Nick Diaz: I Was Injured Before UFC 183, Couldn’t Throw Punches
Nick Diaz UFC 183 post-fight presser video…..On his own……
So it was quite the odd night for UFC old school staple Nick Diaz, as he lost a one-sided decision at the hands of former middleweight champion Anderson Silva. “The Spider” was able to control the pace, and really just get more damage done in the 25 minutes that they fought for. Diaz was Diaz, nothing has changed at all, except he did look a little tired in the later rounds.
That is rather uncharacteristic of the Stockton bad boy, as he is usually renowned for his never-ending gas tank. Speaking during a bizarre ‘Nick Diaz UFC 183 press conference,’ the notorious 209 native said he was injured before the fight with Silva:
“I had a little injury in my left arm. I had to get a cortezone shot I didn’t throw punches for 2 weeks before the fight or in the warm up. I went for the takedown there, I thought I might be able to do some damage from there instead. I think all the power shots, I saw them coming, he has power on his jab and it opened up a little cut here under my eye. That whip kick I got grazed with did the cut above my eye.”
“I think I did good, my left arm was locking up on me and I couldn’t punch with it. When I came out to fight it wasn’t an issue, but I was worried that it would be. I went to see Anderson’s doctor, who fixed his leg, and he took an x-ray and he said I had some bone fragments in there. It hurt when I tried to punch with it.”
This is the first we’ve heard about Diaz injuring himself before the fight with Silva, but he certainly got medically cleared to fight, and spent more time fooling around in the first two rounds than actually trying to fight. Diaz says that Anderson Silva knows he doesn’t like fighters who don’t engage first, and used it against him:
“I kind of lose my sh-t in there when people do that,” Diaz said. I think he probably knows that. But I could see his punches coming a mile away. The more he punched, the more he was going to end up with the sh-t end of the stick, so he wasn’t going to punch or anything. I’m kind of tired of being a loser, I’m still here, but I’m losing all these fights.”
The pattern I’m noticing here is that both Nate Diaz and Nick refuse to change their style, to move with the times or to adapt to their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. As a result they are predictable, very easy to game-plan against, and also to beat. If Diaz ‘loses his shit’ when guys don’t engage, then throw some feints, force your opponents hand and then engage in clusters. You can’t simply expect your nemesis to play in to your strong suit, because they simply won’t.
As much fun as it is hearing Diaz talk trash or play games in the ring, this is becoming somewhat repetitive now. Surely someone has told him that he should switch things up a bit, get better at wrestling offense or adding some new striking/footwork techniques?
