UFC 143 Diaz VS Condit: 10 things we learned last night: Let’s get one activity bright — appropriate here, appropriate now: all this “how can you win if you’re active the accomplished time” allocution is off-point.
Carlos Condit didn’t run from Nick Diaz; he accomplished the absolute bold plan to defeat MMA’s anti-hero, and the actuality that Diaz absent larboard his legions of admirers up in arms, abnegation to accord acclaim area acclaim is due. This was an outstanding achievement from Condit, who acclimated leg kicks, counters, and movement to accumulate Diaz off antithesis and at bay for the majority of the fight.
And let it be said that this was a abutting fight.
By no agency did Condit run abroad and adumbrate with this activity — Diaz was in it from the jump, and was the one advancing forward, but Condit was the added effective, and angry it up over the final three rounds. He circled out able-bodied and abhorred the pitfalls abounding of Diaz’s antecedent opponents could not; he didn’t get affianced in forth the fence, didn’t get bent up in the debris talk, and ashore to his activity from alpha to finish.
2. Diaz “Retires” Afterwards Lamenting Accommodation Loss
After Condit delivered a apprehensive post-fight account with Joe Rogan, Diaz had his turn, and decrepit a solid achievement and a abundant activity by acting like a abscessed loser.
Diaz complained about the decision, assertive he had acutely won the fight, analytic how anyone could account a bender in favour of a fighter who “moved backwards the absolute time?” As he affiliated to articulation his frustration, Diaz said he was done with the activity — that he was walking abroad because of the scoring and the way some fighters debris to appoint the way he would like them to in the cage.
Chances are this isn’t an official retirement from Diaz; he’s an affecting accepting advancing off a boxy activity that he absolutely believed he won. That accepting said, the scoring of this activity isn’t traveling to change, and not anybody is traveling to be accommodating to angle and barter with him, so if he can’t acquire that and accomplish adjustments, conceivably walking abroad is the appropriate decision.
3. Instead of Complaining About Condit, Why Not Question Diaz?
D’you apperceive what could accept helped Diaz win the fight?
Throwing added punches, landing added strikes, and alteration things up if he wasn’t accepting the bigger of things in the stand-up. The final stats had Condit advanced 146-110, out-scoring Diaz 110-19 with kicks.
Condit’s access threw Diaz out of his accepted rhythm, and Diaz fabricated no attack to acclimatize in the cage. If he couldn’t pin Condit down forth the cage or acreage his signature flurries, Diaz affiliated to advance advanced acquisitive the aftereffect would change. It did not, and as Condit started to get apart as the activity wore on, Diaz started assuming signs of frustrations, declining to acclimate and accident because of it.
Diaz has had a abundant accord of success boring his opponents into his actualization of fight, abetment them down, throwing them off their bold with his debris talk. That didn’t appear endure night adjoin Condit, and somehow, if the activity ended, it was Condit’s accountability for not angry the actualization of activity Diaz wanted.
4. Fantastic Comeback Achievement from Fabricio Werdum
Everything abroad from UFC 143 is traveling to be engulfed by the deathwatch of the Condit-Diaz challenge — at atomic for the next brace canicule — and that includes the amazing achievement Fabricio Werdum put calm in his acknowledgment to the Octagon.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu apple best showed how abundant his arresting has developed, busting Roy Nelson up in the aperture annular with a alternation of knees from the clinch, and authoritative the activity throughout with his actor en avenue to a accepted accommodation win over the above Ultimate Fighter winner. Werdum has primarily been accepted for his accomplished acquiescence game, and a lot of afresh delivered an asperous achievement adverse Alistair Overeem in what accepted to be his final Strikeforce appearance.
Saturday night, however, he was in accomplished form, landing at will on Nelson, who already afresh accepted that he’s the hardest out in the ample division. Werdum hit him with aggregate he had, and Nelson affiliated to appear advanced admitting the affiliated beck of claret active down his face.
The achievement confirms Werdum as a accepted blackmail in the ample ranks, and should position him for accession top contour activity afterwards in the year.
5. 29 & Counting
Renan Barao affiliated his best band to an amazing 29 fights with a accepted accommodation win over the abiding Scott Jorgensen on Saturday night. The Brazilian bantamweight has now won 18 afterwards fights, and has not suffered a accident aback the aboriginal activity of his career.
This activity was beheld as a solid analysis for Barao, and he anesthetized with aerial colours. Jorgensen was clumsy to authorize a accent over the three-round affair, as Barao fabricated accomplished use of both his leg bliss and his jab, and accepting the bigger of the times if the two stood in the abridged and exchanged. Afterwards earning a first-round acquiescence win over Brad Pickett aback in November, Barao’s achievement over the above appellation amateur on Saturday night showed that he deserves to be advised a allotment of the division’s elite.
Here’s the ambush allotment though: UFC bantamweight best Dominick Cruz is angry up apprenticeship Season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter afore arresting his belt adjoin Urijah Faber ancient this summer. That agency Barao — who has to be advised the #1 adversary save for “The California Kid” — either has to delay until the abatement to activity for the appellation or put his position at the top of the account of contenders on the band in the interim.
Should be absorbing to see what happens.
6. Herman Continues Comeback Acceptable Streak
Ed Herman spent two years on the sidelines afterwards adversity a abominable knee abrasion in the cage adjoin Aaron Simpson. He alternate to the cage endure June, accession a brace of aboriginal annular wins to annular out 2011, and endure night, he pushed his acceptable band to three.
After bottomward the aperture annular on my scorecard, Herman abject Clifford Starks to the canvas, area he bound formed to abide the Arizona State angry alum. Herman ate some solid appropriate easily from Starks in the aperture round, but managed to abide composed, and ashen little time bringing the activity to the arena if the additional annular began.
Herman, who was a finalist on Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter, has now chock-full three beeline opponents aback advancing aback from his two-year hiatus, and is starting to accomplish his way up the middleweight rankings. Though he’s acceptable not anyone who will argue for a title, Herman is a solid all-around accession to the 185-pound ranks, and it’s harder not to acclamation for a guy who pushed through two years account of surgeries, injuries, and adjust to acknowledgment to the cage.
7. Dustin Poirier Continues to Impress
After announcement himself as a amateur in the agile analysis endure year with an agitated win over then-#1 adversary Josh Grispi at UFC 125, Dustin Poirier has affiliated to accomplish his case for a atom abreast the top of the division, and did so afresh endure night.
The Louisiana built-in and axial appearance in the outstanding documentary Fightville pushed his acceptable band to 5 with a aboriginal annular acquiescence win over backward backup Max Holloway. The 20-year-old Hawaiian came out strong, but Poirier asperous the storm early, afore boring the activity to the attic and capitalizing on his opponent’s affliction on the ground.
Poirier looked to accept anchored an armbar, but couldn’t attending it out, acceptance Holloway to about-face aback into his guard. As he did, Poirier threw up his legs and affiliated on a triangle choke, application the authority to cycle over into a army position. From there, he grasped Holloway’s arm and torqued his achievement forward, banishment the youngest fighter on the UFC agenda to tab to the aggregate triangle choke/armbar submission.
It was accession solid win for the 23-year-old Poirier, who mentioned accessible bouts with Erik Koch (his aboriginal adversary for this fight) or “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung as options for the future. Both accomplish sense, and would be awful absorbing affairs.
8. Bliss to the Junk, Point Deductions, and Final Scores
While Condit-Diaz is accepting the aggregate of the attention, the capital accident wasn’t the a lot of arguable activity of the night. That honour belonged to the bantamweight match-up amid TUF alum Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres and Edwin Figueroa.
Early in the first, Caceres aback kicked Figueroa in the clutter so harder that the “thud” on his cup was aural during the broadcast. “El Feroz” alone to the arena in barefaced affliction as millions of men at home acquainted accord for him. He recovered, Caceres was accustomed a “strong warning” from adjudicator Herb Dean (those were his exact words) and the activity continued.
In the additional round, it happened again.
While it wasn’t absolutely as bad as the aboriginal blow, accepting kicked in the basics already is aching enough. Figueroa already afresh was accustomed time to “walk it off,” and already it was bent that he was able to continue, Dean deducted two credibility from Caceres for a arrant foul. The third annular went off afterwards anyone accepting kicked in the pills, and if the scorecards were read, Figueroa took home a breach accommodation win acknowledgment in ample allotment to the two-point penalty.
Plenty of humans were agitated — both at the accident and on Twitter. While it’s understandable, Dean fabricated a accurate call. Though two credibility don’t get taken often, he had warned Caceres during the breach in the activity in the aperture annular and afterward the round, and afresh if accession central leg bang about landed beforehand in the second.
It’s a boxy breach for Caceres, but I’m abiding Figueroa and his abundantly abscessed testicles are blessed to accept won.
9. Remember How I Told You About Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson?
Yeah, he calm Knockout of the Night honours for a admirable first-round headkick knockout of Daniel Stittgen on Saturday night.
It was awesome. Search the Internet for it if you’re done account this column. Seriously.
Thompson looked adequate in the cage and showed why so abounding humans were absorbed to see the aboriginal activity of the night, bottomward Stittgen with a even bottom to the jaw backward in the aperture round. He’s still just 6-0 in his alloyed aggressive arts career, but there is a lot to like about Thompson affective forward.
10. On Fire
So I went 10-1 with my UFC 143 picks in the Punch Drunk Predictions, that’s afterwards traveling 9-1 with my picks on the UFC on FOX appearance endure weekend.
After a bouldered alpha to the year, I’ve gone 19-2 over the endure two events, blame my anticipation almanac to 34-16 all-embracing for the year, with a amazing 17-5 mark on the capital card.
Next up is the UFC on FUEL TV admission in Omaha, Nebraska in 10 days. We’ll accept to see if I can accumulate this hot band going.
