UFN 20: Gray Maynard Vs. Nate Diaz Breakdown
by Kelvin Hunt on Jan 11, 2010 11:00 AM EST
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Nate Diaz is coming into this fight with an overall record of (11-4) with 8 wins via submission and 2 via KO/TKO. He won a must win fight in his last matchup as he was able to weather the storm from Melvin Guillard to submit him in the second round. Diaz is a notorious slow starter with a dangerous ground game, but he doesn't effectively use his length in the stand up department like his older brother Nate. He's lost the two fights prior to the Guillard fight by being overly reliant on his ground game, and allowing stronger wrestlers to control him. Well, that's exactly what he'll be facing on tonight against Gray Maynard. However, it's not the same Maynard that Diaz was able to submit on the TUF 5 show.
SBN coverage of UFC Fight Night 20: Maynard vs. Diaz
Gray Maynard comes into this fight with an overall record of (8-0) with 6 of those wins coming via decision. He defeated Roger Huerta in the main event of UFN 19 in which turned out to be a very good fight against a tough opponent. Maynard is a wrestler first and foremost, but is quickly evolving his skillset to become a more well rounded fighter. He has definitely improved more of his game than Diaz has since their initial fight on TUF and he'll get to prove that on tonight.
Maynard will be able to choose where he wants the fight to take place. If he wants to take Diaz down, I'm sure he would be able to do so and Diaz would probably invite that. That's where Diaz has the best chance of winning the fight with his submission game. However, Maynard may choose to keep the fight standing and try to implement some of his striking game as he has done more of in his past few fights. Anything can happen in MMA, but the likelihood of Diaz knocking Maynard out isn't very high. Diaz can take tons of punishment and keep right on coming for more. I think Maynard has learned enough submission defense that he can survive on the ground, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Diaz latch onto a guillotine during a slam or something to get the win. However, I think this is Maynard's fight to lose and I see him winning this one by decision. What say you?
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me either
Ain’t like he has exactly blown away the competition lately…lol.
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It’s kind of how everyone (including me) went nuts in overrating Wandy’s chances against Rampage in their 3rd tussle.
Bloody hell.
Umm..No
I think I recall providing concrete reasons for my beliefs!
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Fine fine
on my part, it was wishful thinking. I know I can’t prove it now, so it doesn’t count for much, but I kept feeling like Wandy would go down via left hook.
:( I was right.
haha...word.
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by Kelvin Hunt on Jan 12, 2010 10:42 AM EST up reply actions
This might be a classic use of "wrestling in reverse"
Maynard should be able to hang with Diaz in the standup department, and I can’t see Diaz controling Maynard enough to move the fight to the ground. I also think that Maynard has probably been watching the Diaz/Stevenson tapes, and picked up a few tricks for negating Diaz’s ground game.
I just don’t see any scenario outside of a flying armbar/triangle/gogoplata where Diaz takes this
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