They may be cult icons, but Nick and Nate Diaz should both listen to that phrase on repeat for a solid week. Maybe then they’ll be cognisant--or sober--enough to actually listen.
Diaz came into his fight at UFC 266 last night looking more like he should have been fighting at “Dad Bod” weight than middleweight. He was sluggish, slow and at times bored. Diaz did not push the pace of the fight against Robbie Lawler at all, spending the majority of the fight outside the boundary (the octagon logo painted across the canvas), with much of that with his back up against the fence.
There were a number of exchanges where Lawler put his power on display, whereas Diaz looked like he was trying to shadowbox. The problem is that Lawler is a former UFC middleweight champion with tremendous knockout power.
Leading into the fight, Diaz was vocal about returning to the UFC for his first professional fight since his overturned victory against Anderson Silva at UFC 183 in January 2015. Diaz claims his agents, management team and anyone else around him would not let him walk away from fighting. Diaz wanted to open a gym and become an instructor at 38 years old.
Early in the third round of the scheduled five-round fight, Lawler leaned in for the kill. Mixing in a plethora of hooks to both the body and head with his onslaught of jabs, Lawler had Diaz bloodied across the bridge of the nose. Diaz slumped to a knee, where Lawler appeared to throw an uppercut. Had Lawler struck, the finish could have taken on a whole new meaning.
You would have seen Diaz supporters--mindless as they are--rallying to claim Lawler struck a downed opponent. Whereas realists would have said Diaz slumped to a knee on his own, rather than from a strike, which technically makes him still a live target.
Lawler missed with the strike, but Diaz then slumped to his back. A few seconds later, referee Jazon Herzog waved his arms over his head, signaling the end of the fight.
Nick Diaz had quit.
Although Lawler stated in the post-even media scrum that Diaz did not quit, but rather was finished by a flurry of strikes, this was Lawler taking the high road, since Diaz could not have looked any lower all night. Diaz held a couple of towels over his face to soak up some of the blood from his nose, but was also fighting back tears as he left the octagon.
Last night’s performance showed everyone that this should be for the final time.
However, UFC President Dana White keeps giving his fighters chance after chance, despite their actions. See Jon Jones. See Cris “Cyborg” Santos. See Brock Lesnar.
White and both Diaz brothers have never really seen eye-to-eye. Part of that could be that the brothers are often high on weed at media events, so their eyes are already bloodshot.
For Diaz, this extends his winless streak in the UFC to four, having not won since October 2011. Diaz was a former Strikeforce middleweight champion, but Strikeforce was not the UFC. This is the equivalent to winning the Japan Series in Nippon Professional Baseball. The accomplishment is still a championship, but the organization is where guijin players who cannot cut it in the MLB go.
I was originally critical thinking that Lawler and Diaz should have been on the main pay-per-view card. Both were a combined 0-5-1 in their last three fights. After seeing the way the fight ended, I think everyone came away a winner.
Diaz supporters got to see their hero back on pay per view. Realists were treated to the physical breakdown of a one-time hype machine that is no longer relevant in 2021.
-JC24