Nate Diaz
Nate Diaz questions scoring in MMA
Nate Diaz’ professional mixed martial arts record is 13-6 with five of his six losses being by decision, two of those by split decision.
Diaz is coming off a decision loss in the welterweight division to Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 125 on New Year’s Day.
“When it was over I knew that they were going to give it to him for sure because he had the top position and that’s the way the judging goes,” Diaz told Scrap Pack Radio.
The Stockton, Calif. Native tries to make sense of the current trend of MMA scoring, but logic is best suspended when discussing judging in MMA.
“I think the scoring should be like, say a guy gets a takedown, it should count for a takedown for sure. What is a takedown in wrestling, two points? In a grappling match it’s two points, so he gets a takedown,” said Diaz. “But if he takes you down and lands in your closed guard and gets punched in the head forty times, is he still ahead on points?”
“If you’re on top, you’re winning, and I think it’s ridiculous.”
Wrestlers have been able to take the younger of the Diaz brothers down in the past, but he points out that certain takedowns don’t hold the same weight with the judges as others.
“I’ve been training with Jake (Shields) and Gil (Melendez) and really good wrestlers for years. I think I could probably go into every fight and jump guard on guys and be just fine in the fight. It’s weird because if you jump guard wouldn’t you have the control because you went to the back where wanted to be and take him down,” questioned Diaz.
The Cesar Gracie trained fighter suggested that the current ten-point must system of scoring MMA fights could influence the way fighters approach game plans.
“Sometimes it comes down to less fighting will win you the round,” said Diaz. “Sometimes maybe we need to fight less to win the round.”
The former “The Ultimate Fighter” contestant believes there’s a difference between a fighter and someone who fights for a living.
“There’s round-winners and there’s fighters. You know, but in order to be a good UFC fighter or cage fighter I guess I’ve got to learn how to win the rounds,” said Diaz. “You’ve got to not fight. That’s what I’m saying. You’ve got to score,” commented Diaz. “Apparently I’ve got to grab him and hold him, otherwise he’ll just grab and hold me.“
“Everybody is like, ‘you need to work on your wrestling,’ added Diaz. “Maybe I don’t need to work on my wrestling. Maybe I just need to do the wrestling and not the fighting.”
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