Diaz’s Top 3 Finishes, Before McGregor

Diaz’s Top 3 Finishes, Before McGregor

 

            Time will tell how significant Nate Diaz’s upset, submission win, over Conor McGregor, will rank among all-time greats, but it should be of little surprise.  Diaz had finished ten, previous UFC opponents, coming into the bout. In recognition of Stockton, California’s own most recent upset, we take a look back on Nate Diaz’s 3 best finishes… Prior to McGregor.

#3 Kurt Pellegrino, UFN 13 4/2/08.

Pellegrino was 17-3 at the time and a big step up in competition for Diaz, who had buzzed through his first three UFC opponents. Following a defeat of Manny Gamburyan, to win Season 5 of The Ultimate Fighter, by second round submission (due to shoulder injury) in promotional debut at TUF 5 Finale (6/23/07), Diaz finished his next two opponents by first round subs. In September of 07 he cinched Junior Assuncao’s neck in a Guillotine choke at 4:10 and four months later (1/23/08) forced Alvin Robinson to tap to his Triangle at 3:39.

Diaz had recently received his Brown Belt (Nate has now been a Black Belt for years) from Cesar Gracie. Kurt Pellegrino, an accomplished grappler himself, controlled the early action of the fight, which was fought at elevation in Bloomfield, Co. Pellegrino controlled position and landed punches to a grounded Diaz, causing a cut to the brow in round one. The second round went much the same with Diaz avoiding damage, but KP was pushing the action. At near the two minute mark of round two, Pellegrino attempted to pass guard and Diaz locked his legs into that triangle position. Nate knew he had the fight won, offering first a double tallboy to the camera then bicep pose. He never pulled the neck with his arms, instead the six foot tall lightweight constricted Pellegrino’s Carotid Artery using just his long legs.

#2 Jim Miller, UFC on Fox3 5/5/12.

Miller, also a younger brother to a UFC fighter, 14-8 Dan Miller, had twelve submissions of his own going into the fight.  Diaz caught Miller’s chin in the final minute of the first round and turned up the heat late in the second with strikes again. Miller shot a desperate take down and Diaz snaked his arm through for a power Guillotine. The always game Miller attempted escape, the two rolled and Diaz was able to connect his hands and really apply pressure to the neck, forcing Miller to tap at 4:09. The pair headlined the card that was fought in Miller’s home state of New Jersey. It was thought the grappling would nullify each other and many figured Miller’s pace and pressure would be too much for Diaz, prior to bout. Nate with an outstanding victory.

#1 Gray Maynard, TUF 18 Finale 11/30/13.

            Maynard was ranked the #5 Lightweight and Nate the #8. The pair were the main event, in this, their third match up. A Split Decision loss for Diaz 1/11/10 in their last, and a semifinal fight on The Ultimate Fighter 5 that resulted in a second round submission for Diaz by Guillotine, preceded.

Diaz put a left on Maynard’s chin just as Gray was changing levels that stunned the former Michigan State wrestler. Diaz closed distance and hit Maynard with over thirty consecutive, unanswered strikes, before referee, Yves Lavigne finally rescued a brain-weary Maynard just as he collapsed to the ground, calling the TKO at 2:38 of the first round.

Did I leave out your favorite Diaz win post it in the comments section with why you like it best.

Breakdown UFC 196 Early Prelims

Breakdown UFC 196 Early Prelims

 

            Way before the Pay Per View begins UFC Fight Pass airs early prelims at 6:30 PM ET, and a pair of The UFC’s most veteran Lightweights, Diego Sanchez and Jim Miller, match up in the internet’s broadcast Main Event. Diego Sanchez has been in the UFC a long time. He is the winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 as a Middleweight. He has also competed at Welterweight and Featherweight, in his last fight a Unanimous Decision loss to Ricardo Lamas. Sanchez last nine fights have gone to decision and he’s gone 4-5. It’s been sometime since the 25-8 BJJ Black Belt has collected one, of his fifteen finishes (6 KO, 9 Sub). The Thirty-four year old has gone to the judges seventeen times in his career (10-7).

Jim Miller is also coming off a loss, a second round submission to Michael Chiesa 12/10/15. That was Miller’s Twenty-first appearance in the Octagon (15-6). The Thirty-two year old has finished seventeen (3KO 14 Sub) of his Twenty-five wins and a seven time post fight bonus winner.

Two More LWs

            Justin Salas is fighting in his seventh UFC fight (3-3) and his first since 2014. He lost by TKO to Joe Proctor 7/16/14 and hasn’t competed since. In “J-Bomb’s” 12-6 career he is 5-0 in fights that go the distance. He has four wins by KO/TKO and three losses by the fate. He faces Jason Saggo, who also hasn’t competed since a 2014 loss. His a Split Decision to Paul Felder 10/4. Saggo has five first round finishes in his career. The Thirty year old Ontario native has finished each of his ten wins (2KO, 8Sub). Saggo is also a Black Belt under Royler Gracie.

Featherweights Kick it Off

          Six straight wins in the UFC’s Featherweight Division will draw the attention to Julian “Juicy J” Erosa. Erosa has finished four of his past five wins (2Sub, 2KO/TKO). The Twenty-six year old is 15-2 including a 2-2 record in fights that go to the judges. The TUF 22 Cast member has eight wins by submission. He faces Japan’s Teruto “Yashabo” Ishihara. The 7-2 Ishihara has finished six of his wins by first round KO/TKO. He holds blazing quick finishes in: 0:16, 0:19 and 1:03. “Yashabo” fought to a draw in his promotional debut vs Mizuto Hirota at UFC FN 75 in Japan.

 

Want to read my Main and Co-Main Breakdown click here:

http://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/03/breakdown-ufc-196.html

Breakdown: UFC 196 FS-1 Card

Breakdown: UFC 196 FS-1 Card

 

            Before Featherweight Champion, Conor McGregor and the number five ranked Lightweight in the UFC, Nate Diaz meet in the center of the octagon, Saturday March 5^th at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, Fox Sports-1 will air  four, live prelimary bouts. Headlining the free card on FS-1 will be Welterweights, Brandon Thatch versus Siyar Bahadurzada. This is a must win for both fighters, they’re each coming off two losses and are likely fighting to remain in the UFC.

With eleven wins, Thatch has a perfect finishing rate, including eight wins by KO/TKO and three stoppages by submission. In fact “Rukus” has only been out of the first round twice, both losses: 2/14/15 Benson Henderson sunk in a fourth round rear-naked choke (3:58), the other was the single time the Elevation Fight Team member has heard the final bell, in his second career fight a Split Decision Loss in 2008. The 6’2” Denver native owns six KO/TKO wins in under a minute.

Despite being three inches shorter than Thatch, Siyar Bahadurzada will enjoy a two inch reach advantage Sat. night.  “The Great” was born in Afghanistan and now trains with the Blackzilians in Florida. Bahadurzada has been on the shelf since losing to John Howard 12/28/13, by Unanimous Decision. He dusts off his 21-6-1 record, including eleven KO/TKO stoppages and six wins by Sub to face Thatch. “The Great” KO’d Paulo Thiago in just 0:42 in his UFC debut 4/14/12.

Another Barnburner at Welterweight

            Thirty-one year old Eric “The Tiger” Silva is just 3-3 in fights that have gone to decision, but in his eighteen wins, eleven have come by Submission and four more by way of KO/TKO. Silva was one of juggernaut, Neil Magny’s four victims in 2015, suffering a Split Decision loss in August last fight. Prior to that, the BJJ and Judo Black Belt collected two more first round Subs, he has totaled eleven career first round stoppage wins. He caught Josh Koscheck’s neck in a Guillotine Choke 3/21, forcing the tap at 4:21, choking Mike Rhodes with an Arm Triangle (1:15) 12/20/14. He takes on TriStar’s Nordine Taleb.

Taleb is fighting in his fifth UFC match (3-1). The one loss came by Submission, last fight 4/1/15, when Warlley Alves sunk in a second round Guillotine (4:11). Taleb was born in France, but now trains in Montreal and is the winner of ten of his last twelve efforts. The 170 pounder also has a 2-1 record in Bellator, before competing on Team Canada on The Ultimate Fighter: Nations season.

High School Wrestling State Champs Meet at Featherweight

            Darren “The Damage” Elkins is a former Indiana state High School Wrestling Champion, collecting a 191-9 HS record. He also has a brown belt in BJJ. Alternating wins and losses the former Local 597 Pipefitter, is 3-3 in his last six. He looks to build on the momentum of his Oct. 24^th UD win over Robert Whiteford last fight. Elkins is the number eleven ranked FW in the UFC, appearing in his thirteenth match with the promotion (9-4). His overall record is 19-5 with five KO/TKO and five Sub wins to date. He faces Chas “The Scrapper” Skelly.

Skelly is also a former HS Wrestling State Champ and College All-American. In his 15-1 career “The Scrapper” has eleven finishes, five in the opening round. The Texas native is the winner of his last four, including two second round finishes in 2015: a TKO (4:59) of Jim Alers 2/14 and a rear-naked choke sub (1:56) of Edimilson Souza 11/7.

Clash of Styles at 185lbs

          Eight of Vitor “Lex Luther” Miranda’s eleven wins have been by KO/TKO. The Ultimate Fighter Brazil Season 3 finalist has won his previous two by TKO: a second round (2:38) stoppage of Clint Hester 8/1/15 and a first round (4:59) head kick to end Jake Collier’s night 12/20/14.  He takes on accomplished grappler, Marcelo “Margao” Guimaraes in Guimaraes’ fourh UFC fight (2-1). Last time out he earned a SD over Andy Enz 6/28/14.

To read my coverage of the Main and Co-Main events at UFC 196 click here:
http://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/03/breakdown-ufc-196.html

Fall River’s Own “Filthy” Fighting on UFC 196 PPV Card

Fall River’s Own “Filthy” Fighting on UFC 196 PPV Card

 

            Tom Lawlor is stepping up in competition, in his second fight since returning to the Light Heavyweight division, when he faces the UFC’s #12 ranked LHW Corey Anderson. “Filthy” has finished his last two fights, the BJJ Purple belt (under Tim Burrill) caught Michael Kuiper in a second round Guillotine choke 4/16/13 and in his first fight at LHW since a December 2008 Unanimous Decision win over Kyle Kingsbury, he TKO’d Gian Villante at 0:27 in the second round (6/25/15) and earned the Performance of the Night bonus. He has also been awarded Knockout of the Night, Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night bonuses in the UFC. The thirty-two year old is 10-5 with four wins by KO/TKO and four more finishes by submission. The Season 8 cast member on The Ultimate Fighter faces TUF season 19 LHW winner Corey “Beastin 25/8” Anderson.

Anderson went 2-1 in 2015. He started the year in April with a third round TKO (4:18) loss at the hands of, common opponent, Gian Villante, the loss is the only in his 8-1 career. The twenty-six year old then collected two UD wins, outpointing: Jan Blachowicz Sept. 5^th and then just two months later Fabio Maldonado in Sao Paulo, Brazil at UFC Fight Night 77.  The former college wrestling coach will enjoy a five inch reach advantage in his match up with Lawlor.

Power at 205lbs on PPV Main Card

            Gian Villante Wrestled and played Football at Hofstra University, where he met current training partner, Chris Weidman. Villante, the number thirteen ranked LHW in the UFC is fresh off a first round Knockout win (2:56) over Anthony Perosh 11/14/15. The thirty year old is 3-1 in his last four, including that April 18^th TKO over Corey Anderson, and 14-6 overall with nine wins by KO/TKO. The 03 NY state wrestling champ will enjoy a three inch reach advantage when he takes on Sweden’s Ilir “The Sledgehammer” Latifi.

Latifi is appearing in his seventh UFC fight, collecting a 4-2 record. Of those six fights only his promotional debut, a UD loss to Gegard Mousasi, made it out of the first round. An accomplished wrestler in Sweden, “The Sledgehammer” has eight first round finishes in his eleven wins. He is working on a short turn around, following his thirty second TKO of Sean O’Connell on January 17^th.

Number Four Takes on Number Ten

            Twenty-seven year old Amanda Nunes faces Lima, Peru’s Valentina Scevchenko in a womens Bantamweight showdown. Nunes has finished each of her eleven wins, nine by KO/TKO and two by submission. The Jiu-Jitsu Black belt and Judo Brown belt’s NAGA World Championship is just one of her numerous grappling accolades, but “Lioness” is more than just a grappler, the well-rounded fighter has nine wins in the opening round. She won her last two 2015 bouts in the first: a TKO (1:56) of Shayna Bazler 3/21 and she found Sara McMann’s neck with a rear-naked choke (2:53) on August 8^th. She will put her stand up game to the test when she faces Shevchenko with a Kickboxing record of 56-2 including 21 KO’s.

Shevchenko is 12-1 in MMA with four KO/TKO and five sub finishes. She is riding a five fight win streak, including her UFC debut, as a short notice replacement she earned a Split Decision over Sarah Kaufman Dec 19^th. The Russian born, “Bullet” holds multiple Kickboxing and Muay Thai Titles and has fought and defeated UFC Women Strawweight Champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk in Muay Thai.

 

To read my Breakdown of the Main and Co-main events of UFC 196 click here:

http://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/03/breakdown-ufc-196.html

Breakdown: UFC 196

Breakdown: UFC 196

 

            What more can be said of Featherweight, Champion, Conor McGregor? His UFC career has been a fabulous explosion of accurate striking and sharp tongued wit. Superlatives were invented to describe people like McGregor, at 19-2 with seventeen of those wins by way of KO/TKO, he is riding a fifteen fight win streak. It hasn’t seemed long since “Notorious” made his UFC debut (4/6/13), halting Marcus Brimage’s night by TKO in just 1:07, since he has gone 7-0 taking the interim FW belt from, Chad Mendes in June of 2015 and then December 12^th he KO’d the UFC’s only FW Champ, Jose Aldo (awarded 11/2010) in just thirteen seconds to be the undisputed FW Champion.

McGregor has only been pushed to the final bell once in his twenty-one fight career, a Unanimous Decision over Max Holloway (8/17/13) in Conor’s second UFC fight. In fact, beside Holloway only two other UFC opponents have made out of the opening round: Chad Mendes made it to 4:57 of the second round before referee, Herb Dean rescued him from McGregor’s rage, Denis Siver saw 1:54 of the second round (1/18/15) before “Notorious” put him away by TKO.

So what does the Featherweight King decide to conquer next? Well he had his heart set on challenging for the UFC’s Lightweight belt at UFC 196, but Champ, Raphael dos Anjos was forced to pull out of the bout, just two weeks before, due to a broken foot. Enter Nate Diaz, the thirty year old, Cesar Gracie Black Belt couldn’t wait to ink the deal. Short notice for Diaz has forced the bout to be fought, two weight classes up for McGregor, at Welterweight. Diaz has competed at WW and is 2-2.

Facing the taller Diaz, McGregor finds himself in unfamiliar territory, usually enjoying a reach advantage, Diaz has two inches on him there, he will be looking up at the six foot tall Diaz. Conor has a two inch advantage in leg reach, an unusual category which may actually play a role in the fight. McGregor throws many kicks and Diaz has been vulnerable to kicks in the past, leg kicks especially. In Diaz’s ten losses only a single has come by KO/TKO, a Josh Thompson head-kick in the second round (3:44) 4/20/13.

Nate Diaz is the number five ranked LW in the UFC and won season five of The Ultimate Fighter. In his twenty-one UFC fights he has gone 13-8 with ten finishes (8 subs, 2 TKO). He has been awarded twelve post fight bonuses: 6 Fight of the Night, 5 Submission of the Night and 1 Knock Out of the Night. Diaz is just 3-8 in fights that go to decision, couple that with Conor’s lone decision win and we have a pair of fighters looking to finish.

Bantamweight Belt on the Line in Co-Main

            Hard to believe that in only Holly Holm’s fourth UFC fight she is defending the Women BW Championship. “The Preacher’s Daughter” is 10-0 with seven wins by KO/TKO. Last time out she KO’d the most dominant champion in UFC history, Ronda Rousey, by second round head-kick (0:59) 11/14/15 to win the belt. Prior to MMA, the Albuquerque native collected multiple Pro Boxing world titles, compiling an impressive 33-2-3 record, including nine KO’s and a Kickboxing record of 2-1 (all KO’s). She was the back to back Ring Magazine Female Fighter of the Year in 05-06. The jab favoring, champion will enjoy a four inch reach advantage when she faces #2 ranked Meisha Tate.

The twenty-nine year old, Tate is 8-1 in fights that go the distance, she’s coming off her fourth straight win by decision, three of those ranked in the division’s top ten. Her latest was a three round UD over #7 Jessica Eye 7/25/15. “Cupcake” is an accomplished grappler, winning six career fights by submission. The former Strikeforce Champion has a background in wrestling and presents a well-balanced skill set for Holm to deal with.

Check out my Breakdown of the remainder of the PPV card here:

 http://fightpage.blogspot.com/2016/03/fall-rivers-own-filthy-fighting-on-ufc.html

UFC 196 is Saturday March 5^th 2016 in Las Vegas Nevada