Nick Diaz moves up in ranking but still behind ufc top welterweights

Paul Daley although i like the lad does not belong top ten due to the holes in his game !!!

Pretty tough to argue that Diaz warrants a place higher than 4 to be fair , which is where i have him ;

1. GSP
2. Fitch
3. Alves
4. Diaz

 

I think you gotta put Shields over Diaz too.

 

6-10 is where he belongs.

 

Its about where he belongs.

 

:yep

No division is as dominated by the UFC as welterweight.

If Nick Diaz defeats Paul Daley, there are no more big fights for him at 170lbs.

 

Not entirely sure what Koscheck has done to be in the top five - got destroyed by GSP and other than Daley (which was a perfect stylistic matchup for him) hasn't been a top ten fighter in a good long while. Arguably a case cold be made for moving Alves down as well - didn't look good against Fitch or GSP and his 2008 victory over Koscheck was his last win over a name opponent. So yeah I'd probably put Diaz up at 4 behind GSP, Fitch and Shields...although as we saw when all the WEC guys came over in 2009 its so difficult to rank fighters when they're facing completely different sets of opponents.

 

The questions is: How much better has Diaz gotten in the last few years and does that undo what he did when he was actually in the UFC? When he was in the UFC he lost to guys like Riggs, Sanchez, Karo and Sherk (who got ground to bits by GSP and isn't a welter anymore) and of all the guys he beat only one (Tibau) is still in the UFC and he's at 155 now. Based on his actual body of work against UFC guys, it sure looks like he shouldn't be ranked above them.

 

Diaz is definitely top 4. Dont know how Kos is ahead tbh. You can say all you want about level of competition, but take GSP out of the equations and Diaz has been much more impressive than Kos. I guess getting owned by GSP is better than owning a decent pro like Cyborg in some peoples eyes. Dont see it myself

 

I'm not Kos fan, but the loses to Fickett and Paulo Thiago didn't point out shortcomings in the same way that all of Diaz's many losses in the UFC did. He lost to Sherk with 15 minutes worth of fighting time to beat him and couldn't do it. Same with Sanchez, Karo and Riggs. On the one hand it means he has a good chin and all of that, but on the other it means that it's more indicative of how a rematch would go than, say, Kos getting sparked by Thiago. Based on the level of the people that he's lost to and the level of the people he's beaten outside the UFC, I don't think Diaz can really lay claim to deserving a super high ranking. Seriously, guys like Gomi and Noons are good fighters, but they're not even legit welters and other guys like Santos and Zaromskis and Shamrock aren't really top guys.

 

Diaz isn't in my top 15 but my list is based on wins over other ranked opponents, not necessarily skill.

 

He's probably around 7-8, and that's being a bit polite. Seriously, you're kidding yourself if you have him anywhere in the Top 5, let alone Top 3-4.

See kids? Drugs have long lasting effects on judgment. Just like I said in the other thread.

 

I just don't see how you still factor in loses he suffered in TWO THOUSAND AND SIX when determining how good he is today. That is absurd...Diaz has clearly grown and improved as a fighter since then. Now his judgement does suck, I mean the fight against Cyborg was laughable where Diaz seemed to almost deliberately fighting to the wrong tactics. And yes stylistic he may struggle against Koscheck or even Alves but I just don't see what they've done recently to warrant being ranked above Diaz in 2011.

 

Right, but who has Diaz really beaten since his time in the UFC to erase all of those losses? I understand that he's been on a hell of a winning streak, but seriously, against what type of competition? The last time he fought real decent guys that were true welterweights one fight after another was in the UFC. I reference those because that's all there really is to reference. If he beats Daley it will be his first win against a legit guy in his weight class since..what, Lawler? I love to watch Diaz fight and he's not an easy win for anyone, but I'm not going to call a guy doesn't fight the best in his class a top ten guy. If he moved into the UFC and fought guys like Kos or Fitch and beat them, then I'd eat my words. I don't think he will though and I don't think he would.