Contributor: Ben Kohn
We have finally arrived at the long awaited fight between the UFC Welterweight champion and former Strikeforce Welterweight champion Nick Diaz. The road has been long and arduous, fraught with perils no mere mortals can hope to endure, such as missed press conferences, dark and green places, and a beard that just won’t go away. However, these two men are no mere mortals, one the King of Canada, and the other, the Dealer of 209. Zeus himself is rumored to be coming to watch in awe as these two “men”, for lack of better term, as they battle to decide who the true ruler at Welterweight is.
GSP and Nick are as opposite as it comes in both personality and fighting style. GSP is the consummate professional outside, and is a media darling. Nick on the other hand acts somewhat like a pissed off 15 year old kid who just had a fight with his parents over his curfew. In the ring, GSP is measured, calculating, and cautious while Nick is a balls-to-the wall brawler who will throw down with anyone, anywhere, anytime, just ask Jason “Mayhem” Miller about that. The lead-up to this fight has been absolutely epic and rather amusing to watch to say the least. One can be sure though that GSP will be pampered in his corner while Diaz has to go to the local deli to get his in between rounds water bottles. During the fight however, one can be sure that Diaz will be flipping GSP off and GSP will be telling Diaz he is not impressed. This fight is going to be one hell of a barnburner. Now let’s get down to the breakdown shall we?
Striking: Their styles really are indicative of their personalities. Nick’s complete I don’t give a shit attitude matches his style. He is a volume punching brawler who will take a punch in order to return 3 or 6 punches in return. Now a common theme I see is how people laud over how good Nick’s chin is. I tend to disagree with that statement however. Nick gets dropped plenty in many of his fights. Now I acknowledge he does have a very good chin but it is not near the levels of the old Chris Leben or Roy Nelson. His ability to recover however is second to none. Nick can just simply put take a shit-ton of punishment and somehow manage to survive, even when he gets dropped. This has allowed Diaz to win fights in which almost any other fighter would have been finished easily. Nick’s chin and recovery ability has allowed him to hone his striking style which has overwhelmed so many opponents who tried to stand and trade with him.
Nick’s gameplan is really simple. Draw his opponents, into a brawl, back them up against the fence and start ripping to the body with brutal punches. After overwhelming you with an unyielding and seemingly endless onslaught of punches, his opponents eventually must concede and slump to the ground. This style earned Diaz an 11 fight win streak before coming to losing to Carlos Condit for the Interim Welterweight championship at UFC 143. Incidentally, it was that fight that truly exposed the weaknesses of Diaz’s style. While Nick’s pressure game has worked so well for him in the past, against an extremely technical and intelligent kickboxer like Condit, Diaz showed his greatest weakness was his footwork. Nick’s stance puts his weight heavily on his front leg. This does not allow him check leg kicks (a trait he and his brother Nate both share and it cost Nate in his championship fight with Benson Henderson) which according to Cecil Peoples, does not win fights so he is safe in that regard. The other huge issue with this stance is that Nick turns his leg so far in; he is almost standing completely sideways. Now in Boxing, that’s ok, but in MMA, where the Octagon has no real corners, cutting off the cage is almost impossible to do. Because of this, Nick is at a severe disadvantage against anyone who has even decent footwork and can avoid brawling with Nick. This brings us to our current Welterweight champion.
Georges St. Pierre has evolved into one of the most well rounder mixed martial artists in the game today. He can outsrike and outgrapple you, it just depends on what he feels like doing. Barring Carlos Condit’s head kick that stunned him in his most recent title defense, GSP has not been in trouble since he got TKO’d by Matt Serra way back at UFC 69. Think about that for a second. In 10 fights, GSP has only been in a bad situation 1 time, and that was coming off a near 2 year layoff due to injury. One of the main contributions to this is that GSP is probably the hardest working fighter in any division. He has a competitive drive to be the best fighter around that just cannot be matched. His work ethic coupled with his freakish athleticism has helped make him among the top 3 fighters in the world. Now how does this affect his striking you might ask? Well I’ll tell you my impatient readers. GSP’s personality matches his striking. He is extremely composed and calculating on the feet and is very methodical. 
He sets the pace of the fight and it usually is very measured and relatively slow. He will flick out a jab that is the best in the Welterweight division if not the entire UFC. This jab though is not a set up but is rather a power punch all on its own. GSP uses what is called the Safety Lead (I urge you to read Jack Slack’s article on GSP’s striking). It is a jab that instead of stepping off to his opponent’s weaker side will step instead to his opponent’s power hand. By taking a step off to his left, it helps him generate a lot of power in his jab, which is straight and crisp, while protecting him from return fire (just ask Josh Koscheck how that worked out for him). GSP uses his explosiveness to help him rocket into that jab which has become his primary weapon on the feet in recent years.
However, GSP has some very quick and powerful kicks to go along with it and is not afraid of throwing spinning shit as well. He definitely has the power advantage as well as speed in his striking as well. Both have a 76” reach although Diaz is 3 inches taller than GSP, 6’1” to 5’10”. The reality is that although Diaz is lauded for his standup skills, GSP is just a smarter fighter and will utilize footwork to avoid being trapper against the fence, takedown notwithstanding. Bottom line, I will give an edge to GSP in striking but not by much since he can get hit occasionally.
Wrestling/Takedowns: OK, so this is merely a formality but we have the best takedown artist in the game today vs a guy who has meh wrestling at best. GSP can take Diaz whenever he wants to so edge completely goes to GSP.
Grappling: Now although GSP can take Diaz down at will, the question is whether or not that is a wise decision. Diaz is a Cesar Gracie blackbelt and for all of Gracies bullshit, a blackbelt from him is a legit accomplishment (not as good as a Marcelo Garcia blackbelt but still good ;)). Diaz most likely has the best guard game in the division aside from Demian Maia. Hanging out in the guard of Nick is hell because he throws up submission after submission never stopping until he either taps you, or you get the hell out of there. His submission grappling skills are clearly on a higher level than GSP but there is always the great equalizer of 
GSP’s wrestling and top control. GSP has the best takedowns but also the best top control in MMA. Up until his last fight against Carlos Condit in which he was swept once, GSP has not been swept/reversed on the ground since his UFC debut against Karo Parisyan back at UFC 46. That is completely insane and blows my mind. Once GSP is on top of you, you aren’t getting up unless he lets you up. Diaz’s sweep game will be solely based on threatening with submissions and although GSP’s sub game is mediocre, his sub defense is superb. With this fire lit under his ass by Diaz, GSP might throw some hard ground and pound like he did against Condit but even if he doesn’t want to and throws 60% shots; he will still do plenty of damage and control the ground fighting. Edge goes to GSP again.
Fight IQ: GSP is one of the most intelligent in ring fighters in all of MMA and can adapt mid-fight to virtually any situation. Diaz on the other hand has no idea how to adapt in the cage and will follow the same gameplan from start to finish no matter what. This cost him in the Condit fight and it will cost him here. Edge is totally in favor of GSP.
Cardio: This category goes to Diaz but not by much. Although Diaz is a cardio freak, when was the last time anyone saw GSP tire? Obviously Diaz’s cardio is second to none by GSP is a cardio machine as well so this won’t come into play much in the fight. Still edge goes to Diaz.
Cornering: This is also going to hurt Nick in the fight because his corner drinks the same kool-aid Nick does. This doesn’t allow them to view the fight objectively and hence they give him advice to his detriment. GSP however has Greg Jackson in his corner…ya GSP gets the edge.
Going through the list, GSP seems to have all the tools to dominate Diaz and he does. Diaz shocking the world is always a possibility but GSP really is just that much of a better mixed martial artist than Nick Diaz and I see it playing out that way come Saturday night. Predicion, GSP by dominating decision.
-Ben can be reached at [email protected]
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