I’m a fan of the UFC’s Diaz brothers, Nate and Nick. Both enter the cage with tip-top cardio and give the fans what they’re paying for with feisty in-fight posturing and a trance-like determination to press forward.
While such attention to preparation shows a deep respect for opponents and fans, it’s a regrettable fact that Nick Diaz has a reputation for being unprofessional beyond the cage.
So much so that even the normally trash-talk averse Georges St Pierre (GSP) has vented his spleen towards the elder Diaz on more than one occasion.
Ahead of his March 16 welterweight decider at UFC 158, St Pierre has labelled Diaz ”the most disrespectful person ever”.
”I’m going to give him a belting he won’t forget” St Pierre predicted in his characteristic Quebec brogue.
This match-up was first slated for UFC 137, but Diaz’ bizarre no-show at a key press conference so enraged UFC president Dana White that he pulled it.
Diaz’ excuse was that he missed several planes, and failed tests for marijuana metabolites after two previous fights (Gomi and BJ Penn) must at least hint at one possible cause of his organisational shortcomings.
While Diaz has never blamed his erratic behaviour on the absence of a biological father growing up, his taciturn grunge demeanour shows the hallmarks of the entrenched social outsider.
There have also been minor promotional no-shows for his current engagement, likely testing White’s patience further.
It’s not hard to imagine a circle of crossed fingers at UFC board meetings these days.
If you like fighters who wear their heart on their sleeve and their experience on their minced brow tissue, nose and ears, then Nick is your man. (Diaz was so prone to brow cuts he had bone surgically shaved from the area to address the problem.)
With his first pro MMA bout at age 18 back in the IFC and his first UFC event a few years later, Diaz is now one of the most experienced fighters on any circuit. Yet when he takes on St Pierre he will be just 31, and the champion 33.
Diaz has beaten some big names including Frank Shamrock, BJ Penn and Takamori Gomi.
When he faced power puncher Paul Daley in a Strikeforce promotion in 2011, many wondered if he had the hands to hurt the heavily built Brit or the chin to withstand his notoriously punishing shots.
But Diaz neutralised Daley with his typical high volume punching for a convincing knock out win.
Though Diaz has lost to GSP’s recent unsuccessful belt challenger, Carlos Condit, few see this as an algebraic clincher.
Against Condit, St Pierre returned impressively from an extended recovery period after ACL surgery to show not a skerrick of ring-rust.
A thorough professional in and out of the ring, St Pierre is rated a more versatile adversary than Diaz. He has no rigid agenda for where a fight should go, while Diaz prefers stand-up despite world class jui-jitsu and sambo skills.
St Pierre has demoralised opponents with jabs (Koscheck, Penn) and mercilessly punished them on the ground (Condit, Penn, Serra).
Diaz’ stand and trade style allowed Condit to craft a dodge-and-weave blitzkrieg of arm and leg strikes for a narrow points decision.
Few would confidently predict if the champion will choose to stand with Diaz or take him down, though he has publicly thanked Benson Henderson for giving him a template. (Henderson comfortably defended his UFC lightweight belt against the younger Diaz, Nate, in December last year.)
While both men have strengths on the ground, few have had the power to get out from beneath St Pierre when he is on top. Georges’ spectacular take-downs alone are often worth the admission fee.
That the bookies already have the affable French-Canadian a favourite is hard to argue with. But it won’t matter to me if Diaz loses.
It’s enough to know he entered the cage to fight, not just to be a contestant. The champion won’t have to go looking for him.
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