Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Nick Diaz Situation
Sep 14, 2011 - 7:30:47 AM HYDEN BLOG: The Nick Diaz Situation

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

We all know the situation with Nick Diaz. I wanted to wait a few days before expressing my thoughts on him because I didn't want to get caught up in the moment. However, my thoughts haven't changed that much from when I originally heard the news. I think there's a part of Nick that's afraid of Georges St. Pierre. It's not that he's scared of losing, he's lost before and he'll lose again. I don't think that's the problem. I think what Nick is afraid of is that GSP will beat him at his own game.

Just recently, GSP destroyed Josh Koscheck with his jab. Koscheck has good stand-up, yet GSP dominated him. Nick has good stand-up as well. He's also talked about wanting to be a boxer, and it's obvious that his striking is important to him. So what happens if GSP crushes him with his hands? It would already be hard enough for Nick to get taken seriously in the boxing world as it is, if he gets beat by GSP, this dreams are out the window.

I don't think that's all there is to it, but I don't buy the whole "beauty pageant" excuse for him not wanting to do press conferences and such. Nick has trash-talked GSP in the past, but also knows that's what motivates GSP the most. GSP is like Michael Jordan, it's all good if things are cool, but if you start trash-talking he's going to try to rip your throat out. Nick knew he had to back up all his talk, and that's a lot of pressure to deal with. If GSP were to dominate Diaz, where does he go from there? Nick is not Chael Sonnen, he's not delusional. When Nick says something, it's because he believes it. There's no better way to have your belief in yourself shaken than to get dominated by GSP for five rounds, which is exactly what would have happened. I don't buy GSP saying he was going to finish Diaz, that wasn't going to happen.

So now we have GSP defending his UFC Welterweight Title against Carlos Condit. This is a very tough matchup for GSP, but I still think he pulls out the five round decision. Nick is now slated to fight B.J. Penn. I think Nick can beat Penn, who seems to be on the downside of his career. That does bring up the issue, though, of what happens if Nick beats B.J.? To me, the answer is simple, you give Nick one more chance. However, you tell him that he either plays the game or he gets cut. It's that simple. I wouldn't worry about Nick going elsewhere and trying to lay claim to being able to beat GSP. No one will believe that if Nick had two chances to fight GSP, but essentially backed out of them both.

There's no question that Nick Diaz is a great talent, he's got a ton of skills. However, everyone knows that they have to play nice when it comes to interviews and press conferences and the like. This isn't new, it's always been this way. You either play along, or you get out.


Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com