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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor
Nick Diaz recently said in a conference call that he would like to fight Anderson Silva or Georges St. Pierre. He believes he could beat either one, which is fine, I expect an athlete to have confidence in himself. I don't think Diaz could beat either one of those two, but that's me. But I do have an issue with a couple of things regarding his statements.
The first problem is that he just recently signed a contract extension with Strikeforce. Why would he do that if he wanted to fight GSP or Silva so badly? I'm pretty sure the UFC would at least consider signing the reigning Strikeforce Welterweight Champion to a deal. If Nick wanted to fight GSP as much as he claims he should have tried to get a deal with the UFC.
My other problem is that Diaz claims that GSP, among others, received preferential treatment that Diaz didn't get. I don't buy that, as GSP fought guys like Matt Hughes, B.J. Penn, and Frank Trigg, as well as guys like Karo Parisyan (who Diaz also fought) and Sean Sherk. GSP also fought Jason Miller, a guy Diaz seemingly doesn't want to fight even though they're pretty evenly matched.
It seems to me that Diaz is just pulling a Chael Sonnen, except Diaz is being much more intellectual about it than Sonnen ever is. Diaz is making some out-there claims, but none of it is anywhere near as bad as what Sonnen has said.
I would love to see Nick Diaz fight Georges St. Pierre, that'd be an awesome fight. I think GSP would win, but it'd be a hell of a matchup. I wish it could happen, but there's no chance of that coming together right now. I suppose we can file this in our wish-list drawer and hope that one day it happens.
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Mark Hominick looked great as he beat George Roop last Saturday. Hominick is very confident in his striking ability as he prepares to fight Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight title at UFC 129. I like Hominick's self-confidence, as it doesn't come off as arrogance. I expect him to think he's going to win, as I expect all fighters to think they're going to win every fight; why bother fighting if you thought otherwise? Where Hominick makes the right move is that he says Aldo has never faced a striker as good as he is and we'll all see how Aldo handles that. That's not cocky and off-putting, that's showing that you believe in yourself. That's what I expect to see in a guy getting ready to fight for a title.
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Matt Wiman looked damn impressive in his victory over Cole Miller. Wiman was incredibly tenacious, and turned Miller into an unrecognizable fighter, as that wasn't the same Cole Miller we've seen before in the Octagon. He looked totally outmatched and just plain ineffective. For Wiman to do that to someone of Miller's ability speaks volumes about his progress as a fighter. Matt Wiman looks like a new fighter, and one I want to see a lot more of. Now if only he would get rid of that stupid "Handsome" Matt Wiman nickname.
Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com
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