crowned dual-weight champion Conor McGregor reportedly out until May as he welcomes his first child into the world, all of MMA will have a few months to speculate over just whom “The Notorious” will fight next. Of course the usual suspects of longtime rival Nate Diaz and welterweight champion Tyron Woodley continue to appear
With newly-crowned dual-weight champion Conor McGregor reportedly out until May as he welcomes his first child into the world, all of MMA will have a few months to speculate over just whom “The Notorious” will fight next.
Of course the usual suspects of longtime rival Nate Diaz and welterweight champion Tyron Woodley continue to appear in press clippings. That’s the fight that McGregor’s longtime striking coach Owen Roddy said he wants for his star pupil during an appearance on this week’s “The MMA Hour” (transcribed by MMA Mania):
“For me? Go up and go for three belts … maybe Woodley,” Roddy said. “But, [doing] Diaz again as well is another great one, because I think it’s what fans would want to see. They want to see something special again. [Doing] The Diaz fight again is special. The Woodley fight is special.”
But even with two guaranteed monumental bouts against Diaz and Woodley in the works, there is still the looming specter of undefeated Russian wrestler Khabib Nurmagomedov, who last seen brutally dismantling Michael Johnson at November 12’s UFC 205 – the card where McGregor halted Eddie Alvarez to make history.
“The Eagle,” his coach, his teammates, and even a retired MMA legend have been spouting off that McGregor is ducking Nurmagomedov, but Roddy gave his own perspective from a respectful angle of thoughtful fight analysis before questioning if the fight was big enough for “The Notorious”:
“You can’t really doubt Khabib at this stage now. “He’s a phenomenal grappler — a phenomenal wrestler — but I don’t know whether the excitement is there, you know? Obviously, for Conor, it’s about the pay-per-views … about the money. Whether Khabib will hit the pay-per-views for him, I don’t know, but he’s definitely there. He poses a different threat, so it would be good to try and work out the strikes that are going to land on him.
If the UFC’s biggest superstar is to finally sign on to fight Nurmagomedov, Roddy focused on the belief that aside from his world-class wrestling, “The Eagle” can be hit, as evident by his two most recent performances since returning from a long layoff due to injury:
“He can be hit as well, I will say that,” Roddy continued. “He got hit a bit [against Darrell Horcher] and the same again [against Michael Johnson]. I believe that if you give Conor a chance to land once, I don’t know whether people can come back from that. But, it would be definitely an interesting fight. They’re the three names I suppose: Khabib, Woodley — because it would be just insane — can you imagine the excitement of that? That would be crazy. And then, obviously, you can’t argue with the Nate fight again.”
Once Diaz began training in jiu jitsu he learned that he could choke out even the biggest of foes that he’d come across in the mean streets of Stockton. Diaz stated that he was so confident in his ability that he once told a friend that he could choke out his father:![Conor-McGregor-Nate-Diaz-punch[1]](http://cdn.lowkickmma.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Conor-McGregor-Nate-Diaz-punch1.jpg)
When asked what advice he would have given his brother had he been in his corner, Diaz stated that he would have not thrown punches at ‘The Notorious One’ at all, but instead tried to play with his mind inside the Octagon: