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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
After losing a decision to Carlos Condit at UFC 143, Nick Diaz had no time for self reflection. He didn't believe he lost the fight, he didn't believe he did anything wrong in moving forward the whole fight, while failing to produce enough offense to actually win enough rounds. No, Carlos Condit ran from him. He ran, and he played a game that Nick Diaz doesn't want to play.
So Nick Diaz quit.
In the center of the Octagon, Diaz decided once again that it wasn't his fault. The game once again conspired against him, and Carlos Condit's hand being raised was the last straw, so he decided he was finished with mixed martial arts.
"I'm not gonna accept the fact that this is a loss," Diaz told Joe Rogan after the decision was announced. "I've lost fights before, where... I'm not gonna accept that either, that ain't right. I pushed him back the whole fight. I walked him down, I got the takedown. I'm the guy who won on top. Had I thought I wasn't ahead I probably should have finished that armlock. Carlos is a great guy, I'm happy for him and his family. I think I'm done with this MMA. It's been great out here; I've had a good career, you guys have paid me way too much, but I don't think I'm going to get enough to keep going in this. It's been a good time. Cesar Gracie jiu jitsu. Good job Carlos."
Rogan pressed Diaz as to whether he was truly thinking about retiring, and Diaz unloaded with one of the more petulant post-fight speeches delivered in a loss for a fighter in the UFC.
"I don't need this shit," he said. "I pushed this guy back the whole time, he ran from me the whole fight... I landed the harder shots, he ran the whole time and kicked me in my leg with little baby leg kicks the whole fight. So, that was the way they understand how to win in here, and I don't want to play this game no more. I'll help out my team and my brother and everybody else, but I'm out of this shit."
Penick's Analysis: That's the hero to a large segment of the fanbase in this situation. The child who should be allowed to skip out on the responsibilities of being a professional fighter because he's "different" from everyone else in the game. The fighter who shouldn't have to do stupid things like actually land effective strikes and accumulate offense throughout a fight because he's "pushing a guy back."
Diaz is immensely entertaining to watch more often than not, but his post-fight speech here had him coming off as a petulant, whiny little boy who couldn't handle the fact that something didn't go his way. If he's truly ready to retire off of that he can take his ball and go home.
What he should do is figure out why Condit was able to be effective in neutralizing his attack, causing him to land just over a third the amount of strikes he did against B.J. Penn in a three round fight. He should figure out why he wasn't able to do to Condit what he was able to do to several other recent opponents. And the answer isn't "because Condit ran away." Condit circled away from attacks, and then came back at Diaz with significant offense of his own.
No one wants to see Nick Diaz retire, and yes, a Diaz-GSP fight may have been more interesting to more people - not to mention an easier sell for the UFC - but Diaz didn't win that fight on Saturday night. He didn't. He wasn't effective despite "pushing Condit back," whereas Condit was. That's what it comes down to. Condit was able to fight his fight, and in the process he didn't allow Diaz to do the same.
[Nick Diaz art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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