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"Nick [Diaz] obviously has a reach advantage because he’s taller. But, I don’t feel like the height difference is so drastic between the two of us to really worry about it too much. Of course, I’m concerned about the reach and I have some plans to address that. It’s not like I’m five-foot-six and he’s six-foot-nine. I think it’s something I can handle... I’ve prepared as well as I can on the ground because Nick has a superior ground game. But this is MMA, this is not kickboxing. I train in all of it. I train in grappling, the fighting, the wrestling, the same for all fighters... As far as how the fight will go or what I’ll be able to do, I don’t want to predict that. We’ll just have to see it in the ring."
-DREAM Welterweight Champion Marius Zaromskis discusses tonight's bout with Nick Diaz on Strikeforce: Miami on Showtime during a media conference call.
Penick's Analysis: Zaromskis is going to need this confidence tonight in what is a very tough opponent in Diaz. We really haven't seen a whole lot of Zaromskis' game yet, as he really has only burst onto the consciousness of most fans from his head kick KO's in DREAM last year. How his ground game holds up against Diaz is the main mystery coming into tonight's fight, and how he handles the reach advantage will be his key to success tonight.
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"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
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