Re: UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit (Feb.4) MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view) Carlos Condit (169) vs. Nick Diaz (169) Roy Nelson (246) vs. Fabricio Werdum (246) Josh Koscheck (170) vs. Mike Pierce (170) Renan Barao (136) vs. Scott Jorgensen (135) Ed Herman (185) vs. Clifford Starks (185) PRELIMINARY CARD (FX) Max Holloway (144) vs. Dustin Poirier (146) Alex Caceres (136) vs. Edwin Figueroa (135) Matt Brown (171) vs. Chris Cope (171) Henry Martinez (169) vs. Matt Riddle (170) PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook) Rafael Natal (186) vs. Michael Kuiper (183) Dan Stittgen (170) vs. Stephen Thompson (171)
Re: UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit (Feb.4) tonight demonstrated that muay thai is superior to boxing. diaz really needs to see someone cause he's a nutjob
Results Carlos Condit def. Nick Diaz via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46) - wins interim welterweight title Fabricio Werdum def. Roy Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) Josh Koscheck def. Mike Pierce via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) Renan Barao def. Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) Ed Herman def. Clifford Starks via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 1:43 Dustin Poirier def. Max Holloway via submission (mounted triangle-armbar) - Round 1, 3:23 Edwin Figueroa def. Alex Caceres via split decision (28-27, 27-28, 28-27) Matt Brown def. Chris Cope via knockout (punches) - Round 2, 1:19 Matt Riddle def. via Henry Martinez via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) Rafael Natal def. Michael Kuiper via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) Steven Thompson def. Dan Stittgen via knockout (head kick) - Round 1, 4:13
Another great event for the UFC. The FOX show was a bit of a letdown (just the main card fights) but 143 delivered. Granted the main card was decision-heavy but the fights were contested well. I was able to see all of the fights tonight and I don't really have thoughts on the whole deal but a few things stuck out: Wonderboy is a gifted kicker but he beat a guy who looked like he didn't belong. Can't learn much from the performance. Henry Martinez and Max Holloway were brave to jump weight to be on the big show but it didn't pay off. Really want to see Screech vs. Koch now. That submission was nasty. Barao is a good prospect and will keep climbing. Blanking Jorgensen is no easy task. Surprised that Jorgensen didn't spam the takedown attempts. He was never going to win a kickboxing match with Barao. Agreed with the Koscheck/Pierce decision. Full credit to Pierce who hung tough. Would like to see Koscheck/Diaz. Werdum looked great except towards the end of the fight where he was visibly exhausted. Reminded me of his fight with Arlovski but in a good way. Surprised Nelson didn't work to take him down. Nelson was too one-dimensional in the fight. Condit/Diaz was a great fight, as expected. Thought it would go the distance. Condit did an excellent job of staying off the cage and by extension out of Diaz's wheelhouse. As the fight progressed it seemed obvious that Condit's gameplan was to move, throw kicking and punching combinations, and duck out. Diaz was clearly frustrated that Condit wouldn't stand in front of him or engage him against the cage. I don't think Diaz made the right adjustments during the fight. He wasn't having success getting Condit to the mat and he couldn't slow him down. I sympathize with him a little in that it's true that Condit was on his bike but unlike some other fighters, Condit was attacking and I think may have out-landed Diaz (which is a rarity in Diaz's fights). If Diaz wants a stationary target he can go back to fighting mid-level welterweights in Strikeforce because he isn't going to get one too often in the UFC (except for lazy-ass BJ Penn). I fully expected Diaz to reject defeat when the decision was read but I think when he looks back on the fight he'll recognize that his strategy failed. If Condit was intent on running, he had to run after him and keep as little distance between them as possible.
Shocked to see that Peoples, Jarman, and The Mazz were all involved in a main event that was pretty certain to go to the judges (two fighters rarely finished). The NSAC is brutal sometimes. Perfect storm of ineptitude avoided.
If GSP isn't ready to go until November (10 months), it is clear that Condit will have to fight again in the meantime. I suppose if Ellenberger wins his fight with Sanchez that makes him the top contender? I'd also be down for a rematch with Diaz.
For the record I don't think Nick Diaz will retire. I think he needs time away to rejuvenate. He's complained a lot recently that he fights too often and the paycheque from tonight's fight will probably carry him for a while. We'll probably see him again in five-six months once he starts getting pent-up and realizes that he earns a living by fighting MMA.
If I can find a gif of Diaz slapping Condit in the face--and MC Hammer jumping out of his seat in the background--rest assured you'll find it posted in this thread.
Tough luck for Nick Diaz. Me and everyone I watched the fight with thought he won. Don't have the statistics in front of me but it seemed like the strikes were comparable but Diaz was undoubtedly dominating in "octagon control" assuming his constantly backing Condit down was "octagon control". I also don't think Nick Diaz will retire. He loves fighting too much and there's too much money left in it for him to leave now.
Looking at the statistics, Condit did win the striking but a huge portion of his strikes were leg kicks. Dunno if judges discriminate between kinds of strikes but leg kicks shouldn't be considered as significant as other strikes IMO. His 68-6 advantage in leg kicks paid off because Diaz did slow down and Condit did better later in the fight. But if Condit was given either of round 1/2 based partly on his combined 27-2 advantage in leg kicks boosting his "significant strikes" total then it just seems unfair. He spent the vast majority of the fight backpedaling and even when he did throw other strikes a lot of the time he ducked out of danger before Diaz could engage. I suppose it is a smart strategy against Diaz but how can you score a round for a fighter who is trying not to engage? All 3 judges gave round 1 to Condit. Condit had the edge in significant strikes 29-23, the edge in total strikes 30-28, but looking at the breakdown of where his strikes were located, he was outstruck on head strikes 16-7, outstruck in body strikes 11-7, but severely outstruck Diaz in leg strikes 16-1. Its hard to recall exactly in fast paced fights and I was somewhat drunk by this point but if memory serves Diaz seemed to be winning most of the exchanges in the first and while Condit wasn't totally on his bike yet Diaz was definitely doing the stalking. So did the judges give Condit this round completely on the merit of the "significant strikes" advantage and, by extension, the significant leg strikes advantage? Two judges gave round two to Condit. I don't understand this at all. Diaz won significant strikes 32-29, total strikes 35-29, head strikes 19-9, body strikes 15-9, but lost leg strikes 11-1. Despite the disadvantage in leg strikes, he still won the total sig. strikes. Also, going off of my not-so-great memory he really controlled this round. Condit never attempted any takedowns or subs either. Maybe Condit landed some big time head kicks I'm forgetting in the first two rounds (I remember most of them coming a bit later) but just from watching the fight it seems insane that Diaz didn't win round 1 for any of the judges and only one judge gave him round two. I've seen much worse decisions and much worse scoring, it did end up being a close fight and I'm not that outraged that Condit won. I feel for Diaz though as it seemed like Condit won this fight despite being backed down constantly and seemingly scoring a ton of points on leg kicks. Felt like Diaz dominated "octagon control" for whatever thats worth and was definitely the aggressor but it seems like the judges didn't take this into consideration very much. I'm going off of what some guy posted on MMA UG so these could be wrong but Jarman and Peoples gave 1, 2, 4, 5 to Condit. Kamijo gave 1, 3, 4 to Condit. Jarman and Peoples' scoring perplexes me somewhat but somehow they came to the same decision. Kamijo's scoring is understandable to me. Being armchair judge during the fight I would have said 1 and 2 were Diaz, 3 and 4 were Condit and 5 is hard to say because Condit seemed to be winning the striking but Diaz did get a takedown, for whatever thats worth. I can see how one can judge that Condit won but giving him 4 of 5 rounds? All judges giving him round 1? Two out of 3 giving him round 2? I'd like to hear some more explanation. Sort of reminds me of Machida-Shogun 1 and Machida-Rampage, Rampage did win that fight but it was by split decision. I guess there is a precedent for that Machida-esque style doing well on scorecards.
Sadly, if Diaz does return he may never get back into position to get a title shot and/or shot at GSP. He really hadn't fought any wrestlers during his huge streak and its going to be hard to avoid elite level wrestlers at 170 in the UFC. There are so many exciting match ups for him at 170 though, it would really be a shame if he did leave. Ultimately I think he does love fighting though and he definitely loves to get paid. Hes not wired the same as most other fighters but its hard to see him walking away when his paychecks are at an all-time high and hes headlining big time cards. If that GSP-Diaz fight ever does happen (I'm sure Dana wouldn't mind putting that on) he'll make ridiculous money.
As promised (no guarantee it's Hammer, I saw him earlier in the night but it isn't obvious in the gif who it is... please don't hurt em)
I fail to see how Condit won that fight. I gave rounds 1, 2, and 5 to Nick. If anything, it should have been a draw. I'm not going to lie, I am really disappointed with Condit. While it was a perfect gameplan, it was completely against what he's shown his entire career. I never thought I'd see him run a track race in the octagon. For somebody who claims to be a real fighter and a natural born killer, he failed to live up to that. Fucking lame. I want a rematch.
Disappointing, yes, but looking back he really had no other way to beat Diaz. Nick was winning the exchanges in the first two rounds. Condit has little wrestling or BJJ. Its not the first time we've heard guys say they're gonna stand and bang and then do the opposite, and once you saw Diaz getting the better of him with boxing early it was really the only chance Condit had. I was thinking today how its weird that Diaz may be one of the most feared fighters in the sport. We just saw a great muy thai fighter coming off three KO/TKO totally avoiding any engagement. Most guys don't fear him and stand and trade (and lose) with him, wrestlers probably won't fear him, but damn if the Condit gameplan wasn't an indicator of just how superior Diaz' boxing is. Hes almost like a bizzaro Anderson Silva in that standing with him is basically suicide but hes also got the elite level BJJ that makes you worry about taking him to the mat. Obviously he doesn't have the power but his technique, pace, and chin are unreal. Who is seriously going to tell themselves they can KO Diaz any more after all those Condit head kicks and even the Daley fight before that? Guy wasn't even phased by Condit's kicks. And I still can't figure out an explanation for the judging of the fight. I, like Mamba, thought Diaz definitely won 1 and 2, Condit 3 and 4, and 5 could go either way. GSP said he felt the exact same way and Dana White said he also had Diaz 1-2, Condit 3-4 and I don't remember who he gave 5 to- and both had a similar view of the fight to what I presume the judges were watching. It seems like everything I read says they gave 1/2 to Diaz, 3/4 to Condit, and 5 could go either way. If Condit won by virtue of taking 3, 4, and 5 then I'd get it but we seriously need to figure out a more clear scoring system. "Aggression" and "octagon control" are two factors used in judging a fight. How does Condit sweep round one and get 2/3 judges votes in round 2? I can't think of any explanation for why anyone would give round 2 to Condit at all.
Nick had complete aggression and octagon control throughout the fight, IMO. I don't think Condit controlled the octagon at all.. I'm not saying Nick clearly won, but I think a draw should have been in order. If Edgar/Penn I and Machida/Shogun I led to immediate rematches, I think this one should, too. Fuck if Condit doesn't agree with that, it is what is needed...he didn't clearly win that fight. I don't see any way Condit won the 5th round...Nick scored a TD and secured the back immediately...scored a dominant position and a submission attempt. Was Condit's sub defense and reversal in the last seconds that big? I don't think so. DFW needs to make a rematch happen.
Fightmetric: Significant strikes: 151 to 105 Total strikes: 159 to 117 Leg strikes: 68 to 6 Take downs: 0 of 0 to 1 of 3 Submission attempts: 0 to 0 Guard passes: 0 to 0 Fightmetric scores the fight three rounds to two for Condit, giving him rounds 1, 3, and 4. You guys know I'm a huge Nick Diaz fan but I fail to see how he did more than Condit in the fight.
Payouts Carlos Condit: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus) def. Nick Diaz: $200,000 Fabricio Werdum: $165,000 (includes $65,000 FOTN bonus) def. Roy Nelson: $85,000 (includes $65,000 FOTN bonus) Josh Koscheck: $146,000 (includes $73,000 win bonus) def. Mike Pierce: $20,000 Renan Barao: $22,000 (includes $11,000 win bonus) def. Scott Jorgensen: $20,500 Ed Herman: $62,000 (includes $31,000 win bonus) def. Clifford Starks: $8,000 Dustin Poirier: $89,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus & $65,000 SOTN bonus) def. Max Holloway: $6,000 Edwin Figueroa: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Alex Caceres: $8,000 Matt Brown: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Chris Cope: $8,000 Matt Riddle: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Henry Martinez: $6,000 Rafael Natal: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Michael Kuiper: $6,000 Stephen Thompson: $77,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus & $65,000 KOTON bonus) def. Dan Stittgen: $6,000
