5 Times MMA bullies were taught a lesson
(* Credits- MMA Mania)
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport full of tough guys and alpha personas and it comes as no surprise that more than a few well-known MMA fighters exhibit such unnecessary macho behaviour and typical bullying-antics from time-to-time. But as the saying goes- ‘The bigger they are, the harder they fall’.
The same goes for the in-cage/ring bullies as the bigger and ‘badder’ the stars behave, the sweeter is the humble-pie that they’re served. Today we take a look at a few such MMA bullies and discuss a few instances when said bullies got their comeuppance-
#5 Nick Diaz vs. Condit and GSP
Alright before you Stockton 209 fans jump to your hero’s defence, let’s get one thing clear- The Diaz brothers rely on being the bully in their fights and that’s a fact! And I’m not merely parroting the words of former Nick Diaz-rival Georges St-Pierre.
Every single opponent of Nick or Nate Diaz has alluded to the fact that Stockton’s finest sons are good boxers, great BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) fighters and even greater ‘Bullies’.
GSP was the long-time UFC Welterweight (WW) champion and with him being out-of-action due to injury, the UFC created an Interim-WW belt, pitting Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz against one another at UFC 143 in February of 2012. Condit beat Diaz via a clear-cut Unanimous-Decision (don’t listen to any Diaz fan who says otherwise).
After the fight, Nick accused Condit of...ahem...running. Nevertheless, after losing at 143 for the Interim strap, he would get another shot at UFC gold, against GSP, who was the aforementioned Condit’s next opponent, following Nick, and had successfully beaten ‘The Natural Born Killer’ in a 5-Round war.
Nick faced St-Pierre at UFC 158 and once again lost a clear-cut decision. Let’s take a brief look at how Condit and GSP tamed the bully:
With a Greg Jackson and Mike Winklejohn devised game-plan in his arsenal, as well as a vast array of Muay Thai techniques coupled with a granite chin; Condit stayed true to his strategy and avoided phone-booth fighting with Nick at all costs. He successfully tagged his boxing-centric opponent, catching him with a wide variety of glancing punches, kicks, knees and elbows.
Diaz, who always relies on throwing his opponents off their game by hurling colourful profanities at them as well as their mothers, was discombobulated against Condit.
That brings us to the fight with one of the most cringe-worthy build-ups of all time: GSP vs Diaz. With St-Pierre’s gentleman-like mannerisms and Nick’s devil-may-care attitude, the fight was a fire-and-ice, clash of personalities. When the Octagon door slam shut, GSP shut the mouthy Stockton native up with his stinging jab, coupled with a chain-wrestling strategy.
After 25 minutes of domination on the feet as well as the ground, St-Pierre overcame one of the biggest challenges of his UFC title reign by beating the ex-Strikeforce and WEC WW champ, Nick Diaz.
It’s essential to note that Nick wasn’t physically rocked, hurt or close to being finished in either fight, however, the mental fortitude that Condit and ‘Rush’ exhibited toward the trash-talking Stocktonian shut down his entire game and with that his profanity-hurling machine-gun of a mouth, albeit temporarily. Up next we see two giants fight over a girl...