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Nick Diaz: I’m disappointed fighting in a cage, cages only exist because of Hollywood, I’m the best pound-for-pound fighter, and my losses in UFC would have been wins under Japanese rules

By Zach Arnold | May 28, 2010

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An awesomely awesome interview from Nick Diaz, who manages to say so many controversial statements in such compact quotes that I could only imagine what he would be like for an hour-long radio show. Please make this happen.

I’m going to make you go to full-page mode to read all the quotes. This will be worth your while, trust me.

This is the first time you will be fighting in DREAM in two years. How do you feel about it?

“I don’t feel like it’s really been that long. That’s a long time. But, yeah, I feel good, I’m just a little disappointed that it’s going to be in a cage and not a ring. I enjoy fighting here in Japan under the you know the regular DREAM/PRIDE rules, you know like with the ring and the you know the whole rules, criteria, and everything. You know same rules but unfortunately you know you guys switched it around and but you know I usually fight in a cage anyways so it’s not any different for me.”

What are your feelings about your opponent Hayato “Mach” Sakurai?

“I feel like you know this guy’s been trying to get ready to fight for a long time, you know, I’ve been trying to get this fight for a really long time, to fight over here in Japan and find the right opponent and you know I thought he was the right opponent before they ended up switching opponents on me and I ended up not coming out here and you know I had a lot of different things happen to postpone this fight so you know but it’s a great honor to finally you know to be here and ready to fight and to be fighting Hayato Sakurai and you know I’m just glad to be getting the show on the road.”

(Later on at the press conference, he is asked to comment on Sakurai’s claim that if he doesn’t have a good fight that he would consider retirement.)

“That really doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Does fighting in the cage give you an advantage?

“”Yeah, sure it’s going to be my advantage. I have a cage at home, I have a cage at you know all the gyms I train at. You know we have fighter camp, training you know always in a cage, training for cage fights, fighting in a cage, so, yeah, this is going to be I would imagine this is going to be my advantage but I don’t really think it’s going to make that big of a difference in that fight. I don’t think it’s going to make much of a difference like for the outcome.”

There is a big controversy brewing in Japanese MMA. One line of thought is that Japan should follow America and adopt the cage as the standard. The other line of thought is that Japan should stay unique and keep its rules and use the ring. What do you think?

“I think this is the wrong idea and you know Japan should stay with the ring and rules that it goes by and they shouldn’t give up like what they’ve got going. I think the rest of the world should adjust to it. I think that it favors the more technical fighter, the more technical aspects of Mixed Martial Arts and it’s going to favor the better fighter you know and more of the Mixed Martial Arts aspect of the sport instead of the athletic part. You know I think it’s really important that the way they yellow card people and there’s no elbows, you’re going to have to punch down onto your opponent in which case this guy on the bottom he might be trying to make some space so that he can get up and it’s the same space you’re trying to make so you can punch down so it makes for transition, it makes for action, it makes for the martial arts and you know it makes for the martial arts aspect to come out in the sport and for people to see it and for people to see who actually is you know the best Mixed Martial Arts fighter and that’s what’s really important and I think that you know for you know hundreds of years or for a much longer time people have been fighting you know professional athletes and fighters have been fighting in a ring so it’s just the way it should be. There’s no sense in making it in a cage. I think that was just you know a Hollywood producer that put that together to you know really spark the attention of you know the American you know fight fans at the time…”

You are fighting Sakurai in a cage and it seems like part of this is because of the marketing and booking of Strikeforce vs. DREAM as a theme. How do you see it?

“Everybody’s making it like that. I could care less. Personally, I’m here to fight for my team and you know and for my family. You know, I got to make money, go home and eat, that sort of thing. You know, it’s hard fighting you know mid-class, you know B-class fighting, I got to have you know fights. Training paycheck to paycheck, so I got nothing to look forward to unless I go and dedicate my whole life to this. So, you know I mainly just come here to represent my family and my team and basically who’s representing me I’m representing them now.”

Did you change anything up in training for preparation to fight Sakurai?

“Yeah, I reinforced a lot, I worked a lot on wrestling. You know I worked with a lot of different wrestlers from you know Urijah Faber’s camp in Sacramento and just the little guys over there and Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez, we had a good training camp. You know everybody came to Gilbert Melendez’s gym and we just got a lot of wrestlers out there in San Francisco, you know, so I basically sharpened up on my wrestling and you know I had some really good workouts that really increases my strength, my speed, and you know just overall athleticism when I wrestle a lot with those higher-level wrestlers. These guys sometimes are a lot stronger and higher-level wrestlers and athletes but they’re just one-dimensional athletes and they’re not Mixed Martial Arts fighters, so when I go for my wrestling I like to go and wrestle with them. And you know for my boxing, same thing. I go in and I train with a pro, the pro-boxers for my boxing. I train Cesar Gracie in jiu-jitsu at the academy with you know my brother Nathan Diaz, Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez… I’m always trying to make you know big improvements for my next fight so you should see some big improvements.”

What aspect of your fight would you like the Japanese fans to focus on the most?

“I’d like them to see that you know I’m the best Mixed Martial Arts fighter pound-for-pound in the world. You know… I’d like everybody to see, you know, the difference between me and other fighters in the world is that I fight, you know, I fight for reals. I fight standing up, I fight on the ground, I fight you know I do jiu-jitsu, I’ve had training you know boxing with the best in the world. The actual literally the best in the world have had good training so and then you know jiu-jitsu, I’ve had the best training you can get in jiu-jitsu and I have the best wrestlers on my team in the world so I think that and I’m able to do each one you know just as well as the next and I think that makes me more of a well-rounded fighter than other fighters in the world and I think that can take me a lot further than a lot of fighters make it you know and I think that you know I think I’m going to do a lot better like over time. I think my consistency has shown that I’ve done a lot better over time, if you look at you know I fight consistently every 3-4 months, I’ve only made improvements from the beginning and you know I think I have a really good training regiment, training plan… you know and the way I train is a lot different, it’s going to be a lot different than a lot other fighters, you know. A lot of other fighters tend to do a lot of damage to their body over a two year period you know with a lot of the exercises they do… cross fit, training, tire flipping, you know, so I try to refrain from some of that you know a lot more of the hardcore exercising you know and I try to concentrate more on the martial arts aspect for Mixed Martial Arts and you know become the best jiu-jitsu fighter and become the best boxer and become the best karate fighter and become the best wrestler.”

What about Georges St. Pierre? Do you want to fight him?

“Yeah, I think that this is a good fight for me. Georges St. Pierre… I’ve been trying, you know, I actually was in line to do the same stuff he did you know it’s pretty I made it to the UFC before him, I was just really young and inexperienced when I got there and you can see the fighters that I lost a decision to. They didn’t stay as consistent as me and they kind of fell off and I think anybody knows that I would win those fights now and if you take a look at the fights before you can see that I actually won those fights, I did more damage and if you scored them under PRIDE rules or you know under the same scoring here, they would have been carded for stalling and they would have had to make punches and they would have to you know make action and on account of that I think I would have capitalized on a finish in any one of those fights or I’d turn it around and counter that and win the fight. So all those fights that I didn’t win, I actually think that I won and on account of that I would have been in line to fight Georges St. Pierre by now. I think that I’d be in his position on account of that happening. So, yeah, you know that’s… that’s my opinion.”

Best interview material of the year.

Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

12 Responses to “Nick Diaz: I’m disappointed fighting in a cage, cages only exist because of Hollywood, I’m the best pound-for-pound fighter, and my losses in UFC would have been wins under Japanese rules”

  1. SixT-4 says:

    Nick Diaz interviews are always fun.

    I think he’s a good fighter, but suffers from the “good fighters outside the UFC are always overrated” syndrome. He’s a solid fighter, but looks much better than he is, since he’s fighting outside the UFC and doesn’t have perhaps the same level of competition.

    Being the “top dog” anywhere leaves that sort of impression on people.

    The dude went 6-4 in the UFC and his only high level win outside is against Gomi, and that doesn’t even count on his record. He lost to Noons, then had a bunch of fights that didn’t really matter and now people mention him in the same sentence as GSP.

  2. The Gaijin says:

    Diaz has certainly flourished since he no longer has to deal with strong wrestlers that populate his division(s) of choice in the UFC. His boxing has really improved and people underrate his ability to hurt and finish guys, probably because he looks like he’s pitty-patting.

    But let’s be honest Aina, Denny, Corbbrey, Inoue, Shamrock, Smith, Zaromskis and Noons are not exactly a murderers row of opponents either.

  3. Jonathan says:

    Am I the only one that does not have a high opinion of Nick Diaz as a fighter? I do not care if he is in or out of the UFC, I think he is entertaining to watch, but very two dimensional – weak boxing and submissions

  4. Zack says:

    Jokes on Nick, since this Dream card is in the cage, isn’t it? LOL

  5. edub says:

    A lot of what he says is true. He probably beats all the fighters he lost to in the UFC now. His boxing has improved leaps and bounds with his head movement becoming better and better. Howerver, out of the list of opponents from outside the UFC there isn’t a single top notch wrestler on there. I’d like to see him go up against Jay Hieron before he goes any higher on my personal lists…

  6. EJ says:

    Nick saying he would have won all of his fights under PRIDE rules is hillarious on multiple counts. This guy continues the pattern of guys who get a couple of wins outside the UFC and start believing their own hype. There is a reason why he wanted no part of Hieron in SF, because he knows that he still can’t stop a takedown to save his life and GSP would annihilate him and bust him up worse that Noons did.

  7. 45 Huddle says:

    I think Nick Diaz loses to the top guys whether it’s in a cage or a ring. Doesn’t matter. When he lost to Diego Sanchez, was it because it was in a cage? The cage played almost no factor in that fight. When he lost to Sherk, it was because he was outworked. If anything, the cage helped him stay on his feet and avoid the takedowns.

    Nick Diaz is a solid fighter. He isn’t as great as his fans think he is.

    • The Gaijin says:

      Honestly, who really thinks he’s some “great” fighter?

      This is approaching one of those “strawman” arguments like the “fanatical, unreasonable Fedor fans”. There’s few if any that I’ve ever seen, but they’re magnified as if their some massive growing hoard of fans in order for someone to make a contrarian argument and seem reasonable.

      Nick Diaz is an “entertaining” fighter and polarizing figure, but only his Stockton boys and a small collection gof thug life fans actually think he’s a top fighter in the world at LW or WW.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        I think you should take a look at The UG sometime. There are far too many people on there that think Diaz would either give GSP a run for his money or actually beat him.

        Then again, they also think he is a draw, and he’s not.

        • The Gaijin says:

          LOL – touche. I guess I don;t hang around the other message boards enough to get a pulse of what the unwashed masses think…surprised to know that honestly, because it’s pretty ridiculous.

  8. Nepal says:

    Nick is a very good and improving fighter. Would he beat the Fitch’s, Koscheck’s, GSP’s and others in UFC WW division? No way.

    He has this amazingly endearing trailer park persona and let’s face it, Nick would fight anybody anywhere anytime. Fans love that attitude.

    His skills are improving. His boxing as much as he still pitty pats, he actually is developing power. Watch his last fight with Zaromskis, Nick was digging painful body shots with power.

    I’ve yet to see his wrestling improve, maybe it has but I haven’t seen it. I have never understood when training with a human blanket like Shields (for years) that he hasn’t learned how to stuff a basic takedown.

    I think he’ll hammer Mach and will always watch Diaz fights, I just hope he gets his wrestling upgraded.

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