Comments on: Sam Caplan: Strikeforce booking Shamrock vs. Diaz for 4/11 San Jose event

By: Jim Allcorn

Jim Allcorn — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:25:01 +0000

Honestly, I’m surprised that there’s this much controversy over this match up. Hell, I like it. A lot.

Sure, there’s a somewhat significant size difference between the two fighters. But, there’s also a pretty significant age difference in Diaz’s favor, as well as a big advantage on his part as far as recent activity & level of comp..
So, despite the difference in poundage, I believe it’s a legitimate & highly competitive main event for the “new” Strikeforce’s Showtime debut.

Combat sports has a long history of larger men meeting the challenge of smaller men moving up in weight to prove the superiority of their skills.
So what if the most recent example of this in MMA was St Pierre’s beat down of Penn?
That was one single bout on one single night.

I think THIS one could wind up being a lot more like Manny Pacquiao’s dominant stoppage of the much naturally larger, but older, slower, far less active Delahoya.
Yeah, I know. That was a boxing match & many of you are loathe to allow comparisons between it & MMA, but frankly, I think it’s a VERY apt comparison in this case. So …

By: ajz123

ajz123 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:57:48 +0000

“Purely from a ranking perspective, Couture vs. Lesnar was a logic fight. Did Werdum get passed up? Absolutely. And he shouldn’t have been. With that said, Couture/Lesnar was still a Top 10 fighter vs. a borderline Top 10 fighter, both of who competed in the same weight class.”

And why did this happen……..? MARKETING. MONEY. PPVs. Werdum should have been in the tournament. Zuffa knew they would make more money with Lesnar, and that is why Lesnar got a shot.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:48:54 +0000

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about Nick Diaz throwing “loopy wild haymakers”. If anything, all he throws are pitty-patty straight punches with little velocity to them. I don’t think I have ever seen Nick Diaz throw a non-straight or non-jab or non-cross punch. Oh, and I am looking forward to the Nick Diaz vs. Frank Shamrock fight. it should be fun.

By: Ultimo Santa

Ultimo Santa — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:13:21 +0000

“Frank Shamrock vs. Nick Diaz. At a catchweight of 179 pounds. More of this catchweight junk. These were my exact problems with EliteXC.”

‘Catchweight junk’?

WHO CARES!??! What’s the big deal whether they’re at a catch weight or in a weight class!?

By: Steve4192

Steve4192 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:45:25 +0000

“while throwing wild looping punches”

Are you sure we are talking about the same guy? When did Nick Diaz turn into Chuck Liddell? I can’t ever recall seeing him throw ‘wild looping punches’.

Nick is the king of the straight pitter-pat punch, not the wild looping haymaker.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:20:34 +0000

“I might not “make the rules”, but the success of the UFC defines what makes for a successful MMA organization…. And that is fighters generally sticking to one weight class, having competitive fights, and making the championship belts the center pieces and goals of the events.”

Nonsense. What’s successful for UFC is what’s successful for UFC. Other promotions, especially smaller ones, can and should do different things to be successful. You can be a successful musician without being Nickelback. Moreover, you left out, “Booking pro wrestlers in title fights,” as a key to success.

No one who paid to see Brock Lesnar fights is going to care about Nick Diaz not being the same weight as Frank Shamrock.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:52:09 +0000

Also, while I’m not a huge 45 fan, he is kinda kicking everybody’s asses around here.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:51:14 +0000

“I don’t recall Nick ever getting embarrassed at 170. I recall him coming out on the short end of a bunch of razor thin decisions. Nick was able to hang at 170 just fine.
The only problem he has at 170 was in getting put on his back for 15 minutes and losing via Octagon control and aggression. Given Frank’s recent penchant for standing and banging, I don’t see that being a problem in this fight.”

He could beat middling competition in the division, but top players, while competitive, he couldn’t pull it off. I love Nick, he is my favorite fighter, but c’mon. Yeah, Frank likes to stand and bang, but look at Diaz. Diaz has incredible jiu-jitsu and instead likes to stand and get hit in the face to prove how tough he is while throwing wild looping punches.

That is what makes him awesome, but stuff like the Denny fight was embarrassing. Not beating Noons was embarrassing. We all know he can do better, he just likes to show off. I expect this to be a great fight, though.

By: muhr

muhr — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:06:35 +0000

last catchweight bout i remember was gracie vs. hughes at ufc 60. seems to be pretty infrequent regardless of the promotion. i don’t see the big deal.

By: Jeremy (not that Jeremy)

Jeremy (not that Jeremy) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:59:40 +0000

I don’t think this is such a bad fight. Frank’s best days are behind him, but not the way that Ken Shamrock or some of these other old timers that are being dragged out of the hospital to fight are (Coleman? Seriously?).

Diaz is a better ranked fighter, Shamrock is giving up a little weight, they are both reasonably well balanced fighters that represent the sport well (in the cage), and you’ve got two good marketable names.

I agree with Werdum’s conclusion, but I have to assume that his reasoning includes himself not being in the mix, which I believe is wrong, and therefore I agree that his statement is sour grapes.

Icemuncher, if Babalu is on that card, then this is not the main event, it’s a co-main, because Babalu will be defending his Strikeforce LHW belt.