Five points about Penn vs Diaz...

I'm being as brief as possible here, hence the bullet-points.


- I don't think the fight was quite as one-sided as it was made out to be. Round 2 was a beatdown, but round 3 wasn't, Diaz definitely won the 3rd but it was just a standard, competitive 10-9 with good punches landed from either guy, just the more frequency from Diaz. I had it 29-28 Diaz, and thought it was a cracking fight, really enjoyed it even though it hurt me to see BJ getting hurt like he was in the 2nd. Still, the Hawaiian's chin and his determination were just awesome to witness.

- I am a Nick Diaz fan and have been for a few years now, but it may surprise you to learn that I wasn't really all that impressed with his performance. To me, it looked like BJ was outclassing Nick until his just straight-up weak gas-tank made the fight a non-event. It seemed like Nick merely outlasted BJ, only taking control of the fight once Penn was standing sucking in air and unable to move or retaliate like he was in the 1st. And even then, after BJ had been really put to the sword in the 2nd, I thought he still managed to make Nick's defence look sloppy in that last round and clip him with some lovely flush shots down the stretch. Still, credit where it's due, Nick's cardio, bodypunching and chin were all typically fantastic, he now has the big UFC win he needed and I'm glad.

- Why oh why oh why hasn't BJ Penn just put in more effort with his cardio and conditioning in his career?! As a really big fan of his, I just can't understand why someone who loves fighting has continually put himself in a highly disadvantaged position in big fights by turning up flabby and then visibly gassing. It's not as if BJ had some natural cardio weakness, because for example in the Diego Sanchez fight, he easily coped with a known cardio machine attempting to take him down relentlessly and stopped him in the 5th round. I'll never understand why sometimes he just didn't come to the Octagon in the best shape possible, like guys like Diaz and GSP do every time.

- I'm really glad that GSP vs Diaz is now happening, and I'm so looking forward to this fight. Diaz needs to sharpen up IMO, because GSP will not stand against the cage exhausted and just allow Diaz to rattle off multi-punch combinations with no care for defence. But I still believe Nick has the right attributes to really, really trouble GSP. GSP is no longer the same guy of 2007-2009 whose bad intentions made serious messes of Hughes, Serra, Fitch and Penn. He is far more cautious and far less incisive now, and we all saw how badly he reacted to suffering a damaged eye in the Jake Shields fight. Even though GSP is significantly stronger than Diaz IMO, Diaz can mark him up and hurt him with vicious, busy activity from the bottom, and I don't think there's any realistic chance of GSP submitting Nick. Wherever this fight goes, I see it being close and pretty dangerous for Georges.

- BJ Penn is the reason I started watching MMA seriously, he is my all-time favourite fighter, in my opinion he is a UFC Hall Of Famer, a top 5 ATG, and one of the very best fighters ever in terms of ability at his fighting peak. I am glad he has retired, because a Penn bereft of stamina shouldn't be fighting much bigger, fitter men like Diaz and Fitch anymore. He has absolutely nothing left to prove, his ability can never be in doubt, and I salute the great man and say thank you so much for all the great nights and great fights.

:bbb

 

I dunno, did you? I think many people did. I tipped BJ on points, but expected a close, gruelling fight.

 

I'm back now :good

 

Of course I would have preferred BJ to win, I have never ever made a secret of that. I'm a big Nick Diaz fan, but BJ is(was) my favourite fighter. If anyone had to beat him into retirement, I'm glad it was Nick.

 

It looks like the Penn has run out of ink. I made that joke up myself.

:rofl:happy:vonnecunt:censored:hammertime:****off:bananamaniacwha:tta:grouphug