Sunday, January 30, 2011

Nick Diaz: A fighter who actually fights

Nick Diaz: Strikeforce Champion and #1 WW
   While other top welterweights are perfectly content with using their opponent as a makeshift mattress for twenty five minutes, its refreshing to see someone like Nick Diaz who is ready willing and able to put every ounce of himself on the line, and risk not only his personal well being, but his professional standing, to both put on a show for the fans and to demonstrate his abilities as a mixed martial arts fighter.

   So after notching his ninth consecutive victory and going undefeated since 2007, will Nick Diaz finally get the respect he deserves and be ranked as a top three welterweight in the world of MMA?

   Its possible, though whats more likely to happen is that the Zuffa obsessed media will continue to diminish his accomplishments while under ranking him to a baffling extent. Currently Diaz is ranked at #7 by MMA Weekly and the consensus-driven Bloody Elbow, and at #9 by the borderline mentally ill shills of Sherdog.

   A person of intelligence may deduce that if a fighter as accomplished and skilled as Nick Diaz is ranked so low, then those above him must be that much better, and what a monstrous welterweight scene that would make for if true. Unfortunately, especially for the reputations and integrity of those sites mentioned, that’s not really the case. Take the UFC’s Thiago Alves’ recent history of having won only one fight since 2008, and suffering two defeats in that time, and compare it to Diaz’s previously mentioned unbeaten streak going nine strong since 2007 and it becomes downright puzzling why the major media outlets all have him ranked as a top five welterweight, with those silly people from Sherdog again ensuring their place at the forefront of the shill-pack by ranking him at #3.

   So, going 1-2 in over two years will get you a top three ranking? Wow, that one win must have been over a true God-like legend of the sport for it to carry such weight, right? Well, actually… no, not at all. Thiago Alves decisioned the then 14-5 John Howard at UFC 124, who himself was coming off a defeat to unranked Jake Ellenberger. Apparently this trumps by leaps and bounds the accomplishments of Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz.

Nick Diaz fighting... are you taking notes, Jon Fitch?

   All sarcasm aside, following every event it becomes more and more blatantly obvious that aggressive bias controls the rankings of the MMA media. When Dan Hardy, who is 0-2 since 2009, is being ranked above Nick Diaz, as he is at Sherdog, its time to put down the kool-aid, splash some cold water on your face, and recognize shills for what they are. Fighting under the UFC banner does not grant one special acclaim, and no amount of twisted logic or purposefully obtuse journalistic trolling can justify ranking Diaz outside of the top three, and a strong case can be made that he deserves the number one spot, as the current consensus number one Georges St. Pierre has done nothing as of late but reinforce his reputation as an ultimate wrestler who is scared of a fight. MMA is a fight sport, and fighters who do just that, fight, should be rewarded for the risks they take in high profile fights. Laying on or pawing a limp jab at an opponent for five rounds is simply not as remarkable as performances like the ones Nick Diaz continuously puts forth.

Nick Diaz finishing an opponent... are you taking notes GSP?
   Nick Diaz is at least top three, and possibly even deserving of the number one rank in the welterweight division. How the media reacts to Diaz’s win will be interesting to note, as in the build up to the fight many hacks attempted to push a hoax that Evangelista Cyborg Santos was not a legitimate opponent, so its quite possible that the memed marching orders may already be in place to yet still discredit Nick Diaz’s place as a top welterweight. An eye needs to be paid to the media discourse in the coming days to see if they will stay lock-stepped in their traditionally Zuffa-centric ways, or if a glint of journalistic integrity has somehow survived their historically hoodwinkish ways.

9 comments:

  1. I've followed Nick's career since watching his first fight 10 year ago from the seventh row bleacher seat at ifc 15. After his ufc run I always rate him in the top ten and top five. I can also say that he's slower and seems weaker now a days and would suffer in a match with an in shape top wrestler or submission artist.

    Diaz's recent match ups are Diaz friendly. With his iron chin and 50 gal tank he has little to fear from older smaller strikers with little or no wrestling and weak sub games. Cyborg was like Denny, Sakurai, Shamrock old fighters with a punchers chance, Noons and Zaromskis are just younger fighters with a punchers chance.

    Diaz is really only dangerous on the ground when his opponents tire.

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  2. just looked at the list of guys who do rankings for BE, lol. not to be taken seriously

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  3. We need more art, artist

    Since FS went down theres no where to find your art

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  4. I will join my talent to mmahaus! Soon i'll load several of my latest artistic mma masterpieces to photobucket and you can link them.

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  5. cool artist, email me the link or post it on the "f***kirik" forum

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  6. what is your email? I'm not registered at FK/Roy forum so until I get a blog going myself i'll post it here...

    http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz51/grafdog/02-02-2011022319PM2.jpg

    This Rickson Gracie one took longer than most. At least 30 minutes, but generally I draw these portraits in three to ten minutes from memory with a pen or pencil with no preliminary work and no erasing.
    I just finished up the Coleman tryptic, it might be fun for you to write up some stuff about Coleman to go along with the drawings and turn it into an entertaining mini retrospective.

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  7. It's been very quiet around here since February 12. Hmmm... where's your mouth now?

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  8. It's been awfully quiet on this blog since your beloved Fedor was raped like a helpless child by a B-list fighter last month. And now with Zuffa purchasing your beloved Strikeforce. Where are you? Got nothing to say now, huh? Well, it's understandable I guess, your world has been turned upside down...

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  9. Nick Diaz is fighting GSP. That's where we are now.

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