Nate Diaz Is Glad Gray Maynard Didn’t Take Too Many Shots

Nate Diaz dominated Gray Maynard at TUF 18 finals, utilizing his slick volume boxing to score an impressive TKO over ‘The Bully’ in the opening stanza and raising questions about Maynard’s well being in the process.

Oddly enough Diaz was actually quite down to earth when asked about his victory, a sign that the Stockton slugger may be starting to tow the line? Probably not.

“My mission is always to win, and I’m glad it went that way,” Diaz said during the post-fight press conference at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. “I’m glad they stopped it when they did, because this is a rough sport, and I don’t think people should be taking shots. It’s not like, ‘I want to kill that guy,’ but I do want to win.”

Diaz has never been known for his striking power per se, although he has often used it to wear opponents down and sink in submissions. Grappling is by far his forte, but what we saw last night was a boxing master class.

“I feel like I hit hard all the time, but sometimes I just keep going. Instead of a full-blown power shot, I feel like maybe a lot more accurate punches will do. But if I slow it down and try to hit you hard, I’m going to hit you hard,” said Diaz. “My brother was going over some stuff with me in the back. He told me that if I was going to land anything to make sure it was solid and hard and not just overwhelming. It’s good, sometimes, if you get a little reminder.”

So what’s next for Diaz? He rebounded from a title loss to Ben Henderson and an eliminator fight against Josh Thomson by destroying a long time contender in Maynard; perhaps he is ready for another contender match?

“I’m thinking maybe I’ll sit on the sideline for a good, long minute until somebody gets injured, and then [I can] fight for a title, like everybody else is doing,” said Diaz. “I do have a lot of losses on my record, and other people have a lot of criticism and s–t to talk, but if you look at my record compared to other people, for every two fights [they have fought], I’ve fought six or seven times. So if they were fighting more consistently, like I am, they’re going to have more losses than me. So maybe I’ll sit around for a while and wait for an injury to pop up.”

He makes a great point, especially considering the fragility of a lot of the top guys at the minute. TJ Grant and Anthony Pettis have been plagued by injuries recently, so top flight opening could well be around the corner for Diaz. Maybe the winner of Bendo vs. Thomson?