Joe Rogan likes Nick Diaz just the way he is
They say ambiguity can defined as watching your mother in law drive off a cliff, in your new Lexus. Dana…
They say ambiguity can defined as watching your mother in law drive off a cliff, in your new Lexus. Dana White may feel the same way about Nick Diaz. He was happy to say goodbye to the Nick Diaz that had so many brawls outside the rules, in a hospital for example, or post fight on national television. But Dana must have been unhappy to lose the Nick Diaz that had so many riveting brawls within the rules, most recently against Paul Daley. As White put it, perhaps a little ruefully, Diaz “could be a big star if he would just calm down a little bit and not be so angry with everybody.”
UFC color analyst Joe Rogan, however, said on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour that he likes Nick Diaz just the way he is.
“I like Nick Diaz as Nick Diaz. I don’t think he has to do anything different.”
“I think what Nick Diaz needs is big fights. I think what Nick Diaz needs is promotion and big fights. Obviously, I’m biased when it comes to this whole Strikeforce-UFC thing, both under the same umbrella, but what I hope it leads to is super-fights. I want to see Nick Diaz against the very best in the UFC. I would love to see Nick Diaz vs. Josh Koscheck. I would love to see Nick Diaz vs. Georges St-Pierre.”
“I think he’s one of the best fighters in the world, I really do. He’s one of the most exciting, and that’s for sure. Just think about what kind of a champion fights a guy with his own style and takes it to him the way he did to Paul Daley. I mean, he threw caution to the wind and went out there and banged with Paul Daley and took him out with his own style … incredible fight.
“I am a huge Georges St-Pierre fan, and I think he is own of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, but I couldn’t imagine him employing that kind of a strategy in a championship fight and making it so exciting. Nick Diaz is a wildman. He just goes in there guns blazing, and he doesn’t have to. He has an amazing jiu-jitsu background, we saw that in the Cyborg fight, as soon as it went to the ground and he was on his back, he locked up Cyborg in an armbar, and you know, Cyborg is a real experienced veteran. Nick is a phenom. He has improved dramatically.”
“The real issue that Nick is going to have is with wrestlers. He’s going to have an issue with guys who hold him down and don’t do anything, hold him down and play it really safe and just punch him and hit him with short elbows. I think those guys are going give him trouble always in the UFC. But in Strikeforce, when he’s fighting Cyborg, when he’s fighting Paul Daley or Scott Smith, those guys, they’re not going to do that, they’re going to stand with him, and that’s when he looks spectacular.”