Issue 081

November 2011

One of MMA’s most quotable and unique characters, Stockton, California’s Nick Diaz is one of the sport’s best welterweights. FO looks back at five of the UFC challenger’s most memorable highlights and lowlights, both in and out of the cage

1 DIAZ VS ROBBIE LAWLER (UFC 47, APRIL 2ND 2004)

Going in, this was hyped by fans and pundits alike as that old cliché: the classic striker versus grappler battle. Obviously, it would be decided by either Lawler’s power punching or Diaz’s submission game. Or, maybe not. Competing in his second UFC fight, the 20-year-old Diaz stunned those fans and pundits – and Lawler – with a show of utter contempt for his opponent’s skills. Relying on his reflexes, counterpunching and work rate, Diaz continually taunted Lawler, raised his arms, left his chin exposed, called Lawler forward and, having landed a single right hand counter, sent Lawler pitching face first to the canvas early in the second round. A great fight and Diaz’s breakthrough performance.

2 DIAZ RETIRES FRANK SHAMROCK (STRIKEFORCE, APRIL 11TH 2009)

Headlining Strikeforce’s first solo event on Showtime, and in fighting-legend Frank Shamrock’s adopted hometown of San Jose, Diaz used his reach and speed advantages to dominate and punish the sentimental hero, dropping him with a body shot and following up with punches on the ground that left Shamrock unable to stand or defend himself. Unusually respectful in the fight’s aftermath, especially given the bad blood between Shamrock and Nick’s mentor Cesar Gracie, Diaz, after denying it throughout the build-up, finally labelled Shamrock a legend. Headlining in front of 15,000-plus, an hour away from Stockton, he retired one of the sport’s pioneers.

3 INTERVIEW WITH ARIEL HELWANI (APRIL 2011)

Bizarre interviews and stream-of-consciousness rants about triathlons, marijuana and nutrition are all part of the Diaz charm. In this interview, kicking off with a confidence-instilling: “I wasn’t going to do this interview, but they told me I had to,” Nick seemed largely disinterested in his upcoming fight with Paul Daley. However, he was very interested in talking about Helwani’s reported habit of stirring the pot and instigating fights, suggesting Helwani would get slapped in Stockton due to such behavior. Barely looking at his interviewer throughout, Nick’s freestyle rant was peppered with ‘bleeps’ and took in such subjects as how little he gets paid, boxing, the Zuffa purchase of Strikeforce, his feelings on Pride FC rules and yellow cards, wrestlers in American MMA, judges and, every now and again, Daley.

4 SKRAP PACK VS JASON MILLER (STRIKEFORCE ON CBS, APRIL 17TH 2010)

No stranger to post-fight shenanigans, Diaz and little brother Nate kicked off a near in-cage riot at a 2008 EliteXC show in Hawaii after telling local hero KJ Noons “don’t be scared homie” and, back in 2006, brawled with Joe Riggs (his opponent earlier that night at UFC 57) at the hospital. But it was last year’s gang beatdown of joker Jason Miller that had the most far-reaching consequences. After ‘Mayhem’ got in the face of then-Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields, following his upset win over Dan Henderson, both Diaz brothers, Shields and Gilbert Melendez rained down punches and kicks on an impertinent Miller, while the suits at major TV network and event broadcaster CBS looked on. The fracas and poor ratings ensured CBS lost all interest in the promotion, and perhaps MMA as a whole.

5 DIAZ VS PAUL DALEY (STRIKEFORCE, APRIL 9TH 2011)

Of all the great fights in Nick’s decade-long career (the trilogy with Jeremy Jackson, the all-action epics with Karo Parisyan and Diego Sanchez, the classic with Takanori Gomi and the KJ Noons rematch) none were as genuinely, heart-stoppingly thrilling as his four-minute 57-second war with Daley. Headlining the first Zuffa-era Strikeforce event, and successfully defending the company’s welterweight title, Diaz survived a pair of knockdowns and shrugged off heavy punishment on the ground before capitalizing on his faster hands, recuperative powers and sheer hardcore stubbornness to blast Daley to defeat in a rousing ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate which extended his unbeaten run to nine fights.