Who are you guys picking? I'm picking Diaz. Daley is a very good striker, but I just think Diaz is too well rounded and crafty. He is on a 9 fight win streak and appears to be at his best at the moment. How do you see the fight going?
I am picking Diaz, but I can see Diaz's ego really fucking him over in this fight. He should pull guard and sub him out first round. But I doubt he will
The two biggest factors in this fight are Diaz's ego and his takedown offense vs Daley's takedown defence. I don't think Diaz is a good enough wrestler to take Daley down at will. Even if he goes in with the best intentions not to trade, he may become frustrated if he can't take Daley down as quickly as he'd like to....at that point he may abandon 'plan A' before he's even exhausted it. As much as I think it isn't a given that Diaz takes Daley down at will, neither is it a given that Daley wins this fight on the feet. If the fight does pan out that way, I personally favour Daley to land a hellacious counter at some point with the fight being waved off soon after. For the sake of not wussing out of a prediction, i'll go with that for now.
Jarhead and co, to be honest even if the fight DOES end up standing, due to Diaz wanting to or whatever, I still favour Diaz. Daley is not the best striker, he just happens to be one of the very best punchers in MMA. As slow and sloppy as Diaz looks, his boxing is strangely skilled and accurate by MMA standards. He's rangier, calmer, more accurate, more skilled. In a boxing match, I favour Diaz. Of course, there is a VERY legit chance Daley catches him with a massive punch. Also, although Diaz doesn't have Koscheck level wrestling, it's surely better than most of the guys Daley has beaten, and does Daley have anything more than average takedown defense?
I just watched Daley Vs Masvidal, and Daley looked very average in that fight. Masvidal is no bum, but doesn't he generally fight at 155? And guess what, his takedown success rate was at least 50%. In round 2, he actually scored 3/4 takedowns I think. If he can do that, so can Diaz. The problem was, Jorge didn't do much else, and couldn't do much when he did get Daley down. Daley clearly won the 3rd round. Still, the audience actually booed the decision a bit. Incidentally, I think SoakAJew went to the Chuck Lidell school of boxing. Plus, that was a hilariously late stoppage. Alexander was wailing on a defenseless SoakAJew for about 5 minutes before the ref stopped it :: :: After seeing the Masvidal fight, I'll be fucking surprised if Daley wins to be honest. But hey, I'm not great at picking MMA fights.
I'm pretty sure Masvidal mostly fought at 170 and just moved down to 155, where he looked pretty damn good. I may be wrong about when he moved down. In any case, I favor Diaz anywhere the fight goes. He doesn't really need a TD, he can pull guard too and win from the bottom just as easily. Diaz sub 2
Oh really? I thought he was a career 155 pounder. But yeah, either way, Daley didn't look too hot at all against a fairly clever, tricky opponent like Masvidal, and Diaz is bigger and better than Jorge.
Do you think Daley took Masvidal as serious as he will Diaz? All i'm saying is that I can't see Diaz taking Daley down at will, ala Koscheck and others. Daley's going to be very switched on against the takedown early, once Diaz mixes it up then Daley will be susceptible. But we all know that Diaz loves to strike...what if in that mixing it up process he has some success? He'll keep at it. I like Diaz's mma boxing style...and i'd love to see how it matches up against Daley's. It'll be volume punching vs 1 punch KO power. Before the Noons fight, in a stand up battle, i'd have taken Daley to whipe the floor with Diaz. I still take Daley, but Diaz showed some nous in that fight...he didn't just wade in and look to overwhelm KJ.
MWS, you are point on IMO. Diaz looks sloppy with his boxing, but for MMA standards it is crazy accurate. And believe is Masvidal can take Daley down, so can Diaz. I am with Z, I like Diaz no matter where this goes, but Daley will always have that punchers chance.
It wouldn't surprise me to see Diaz KO'd either, as much as I favor Diaz there is still a chance his ego gets the better of him and he ends up trading with Daley.
I think you are right, he's fought the majority of his career at 155. The Daley fight was at 170 though, and Daley was overweight too. he also fought another recent fight at 160. Otherwise, he's a LW.
Interesting fact. Masvidal has a pro boxing record of 1-0, having fought to a MD against an opponent with a 1-11-2 record.