Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob_Floyd
It has been confirmed that Nate will be facing tomorrow night's winner. How do you see these potential fights playing out?
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Nate Diaz vs Frankie Edgar
Diaz TKO's Frankie, 100%. This fight would surprise people by being a surprisingly convincing win for Diaz. Frankie's boxing is good, but in Diaz he'd be meeting an equally good combo-puncher but with superior power and a superior chin. Diaz is aggressive enough on the ground and good enough in the scramble that it doesn't matter if Edgar gets the odd takedown, Diaz will either force him to defend subs or just get straight back to his feet. And when Diaz lands the decisive punch that has Frankie tottering around the cage, he will not gas like Maynard, Diaz will finish.
Nate Diaz vs Ben Henderson
This would be a closer fight for sure. Although I disagree with those saying that it'd play out the exact same as Diaz vs Rory MacDonald - it wouldn't. Rory is significantly bigger, heavier and longer than Bendo, Bendo will not find it anywhere near as easy to throw and control Nate as Rory did. Also, I think Bendo is more confident in his standup than Rory is, so this fight would (for the first couple of rounds) be a more standup-based fight. The thing is, I see Nate gradually hurting Ben and asserting his superiority in the fight by round 3, and it'll be at that point when Bendo starts going for takedowns and trying to wrestle his way to a win. This will make the last two rounds closer, but I'd still back Nate to either edge a narrow points decision or get a late TKO or sub. The way Nate dominated the shit out of Jim Miller suggests to me he is a stronger, meaner dude just now than anyone else at 155, and I think he'll outfight Henderson over the course.