UFC 244: Masvidal vs. Diaz (11/2/2019) - New York, NY (Madison Square Garden)

[Jiji]

[The Natural]

Shit way to end it. Bullshit chants.

Edited November 3, 2019 by The Natural

[Craig H]

Fuck all of this. That isn't worth stopping over. Fuck this.

[jaedmc]

Hahahahahahaha 

That belt deserved that ending.

[The Natural]

Can't believe that stoppage...NYSAC, man.

Edited November 3, 2019 by The Natural

[Elsalvajeloco]

I expected Masvidal to win but he absolutely put it to Nate. Those body kicks look like they suck. 

[The Natural]

Dana Fucking White will fucking explode.

[jaedmc]

Just now, Elsalvajeloco said:

I expected Masvidal to win but he absolutely put it to Nate. Those body kicks look like they suck. 

Yeah, I don't need to see a rematch. I don't know why it would be different. 

[Raziel]

I mean, even before that, Masvidal was handing Nate his ass.  

[Elsalvajeloco]

1 minute ago, jaedmc said:

Yeah, I don't need to see a rematch. I don't know why it would be different. 

It would be different in that if it was in a different jurisdiction, Nate would end the fight on his back in a bloody heap instead of waiting for the fourth round to begin.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Elsalvajeloco

[Jiji]

Jorge should move on but pride/honor won't let that happen. Oh well.

[Elsalvajeloco]

3 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Jorge should move on but pride/honor won't let that happen. Oh well.

I dunno if it's pride and honor as much as he won't have an easier fight at this level that is this high profile unless McGregor has slipped tremendously (or imo even more) since the Khabib fight.

[Jiji]

He doesn't strike me as a guy who would look for the easy fight tho. He should be fighting the winner of Usman/Covington. Edwards would be a greeeaaaaat fight too. But reputation and money will make the immediate rematch appealing. I don't think he can turn it down and save face.

[TheVileOne]

I was generally fine with the result even if it was a questionable stoppage. 

Edited November 3, 2019 by TheVileOne

[supremebve]

The main event reminded me of the Dustin Poirier/Max Holloway fight where it didn't take long to realize that one of these dudes hurts the other every time he lands and the other guy seems completely unbothered in return.  Masvidal won every second of that fight in a way that I was surprised by, even though I thought he'd win this fight fairly easily.  The first real exchange where he threw that elbow, followed it with a two punch combo and a head kick on the way down was just brutal, efficient, violence.  Masvidal's strking game is at a couple levels above Nate's and it seemed like Masvidal knew it immediately.  The thing that really surprised me was how inept Nate looked in spots where he's usually overwhelming.  When he actually got Masvidal's back against the fence in striking range, he'd throw a couple shots, Masvidal would evade them, and then circle away.  Nate would just kind of pause, like he never even considered that someone would move out of the way in that situation.  Nate Diaz is a very good fighter, but he didn't show that he was better than Jorge Masvidal at any aspect of fighting tonight.  

The fight was stopped more "early" than early.  Did anyone else see the blood pouring out of Nate's ear?  He had taken a brutal beating and those cuts were terrible and clearly affecting his vision in the previous round.  It was just a matter of time before one of the bombs that Masvidal was landing at will was either going to knock him silly, open one of those cuts up even more, or hurt him permanently.  That fight felt like it ended at the appropriate time, but in the least satisfying way...kind of like Ferguson/Cerrone.  It was to the point where we knew exactly what was about to happen and there was nothing Nate was going to be able to do to stop it.

[Elsalvajeloco]

43 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

He doesn't strike me as a guy who would look for the easy fight tho. He should be fighting the winner of Usman/Covington. Edwards would be a greeeaaaaat fight too. But reputation and money will make the immediate rematch appealing. I don't think he can turn it down and save face.

I am still surprised the UFC didn't strike while the iron was hot and make Edwards vs. Masvidal. Granted, we got the Askren fight instead which led to this fight.

25 minutes ago, supremebve said:

The main event reminded me of the Dustin Poirier/Max Holloway fight where it didn't take long to realize that one of these dudes hurts the other every time he lands and the other guy seems completely unbothered in return.  Masvidal won every second of that fight in a way that I was surprised by, even though I thought he'd win this fight fairly easily.  The first real exchange where he threw that elbow, followed it with a two punch combo and a head kick on the way down was just brutal, efficient, violence.  Masvidal's strking game is at a couple levels above Nate's and it seemed like Masvidal knew it immediately.  The thing that really surprised me was how inept Nate looked in spots where he's usually overwhelming.  When he actually got Masvidal's back against the fence in striking range, he'd throw a couple shots, Masvidal would evade them, and then circle away.  Nate would just kind of pause, like he never even considered that someone would move out of the way in that situation.  Nate Diaz is a very good fighter, but he didn't show that he was better than Jorge Masvidal at any aspect of fighting tonight.  

The fight was stopped more "early" than early.  Did anyone else see the blood pouring out of Nate's ear?  He had taken a brutal beating and those cuts were terrible and clearly affecting his vision in the previous round.  It was just a matter of time before one of the bombs that Masvidal was landing at will was either going to knock him silly, open one of those cuts up even more, or hurt him permanently.  That fight felt like it ended at the appropriate time, but in the least satisfying way...kind of like Ferguson/Cerrone.  It was to the point where we knew exactly what was about to happen and there was nothing Nate was going to be able to do to stop it.

I wouldn't go as far as to say Nate is a very good fighter by virtue of something you brought up. I think he's a good fighter who is capable of having very good nights depending on the opponent and the style matchup. However, if he gets bedeviled by someone doing simple defensive moves and gets hurt through accumulation, he is way, way out of his element like you rarely see from many fighters at this level. We saw it here, we saw it at points in the McGregor rematch, and we saw it years ago when he fought Josh Thomson and Dos Anjos. When he gets hurt and can't stop someone's best strikes (remember when RDA chewed his legs up with those low kicks?), he visibly retreats within himself. If you're another good fighter and get past that first veneer or layer of toughness he displays, you can take Nate Diaz to the woodshed and it won't even be close. It's a miracle Nate has been around this long without having the strong athletic prowess that closes that gap. However, we should understand that's the reason he has never been considered to be a legit championship threat.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Elsalvajeloco

[hammerva]

8 hours ago, The Natural said:

Dana Fucking White will fucking explode.

Yeah but is he going to explode for the title issue or because his boy Trump got booed out of the building AGAIN?

It is hard to take the concept of an Bad Mother Fuckers belt without thinking that he has to defend the title against Bull Pain and Mitch Ryder 

Edited November 3, 2019 by hammerva

[AxB]

I thought it was a good stoppage. Diaz was wiring blood out of his eye every two seconds towards the end of the third, the cut wasn't the biggest in MMA ever, but it was in the worst possible place (well, second worst after Randy Couture's split eyelid), and Diaz was getting half dropped every time he took anything to the body. It was a matter of time and inevitability, and the ref/ doctor is there to save guys from taking unnecessary punishment.

Besides which, there are fighters who can lose every minute of every round and then get a finish in the last 30 seconds (Anderson Silva, Derrick Lewis), and Nate Diaz is not one of them. He can win an even fight, and he can win a fight he's winning, but when he's losing and getting beaten up, his only options are to quit, or to get beaten up even more. And he doesn't quit.

[Jiji]

White shot down the idea of an immediate Masvidal/Diaz rematch, so that's good. Saves Masvidal from looking like he didn't want the fight and now he can move on to better things. I hope we get the Edwards fight in time but Jorge needs to be fighting for the title next. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

3 hours ago, Oyaji said:

White shot down the idea of an immediate Masvidal/Diaz rematch, so that's good. Saves Masvidal from looking like he didn't want the fight and now he can move on to better things. I hope we get the Edwards fight in time but Jorge needs to be fighting for the title next. 

Hopefully, Nate watches this fight back and realizes this fight wasn't trending in his direction. When they stopped the fight, he seemed a little broken up. Maybe he realized they could justify stopping the fight. Either that or he really thought he would do better. He just doesn't need to chase this rematch down. Lets hope he's that self aware. I think the crowd (or at least the pro Nate contingent) at MSG was a bit deflated everytime he was getting pummeled which was 85% of the fight. There are a bunch of entertaining fights out there for Nate that aren't Jorge Masvidal. He probably and most likely won't win most of them, but I think Nate's following would believe he had a chance in those fights rather than fight Jorge again. If you're a fan of Nate, how do you see Nate legit beating Jorge in a rematch? There were on the ground (after Nate got dropped) two or three times and Nate was nowhere close with any submission. Jorge slowed down a little bit in the third round, but Nate was getting his ass whooped to the point where he wasn't going to have the energy to summon up anything in round 4 and likely wouldn't be able to do in round five on the small chance he made it there. He was getting busted up bad and his vision likely would have been compromised as well. Lord knows his corner isn't going to stop it. Nate slapping strikes won't really doing anything to affect Jorge, and he certainly wasn't landing enough of them do that over the course of fifteen minutes. Having another fight like this where he isn't competitive against Masvidal doesn't do wonders for his image.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Jiji]

Missing is Megan Olivi praying. 

[jaedmc]

DArren Till post-fight  interview is crazy. He says he was thinking about faking an injury just so he didn't have to fight...like right before the fight.:

 

 

[Jiji]

I am glad to hear a fighter be honest about those kind of feelings. Good on him for being brutally open about his struggles.

[J.T.]

15 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

 

The collective OHHHHHH!!!! at B Dubs was deafening.

Bullshit stoppage was kinda bullshit but the way Masvidal was targeting the body with those kicks, I think Nate would've eventually succumbed to attrition.  His stance would've degraded eventually and Masvidal would've gone in for the finish and Masvidal is pretty vicious when he smells blood in the water..

I hate questionable stoppages but I also appreciate officials saving fighters from themselves and giving them the chance to scrap another day.  Warrior's Pride can win you battles or it will get you crippled.

21 hours ago, AxB said:

I thought it was a good stoppage. Diaz was wiring blood out of his eye every two seconds towards the end of the third, the cut wasn't the biggest in MMA ever, but it was in the worst possible place (well, second worst after Randy Couture's split eyelid), and Diaz was getting half dropped every time he took anything to the body.

I kinda agree.  Both Nate and Nick have the tendency to bleed heavily if they get brow cuts or cuts near the eye since they both seem to have a lot of scar tissue.  There have been a couple of questionable stoppage where I felt that either Diaz brother could've still fought intelligently on despite the blood, but the doctors felt differently.

I don't even think a decent cut man could deal with that shit.  Those dudes need corrective surgery to take care of that issue.

And yeah, I think those body kicks would've done their evil work eventually.  I think the stoppage for blood kept Nate from having his gut destroyed..

Edited November 4, 2019 by J.T.