Nick Diaz: 10 of His Most Dominant Performances

In MMA, winning is one thing, dominating is another. Nick Diaz accomplished both against BJ “The Prodigy” Penn at UFC 137.

Two days removed from his scintillating victory over Penn, Diaz is now slated to throw down with welterweight king Georges St-Pierre on the 2012 Super Bowl weekend.

I’m sure the Stockton native’s dominant performance didn’t go unnoticed by the UFC brass, hence his fast track to No. 1 contender status for St-Pierre’s UFC welterweight crown.

So, was Diaz’s performance against Penn his most dominant to date?

Let’s have a look and see.

10. Evangelista Santos

Against Evangelista Santos, Diaz was defending his Strikeforce welterweight title for a second time. Santos, also known as “Cyborg,” had won the majority of his fights by way of TKO/KO.

Santos' most notable win came against Dream welterweight champion Marius Žaromskis via TKO.

Coming into the fight, both Diaz and Santos were well known as accomplished jiu-jitsu practitioners who could stand and bang as well.

Most of the fight took place on the feet, with Santos throwing inside leg kicks whilst Diaz was just content to press forward and administer his own brand of punishment, regardless of what came back at him, hurting the Brazilian on several occasions.

The end came in the second round when Santos heel-tripped Diaz to the ground, giving Diaz the opportunity to sink in an armbar.

That was the end of the bout, as Santos frustratingly tapped out.

9. Hayato Sakurai

For this fight, Diaz traipsed over to Japan to face the legendary Hayato Sakurai.  

At the time, most MMA purists knew that Sakurai was a legend in name only, as he’d more or less past his prime.

Therefore, this was supposed to be an easy fight for the Stockton native, but he didn’t have it all his own way—Diaz was surprisingly out-struck for the duration of the bout.

However, once the fight hit the ground, Sakurai was completely outclassed, and in the realm of Diaz, the inevitable is most likely to happen—Diaz sunk in an armbar and Sakurai immediately tapped out.

8. Marius Žaromskis

Marius Žaromskis was Dream’s first welterweight champion and noted for his unorthodox style.

Žaromskis also possessed good takedown defense and used his kicks and knee combinations to great effect.

When he signed with Strikeforce, he was riding a five-fight win streak, with three of those wins coming via head kick KO.

His first opponent would be Diaz. The fight started at a fast pace, with both combatants exchanging punches early.

Initially, Žaromskis found some success when he dropped Diaz after connecting with a solid left-right hook combination.

After Diaz was able to survive and turn things around, he landed a hellacious uppercut followed by an overhand right, leaving the referee with little alternative but to stop the bout in the first round.

7. Frank Shamrock

This was Diaz’s first bout for Strikeforce, and his opponent would be none other than Frank Shamrock, the UFC vet and adopted younger brother of Ken Shamrock.

Shamrock was a legend in his own right. He had acquired the first UFC middleweight championship (later to be renamed the UFC light heavy championship) and had successfully defended the belt on four occasions, a record at the time.

In all honesty, Shamrock had seen better days, and was more of a sideshow and promoter for Strikeforce than an elite competitor at the time.

At one of the press conferences preceding the bout, Shamrock extended his hand to Diaz; the 209 son responded in typical Diaz fashion by flipping the bird at an amused Shamrock.

The fight itself was a one-sided beatdown, with Diaz winning via Round 2 TKO.

6. Scott Smith

In only his second fight for Strikeforce, Diaz took on the dangerous Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith.

Prior to the fight with Diaz, 13 of his 16 Smith's wins had come via TKO/KO.

And to make matters worse, he’d actually made two amazing and improbable come-from-behind victories against Pete Sell and Benji Radach, hence the name “The Comeback Kid.”

This was meant to be a tall order for the Stockton native.

Nonetheless, Diaz showed the MMA world that he could hang with the hardest hitters, when he eventually took Smith apart en-route to a third round submission via rear-naked choke.

5. Takanori Gomi

This was Diaz’s first foray in Pride, and he didn’t disappoint.

At Pride 33, in a non-title bout, Diaz came up against the great Takanori Gomi, the Pride lightweight champion at the time.

Gomi initially showed signs of promise by knocking Diaz to the ground, and on two occasions, he also ended up in Diaz’s guard.

That was Gomi’s best showing; after that, it was Diaz all the way. His unorthodox style of boxing gave Gomi fits, and Gomi's lack of cardio didn’t help either.

The end came when Diaz took the fight to ground and locked in a Gogoplata, forcing Gomi to tap out in the second round.

Up until then, the only successful execution of the Gogoplata in Pride was executed by Shinya Aoki on Joachim Hansen less than two months earlier.

Diaz’s win was short lived, though. He tested positive for marijuana and the bout was overturned to a no-contest.

4. Robbie Lawler

In only his second fight for the Zuffa-based company, Diaz dismantled the golden boy of the UFC in the second round of their encounter.

Lawler was seen as something of a KO artist—as in the eight wins before the clash with Diaz, Lawler had dispatched six opponents by way of TKO or KO.

Lawler, who had been compared to Mike Tyson in his prime, was a daunting prospect for any mere mortal, but to Diaz it was just another day at the office.

At UFC 47, Diaz dominated Lawler; stood toe to toe with him, and dished out the same ruthless punishment Lawler had been so swift to exact on his unsuspecting victims.

The loss to Diaz set in motion a downward spiral in Lawler’s career.

In his next fight at UFC 50, Lawler the golden boy was cut from the UFC after his loss to Evan Tanner.

3. KJ Noons 2

The previous meeting between these two ended with KJ Noons being declared the winner via doctor stoppage.

Diaz thought the fight had been stopped prematurely and wanted a rematch, as he had a point to prove.

The pro boxer Noons vs. the jiu-jitsu black belt Diaz.

This was a different Diaz to the one Noons had fought three years earlier—It was a new and improved Diaz, and a Diaz that was the current Strikeforce welterweight champion.

This was a hard-fought five-round contest, as the fight was mostly played out on the feet with both men throwing hell for leather and neither man budging an inch.

Be that as it may, the judges saw it fit to award Diaz the win, mostly due to his relentless aggression and his volume of punches.

Diaz mightn’t have dominated Noons in the same fashion as some of the others, but nevertheless, he held his own against a pro boxer.

Either way, Diaz was victorious and a point had been proven.

2. Paul Daley

At Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley, the Stockton native exhibited courage and grit when he faced off with the dangerous striker.

Diaz knew that at any time during the fight he could’ve been laid out cold by one of Paul Daley’s "Semtex" bombs.

Despite the fact that he knew he stood a much better chance of ending proceedings on the ground, Diaz chose to trade punches with the Brit striker.

It almost cost Diaz the fight when Daley connected with one of his trademark bombs—Diaz was nearly out for several seconds before regaining his composure and turning the tide in his favor via TKO in the first round.

Diaz had outwitted Daley at his own game, successfully defending his Strikeforce title for a third time.

1. B.J. Penn

Going into his fight with BJ Penn, most analysts and fans alike hadn’t given Diaz a chance—he hadn’t fought the same level of competition in comparison to Penn, were just some of his supposed shortcomings.

Nevertheless, come fight night Diaz proved a lot of people wrong.

Diaz practically dominated the former lightweight and welterweight UFC champion from the outset, using his boxings skills to great effect and nullifying most of what Penn dished out in return.

And even when Penn found some success on the ground, Diaz was able to negate most of Penn's intended assaults.

Penn's lack of cardio also played a part in his loss.

Still, considering Diaz didn’t stand a chance against the future Hall of Famer, this must go down as his most dominant performance yet.

(The trailer to UFC 137 will have to suffice for now.)