#3 ’Stockton bad boy’ ‘Mary Jane’ Nick Diaz
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Nick Diaz (26-9-2) is a former Strikeforce WW champion and one of the most controversial personalities in MMA history. He trained in karate, aikido, wrestling and sambo in his youth. Diaz’s MMA base is boxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).
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Nick and his younger brother Nate Diaz are known for their mind-games and trash-talking abilities that they routinely employ to throw their opponents off their game. Despite having bad takedown defense, Nick’s grappling credentials are unquestionable with several submission victories on his resume.
He is no slouch in the striking department either, holding knockout wins over dangerous strikers such as Robbie Lawler and Paul Daley. On the other hand, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva (33-8-1) is a former long-time UFC Middleweight (MW/185 pound) champion with a record 10 title-defenses to his name.
Silva started training in BJJ at a young age and then moved on to Taekwondo, Capoeira and subsequently Muay Thai in his youth. Silva is a lethal striker with some of the best head movement and foot-work in all of MMA. His striking accuracy is excellent as is his BJJ game. However, much like his UFC 183 opponent Nick Diaz Silva is infamous for his poor takedown defense.
Nick and Silva faced off at UFC 183 in January of 2015 in a MW matchup. This was Silva’s first fight after suffering a horrific leg-break in his championship rematch against his kryptonite Chris Weidman. Understandably Silva was tentative to open with up his trademark Muay Thai roundhouse kicks.
Nick on his part didn’t care. He didn’t care that he was facing the man widely regarded as the best MMA fighter in the world, nor did he care that he was standing flat-footed in front of one of the most lethal strikers in MMA. Nick did what a Diaz bro would do, that is constantly berate his opponent; verbally as well as with bodily gestures, so to speak.
In the 1st round of his high-profile fight against one of the greatest of all time, Nick Diaz lay down on the mat. Now mind you he did this on his own accord, not after being hurt or stunned by his opponent. There he was, with his legs flat on the mat daring a legend with excellent BJJ to enter his guard.
Silva refused to engage with Nick on the ground after which the fight resumed on the feet. Silva began measuring distance with his strikes and Nick simply stood in front of him, goading him to engage. As if lying down as though he were on a beach wasn’t enough for Diaz, he turned his back to Silva and adjusted his shorts out of his rear.
UFC 183 was one of those rare high-level MMA fights that had turned into a circus rather than a martial arts contest. Diaz clowned Silva on multiple occasions throughout the fight, but in the process allowed Silva to get into his groove and find his rhythm. Silva started to loosen up and find Diaz’s face from different angles. He attacked Diaz to the body as well as the legs and turned Nick’s legs ten shades of purple. By the time the 5th round ended and with it the fight, Silva had turned Nick’s face into a Jackson-Pollock painting courtesy of several elbows and punches. Nick allowed Silva to establish his rhythm and fight at his pace.
He clowned his opponent in what was one of the biggest fights of his MMA career and basically handed the victory to the ‘Spider’. It was later revealed that Silva had tested positive for steroids and Diaz had failed a post-fight drug test for marijuana metabolites. In layman’s terms, Nick Diaz was ‘high’ in one of the most important fights of his career. This was the third time Nick had failed an in-competition drug test for marijuana.
This third strike resulted in an unprecedented 5-year ban and a $165,000 fine for Nick. However, MMA fans cited Silva’s drug test failure and rallied for Nick. They filed a petition in the White House after which he was handed a reduced sentence of 18 months and $100,000. All for the love of Mary Jane. Never change Nick, never!
