Nick Diaz: whiny baby, thug or misunderstood?

By: Clay

If you aren't familiar with UFC welterweight fighter Nick Diaz, let me give you the scoop. Nick hails from the "209", aka Stockton, California. He attended one year at Tokay High School before dropping out to practice mixed martial arts. In the most recent UFC Primetime show, his coaches never once mentioned that they were disappointed he dropped out of school to train. Apparently they didn't care.

I'm just gonna list this shit because of how much there is on this guy, er, child. So, eventually Diaz becomes a pretty damn good fighter. He ends up in the UFC, wins some and lose some. After a hard fought loss, Diaz gets into a post-fight brawl with Riggs at the hospital. Suffered a six month suspension as a result of testing positive for marijuana after his victory over Takanori Gomi at Pride 23. By the way, the Nevada State Athletic Commission stated that a positive THC level would be at 15. Diaz's THC level was 175. Wowzers.

After a loss via doctor stoppage (cuts) to KJ Noons at EliteXC: Renegade, Diaz flipped the bird to the doc and shoved a camera out of his face. After Noon's win over Corbbery at EliteXC's "Return of the King" in Noon's native Hawaii, EliteXC officials brought Nick and Nate Diaz into the ring to talk about a possible rematch with Noons. Nick said to Noons, "don't be scared, homie", which prompted KJ Noon's father, Carl to lunge at Nick. Official were quick to separate the parties. The Diaz bros were then seen flipping off the crowd and Noons' corner. The rematch never happened as Noons' manager said, " As far as Nick Diaz, he's not the number one contender out there".

Nick was then scheduled to face Jay Hieron for the welterweight title at Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg, however Diaz failed to attain his fight license because he didn't attend the pre-fight drug test. So the fight was canceled as well as the crowning of the first Strikeforce welterweight champion. Six months later, Diaz was given another shot to be the first Strikeforce welterweight champion and this time he showed up, defeating Marius Zaromskis be ref stoppage in the first round. Undeserved second chances would become a theme for Diaz.


All hell broke loose at Strikeforce: Nashville in April 2010. During Diaz training partner Jake Shields' post fight interview, Jason "Mayhem" Miller came into the cage and interrupted Shields by asking for a rematch. Miller was then pushed by Shields and another traing partner, Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez. Nick Diaz then threw a punch at Miller which then started and all out one sided brawl. Nick and Nate Diaz, Melendez, attacked Miller while he was being restrained on the met by other members of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu camp. Eventually security, referees and members of Dan Henderson's corner came to the aid of Miller and stopped the brawl. 


Once the UFC purchased Strikeforce, fans clamored for both organizations champions to fight. So, Dana White makes the decision to have Nick fight Georges St. Pierre at UFC 137. Diaz "missed" a flight to Toronto for a press conference promoting the fight. Then, Nick "missed" another flight to Las Vegas to promote the fight. Angered and worried that Diaz would no-show for the GSP fight, White removed Diaz from the fight and gave it to Carlos Condit. Dana White stated about Nick, "I will never accept his word again". When Diaz finally opened communication with the UFC, Dana gave him a fight with BJ Penn. Gsp eventually injured himself during training for the Condit fight, so that bout was scrapped and Penn/Diaz became the main event. Diaz won by decision and then called out St. Pierre, claiming that GSP wasn't really hurt. At the post fight press conference, Dana would give Diaz another chance to fight for the title.


While training for his UFC 143 fight with Nick Diaz, GSP injured his ACL, thus opening the door for Carlos Condit to step in and fight Nick Diaz for the interim welterweight title. Condit avoided Diaz's strikes and didn't get sucked into Diaz's game of trash talking during the fight and showing up your opponent. Carlos won by unanimous decision due largely in part of Diaz failing to make adjustments to the strategy of movement and counter striking employed by Condit. In the post fight interview, a very disrespectful Diaz stated "he didn't need this shit" and would retired because he felt he won the match without question. 


With GSP out until November, Dana decided to give Diaz an immediate rematch against Carlos Condit. Condit, wanting to wait for the GSP fight, did as champions do and accepted the rematch. And that is where we stand.


Now, after all the shit Nick Diaz has done, the only real punishment he received was the six month suspension. Here's Nick after his victory of BJ Penn.

"Chael's Corner" Sneak Peak from Fuel TV's UFC Tonight

Catch UFC Tonight every Tuesday at 9CT on Fuel TV (channel 618 on Directv) starting January 3rd.

Sports Jerks Unofficial MMA Rankings

By: Clay

Heavyweight
1. Cain Velasquez
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Alistair Overeem
4. Junior Dos Santos
5. Shane Carwin
6. Big Foot Silva
7. Sergei Kharitonov
8. Fabricio Werdum
9. Frank Mir
10. Matt Mitrione

Light Heavyweight
1. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
2. Rashad Evans
3. Rampage Jackson
4. Lyoto Machida
5. Forrest Griffen
6. Jon Jones
7. Randy Couture
8. Ryan Bader
9. Thiago Silva
10. Rich Franklin

Middleweight
1. Anderson Silva
2. Yushin Okami
3. Chael Sonnen
4. Nate Marquardt
5. Demian Maia
6. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
7. Jorge Santiago
8. Michael Bisping
9. Vitor Belfort
10. Robbie Lawler

Welterweight
1.Georges St-Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Jake Shields
4. Nick Diaz
5. Josh Koscheck
6. Carlos Condit
7. Paul Daley
8. Martin Kampmann
9. Thiago Alves
10. B.J. Penn

Lightweight
1. Frankie Edgar
2. Gilbert Melendez
3. Gray Maynard
4. Shinya Aoki
5. Eddie Alvarez
6. Tatsuya Kawajiri
7. Jim Miller
8. Clay Guida
9. Anthony Pettis
10. Melvin Guillard

9-3 Bears and more

By: Clay

The Bears have a rough schedule ahead of them. Today's game against New England is very winnable. This has nothing to do with weather and everything to do with the Bears defense. While the Pats d is second in the league in INT's, the Bears are fifth. Tom Brady hasn't been picked in 8 straight while Cutler has a 2 game streak. Brady is due for a pick. My guess is 2 picks for Brady. One by Urlacher on a tipped pass by Peppers and then one late in the game by Tillman. Bears 17 Pats 13.

GSP totally dominated Josh Koscheck at UFC 124. Jake Shields is likely due next for GSP and may happen at a UFC show in April in Toronto. I predict GSP to pick Shields apart. There really aren't any logical match-ups for GSP at this time. The winner of Fitch/Penn as well as Jim Miller may be in line for a shot late in 2011.

No word on Brock Lesner's next fight. I think that Lesnar should either fight Frank Mir or Roy Nelson. Mir/Lesnar III would be the biggest Lesnar money fight for the UFC. Of course, Shane Carwin could make an interesting rematch for Brock Lesnar, but Carwin needs to get his back in order first. Junior Dos Santos will get the next title shot when he faces champ Cain Velazquez.

Clay Guida next faces Takinori Gomi at UFC 125 on New Years day. That show is headlined by Brian Stann vs Chris Leben and Frankie Edgar putting the lightweight title on the line against Gray Maynard. Anderson Silva defends his middleweight title and top pound-for-pound title against Vitor Belfort in February. Rashad Evans will get a light heavyweight title shot against Shogun but time and place is TBD.

Topps UFC Cards

By: Guido

I bought a box of Topps UFC a month ago and damn near completed the base card set. Kali was there to open half the packs with me. I must say, her knowledge of sports cards has grown rapidly and she loves the thrill of pulling something big (inserts and short prints, as I wouldn't consider myself big). I pulled the GSP auto and a Forrest Griffin mat relic. She pulled a Josh Neer mat relic Gold #068/199 complete with some kind of debris smeared across the mat(dried blood hopefully) and the Dan Miller auto. I also had to break down and purchase a Clay Guida blue ink auto off ebay. Only $20 so that was a pretty good deal I figured. Not to mention that I purchased the Hobby Box for only $92 with shipping.

I also got a few repeats of Fight Poster Review and Bloodlines insert set. The cool thing about the Bloodlines is that the write up on the back of the card is in English and whatever the native language is of that fighter. Pretty sweet.