“Cyborg”: The Wrong Choice to Contend for the MMA Title

(Please keep in mind this is a hypothetical article, as I know certain fighters are tied up or just fought.)

Nick Diaz, the hard nosed kid from Stockton, California and MMA’s favorite bad boy, is set to fight Evangelista Santos, more affectionately known as “Cyborg,” on January 29^th (as announced by mmaweekly). When we take a look at this fight, our brows raise and we ponder, why this fight? In place of so many other superior options, Strikeforce chose a fighter with talent, but over the years was unable to show consistency.

Santos is a fighter that tends to keep fights on the feet, showing glimpses of being both a brawling and a technical striker, typical of a Chute Box product. While he is an entertaining fighter, he tends to find himself in deep water when he faces top tier strikers like Mousasi and Manhoef. That being said, he does have knock out power, and he is extremely difficult to submit with his lone submission loss to Kazuhiro Nakamura in 2006.

Diaz has lately displayed a desire to keep fights on the feet after winning a decision over a lighter, but talented boxer K.J. Noons and has managed to prove his striking is effective, battling back against kickboxer Marius Zaromskis to win via technical knock out, picking apart the heavy handed (and hearted) Scott Smith, and peppering “the legend” Frank Shamrock with punches.

Standing, as we all know, isn’t the only talent of Nick Diaz; he is also a gifted black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Cesar Gracie. Which leads me to question where Santos would win this fight, as most believe he is the less talented grappler and striker? My prediction: Diaz wins over a game Santos by TKO in the very first round.

My biggest problem with this fight is that Santos is coming off a much needed two-fight win streak, but still only a two-fight win streak. They are skipping over more deserving challengers. In my opinion, this could be the most important factor of why Strikeforce will never be the same caliber of promotion of the UFC—poor matchmaking.

When Diaz struggled in the Ultimate Fighting Championships, it was against overpowering grapplers and wrestlers, dropping three decisions in a row to Diego Sanchez, Joe Riggs and Sean Sherk. Since those fights, he has one loss on his record due to cuts from Noons, which since has been avenged and winning 12 out of the 14, and notching eight of those wins in a row.

The first opponent that comes to mind that SHOULD be fighting Diaz, Tyron Woodley, even with Woodley being green; he is a great wrestler and former team captain out of the University of Missouri. This is the most intriguing match-up to me (I know many of you are screaming for Daley), for a very specific reason.

While watching MMA, I love to see a champion be challenged, and a worthy champion will triumph in that challenge. Woodley presents a very serious threat, a talented wrestler that may be able to smother the renowned Jiu-Jitsu of Diaz and dethrone the champion. A classic Striker vs. Grappler matchup for the Strikeforce Welter Weight title (Yes, I know that Woodley is tied up serving main event duties against Tarec Saffiedine on January 7^th—this is just a hypothetical situation).

Another opponent that crawls into everyone’s mind, but is less appetizing to me is Paul “Semtex” Daley, who is currently riding the wave of three wins in a row, including a decision over Jorge Masvidal and a devastating knockout over Scott Smith.

If Diaz decided to keep it on the feet, we would all be in for fireworks to start off our new year. But we all know that Diaz could still fall back on his Jiu-Jitsu and submit Daley, who has had difficulty improving that aspect of his game.

But it doesn’t matter what I think, the Stikeforce Welterweight title will be on the line on January 29^th. Don’t miss Ronaldo de Souza defend his strap against “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler on the same evening. We can only use our Christmas wish to hope for some good fights no matter the fighters. 

By: Steven Neal