You may have heard yesterday that Nate Diaz accepted a fight against Matt Brown at UFC 189 on July 11. Nate is moving up to 170-pounds for the second time in his UFC career. Don’t remember his first stint at welterweight? Probably because it ended with him getting absolutely rag dolled by Rory MacDonald back at UFC 129.
Nick and Nate – A Tale of Two Diaz’s
You look at this move on paper and it seems absolutely ridiculous. He lost his last fight to Rafael dos Anjos at 155-pounds and seemed like an underachieving lightweight. So he’s going to move up a weight class and be an underachieving and undersized welterweight. Stupid right? Then I got thinking – this is such a Diaz thing to do. This is a move to shake things up and a move to get us talking about a man who’s been relatively quiet as of late. This is precisely WHY we all love the Diaz brothers.
So I thought to myself, what better time to break down and analyze what we love about Nate and Nick, why we love it and what could have been if they actually knew how modern day MMA worked.
Are They Really All That Great?
Simply put, on paper they’re definitely not. Nate is 29-years-old with a record of 17-10 and has lost three of his past four fights. Nick is 31 years old with a record of 26-10 with 1 no-contest and has lost his last three in a row. These are two guys with somewhat average records and have been on significant losing skids as of late (as far as UFC fighters are concerned anyways.)
However, unlike a lot of fighters who’ll take a “warm up” fight or an easy opponent in between losses to pad their records, the Diaz brothers have never been about that. They’re always looking to fight the best of the best and the fights that will get them the biggest paydays. Nate added great name value to the UFC on Fox 13 card, where he helped elevate now champion dos Anjos’ stock. While Nick’s most recent fight against Anderson Silva is reported to have done the second best pay-per-view numbers of 2015. Simply put, they “move the needle.”
Why we Love Them
True Fighter’s Mentality – As stated above, the Diaz’s have the “anyone, anywhere, anytime any place” sort of attitude we all love. They’re brawlers and are rarely in a boring fight.
“Bad Boy” Image – They miss weight, they miss press conferences, and most recently (not that it’s a surprise to anyone) they continue to fail drug tests. Yet they don’t really seem to care. They have the sort of “IDGAF” attitude we all know and love and most fans can truly connect with.
No B.S. – Won’t find them being a slave to “The Man” (in this case the UFC). They’re not afraid to admit that they’re in things for the money and are looking to do whatever they can to get paid. If it means moving up a weight class and taking a beating for an extra few bucks, you can bet they’ll be signing on the dotted line and going down swinging.
We can all relate – they’re not rich and stuck up, or at least they don’t portray that image to the public. You can bet they get up, put in their work, come home, kick their feet up, partake in some “leisure” activities, and go to bed. Then they get up the next morning and do it all over again. They’re on “The Grind” just like the rest of us. And when fans can relate, they feel like the Diaz brothers represent them and like they’re inside the octagon too.
What Could have Been
We certainly all know where they’ve been and what they’ve accomplished. That being said, I’m pretty certain that neither man is going to win any titles any time soon, so I feel confident talking about “what could have been”.
Can you imagine the Diaz brothers in a fight with corner men who actually give them sound advice and were honest with them? Wouldn’t it have been great if someone could have been honest with Nick and told him he was losing to Anderson Silva instead of giving him false hope? Or someone telling Nate “Hey buddy, might want to check those leg kicks or trying getting the fight to the mat” when he was getting systematically destroyed by Rafael dos Anjos? Yeah maybe little things like that would have been helpful and maybe both men would have been better off at a camp not headed by a Gracie. But alas, not going to happen.
Can you imagine if the Diaz brothers showed up to media events on time, never missed weight and never failed their post fight drug tests? Sure would have helped their bank accounts not losing significant percentages of their purse and maybe it would stop their constant complaints about being underpaid. Maybe they’ll smarten up? But alas, not going to happen.
And last but not least. Can you imagine if the Diaz brothers actually took the time to learn about the MMA scoring system and actually understand it? Wouldn’t it be nice if they knew how to win in a sport they’re actually competing in? Maybe Nick Diaz would have spent more time trying to hit Anderson Silva then sitting back and giving him the old “Come at me Bro” and complaining when he clearly lost the fight. Maybe Nate would do better to realize the scoring system isn’t going to adapt to him so maybe he should adapt to it, instead of going on Chael Sonnen’s podcast and sounding crazy when he talks about how Ellenberger vs Sanchez would have been scored “in the streets”. But alas, not going to happen.
In conclusion – whether you love them or hate them, the Diaz brothers are who they are. They’re intriguing, fun to watch and down to earth guys who may have done better had they switched up a thing or two, or possibly had a slight change in attitude. But then they wouldn’t be the crazy, odd guys we all know and love to see compete every few months. Whatever happens from here on out, there will never be another Nick and Nate Diaz in MMA so let’s enjoy them while we’ve got them.
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You can find MMASucka Columnist Nate Grotenhuis on Twitter @BurgersMMA
