[devante]

Dana has been in the boxing game for the large majority of his life, an is just applying the rules to a sport he is able to influence in it's formative stages; he has alot of issues w/boxing, but was not big enough to really change the direction or develop/promote/control the fighters like he wanted to. MMA while a mainstay had not broken through, until dana came into the picture. An if you look at tuf, if u watch ufc ppv, if u watch the matchmaking and the fighters he brings in; you can see the direct connection between mainstream mma and boxing.

This fight w/karo and diego is a great example, young prospect against a young, top, skilled; but fatally flawed contender. The win on paper looks great, consideing the skillset of the opposition; but when u break down records, and fight footage the end result is not the shock u would think.

Karo-is a world class athlete, superbly skilled, very balanced in the ground game; excellent w/the takedowns, submissions and def. In regards to mma has a good chin, tough mind, quick hands, a willingness to let them go and some power. He is a true contender, extremely dominant against second and third tier opp; an very competitive against top opposition, EXCEPT for one thing. Karo has been exposed time and time again when facing an opp who is bigger/stronger/physically tougher and can outwrestle him; not someone w/better credentials, nick thompson had better creds...but could not outwrestle karo. Everytime karo has faced a physically stronger tougher conditioned athlete he has been worn down, muscled around and beaten down. LAST NIGHT WAS NO DIFF.

Diego- world class grappler, very good aggressive wrestler, who is physical, strong, and active....

What does this spell...a loss for karo; now am i saying the win is not impressive, nope it was karo is good enough he can make anyone look bad and can have his moments. Nonetheless he was never really able to hurt diego, instead he got him off balance and out manuevered him; but he never really hurt him or imposed himself on diego. He wore himself down trying to take it to diego and faded badly.

Diego just outworked him wore him down and beat him up; he did not outclass him or tech outslick him, it was just the case of good big man beating good little man. I have seen it in boxing time and time again; it's a matter of knowing ur fighter, knowing the opp he has to face and who's style/traits he can take adv of. In matching diego w/karo dana has a YOUNG high caliber guy w/all the right shortcomings to allow diego to do what he does..pressure/ rough up/manhandle and beat up his opp. Karo is tech good enough to win, if diego is not tough, has a lack of heart or is not prepared; but diego is and was, which basically sealed a victory for him...because there was nothing outside of throws that karo could do well enough to put a dent in diego's strategy or attack.

Dana wants that hispanic demo-look at how they as a group support their athletes, esp in combat sports; diego keeps wining it brings them in and mwill skyrocket ufc buyrates. Ask bob arum...look at ppv numbers when a popular hisp fighter is involved or when they fight one another vargas v de la hoya vargas v mosley de la hoya v mosley barrera v morales pacquaiao v morales.

Dana is matching him tough, but against guys who have wholes that are built for a guy like diego to take adv of- as good as diaz is he has limited wrestling and has a hard time w/an opp who won't trade and won't back off when they taste his power. Diego gave the blueprint.. and riggs/sherk followed it, with a few minor adj; but the game was set get him to open up w/strikes take him down and work him over. He is physically weak and his wrestling is non existant, u can outposition and control him if ur strong enough eff shutting down his submission game.

The 1st guy he fought, a standup guy w/avg groundskills; who was taken down controlled and beaten down

The win is impressive-but when u look a little closer it's not as impressive; if and when he faces a pierre/penn/hughes, then i will really see what he is about. Those guys are not good matchups w/him and will be more of a physical and tech match for him than karo

[Chagrin]

So he matched Diego up against someone most people thought he would lose to.. a top five guy in the world at welterweight.. the top ranked guy that hadn't either just lost or was preparing for a title match in the UFC.. and you're arguing at him 'giving' Diego a victory?

Besides, Joe Silva is the UFC matchmaker. Not Dana.

[DownRightFierce]

i agree to a point where i want to see diego fight a better wrestler

[Evil_Veiled]

Damn skippy. Matchmaking, booking, whatever you want to call it, is a big part of UFCs business plan.

They have a lot of good young American wrestlers, and they will match them up however they please, until those guys make themselves well-rounded enough to be presentable (Koscheck spending all his time at AKA is a good example, it was the one thing his game REALLY needed, was for him to look confident on his feet, not for him to be able to outstrike Top Class strikers).

Its not going to change any time soon. Riggs/Koscheck/Sanchez in all honesty should fight each other for, lets see, about 2 years. But not on PPV or TV, please!

[mose]

Originally Posted by DownRightFierce

i agree to a point where i want to see diego fight a better wrestler

at 170, that would either be Hughes or Kos.

Putting him vs. Kos makes no sense right now(at least to me)....why kill off one of your next gen prospects for small $$$'s when you can build them into a big money fight? Kos and Diego are real-deal, top-tier champion prospects the UFC is building on, as compared to a fighter like Leben who the UFC built and knowingly threw to the wolves. They are too valuable to the future to fight each other now.

Diego vs. Hughes looks, well, not likely in the next year unless this GSP out of UFC 63 thing is true.

Hughes has GSP + the TUF 4 winner on his dance card. Plus, Penn and revenge looms large on the horizon.

[jcharth]

Looks like you want to see diego get his bxtt kicked, and we all do. but i checked diego win by decision on the poll. Karl punches like a girl and he problably wont get better in 1 or 2 lifetimes. May be BJ will straight him up in the next fight so he stops doing weird faces in public and keeps that for him self.

[UpL8]

I agree with Chargin. What other welterweights does the UFC have that you would put against Diego instead of Karo? I think they do a good job matchmaking with a still limited (but growing) talent pool. I think it sucks that this fight "may" determine the next WW contender. Diego should have to beat at least one more tough opponent, but there isn't anyone left, except maybe Joe Riggs?

You are giving Dana and the UFC too much credit and not enough to Diego. He really is quite good. Not good enough to be champ yet, but he is a legit top 5 now. His ground game was very impressive against Karo. I'm glad now that Karo didn't get the title shot. He showed a few flaws. He needs to improve, or drop a weight class, or get out of the way.

I think the whole Latin angle is a little out there. There just aren't enough quality fighters around to make that theory fly.

[hardcorekid661]

damn long read

[thalorenzo]

Dana doesn't make the matches. I saying all of that is taking away from Karo's ability. Karo is good and can beat anybody at 170. At the same time Diego is good and can beat anyone at 170. Last night was diego's night and he deserves his respect. I knew people were gonna try and discredit Diego's win. This guy is amazing and the sooner yall realize this the better. I hope he wins the title just to hear the crazy things you people will say. This thread was trash.

Originally Posted by devante

Dana has been in the boxing game for the large majority of his life, an is just applying the rules to a sport he is able to influence in it's formative stages; he has alot of issues w/boxing, but was not big enough to really change the direction or develop/promote/control the fighters like he wanted to. MMA while a mainstay had not broken through, until dana came into the picture. An if you look at tuf, if u watch ufc ppv, if u watch the matchmaking and the fighters he brings in; you can see the direct connection between mainstream mma and boxing.

This fight w/karo and diego is a great example, young prospect against a young, top, skilled; but fatally flawed contender. The win on paper looks great, consideing the skillset of the opposition; but when u break down records, and fight footage the end result is not the shock u would think.

Karo-is a world class athlete, superbly skilled, very balanced in the ground game; excellent w/the takedowns, submissions and def. In regards to mma has a good chin, tough mind, quick hands, a willingness to let them go and some power. He is a true contender, extremely dominant against second and third tier opp; an very competitive against top opposition, EXCEPT for one thing. Karo has been exposed time and time again when facing an opp who is bigger/stronger/physically tougher and can outwrestle him; not someone w/better credentials, nick thompson had better creds...but could not outwrestle karo. Everytime karo has faced a physically stronger tougher conditioned athlete he has been worn down, muscled around and beaten down. LAST NIGHT WAS NO DIFF.

Diego- world class grappler, very good aggressive wrestler, who is physical, strong, and active....

What does this spell...a loss for karo; now am i saying the win is not impressive, nope it was karo is good enough he can make anyone look bad and can have his moments. Nonetheless he was never really able to hurt diego, instead he got him off balance and out manuevered him; but he never really hurt him or imposed himself on diego. He wore himself down trying to take it to diego and faded badly.

Diego just outworked him wore him down and beat him up; he did not outclass him or tech outslick him, it was just the case of good big man beating good little man. I have seen it in boxing time and time again; it's a matter of knowing ur fighter, knowing the opp he has to face and who's style/traits he can take adv of. In matching diego w/karo dana has a YOUNG high caliber guy w/all the right shortcomings to allow diego to do what he does..pressure/ rough up/manhandle and beat up his opp. Karo is tech good enough to win, if diego is not tough, has a lack of heart or is not prepared; but diego is and was, which basically sealed a victory for him...because there was nothing outside of throws that karo could do well enough to put a dent in diego's strategy or attack.

Dana wants that hispanic demo-look at how they as a group support their athletes, esp in combat sports; diego keeps wining it brings them in and mwill skyrocket ufc buyrates. Ask bob arum...look at ppv numbers when a popular hisp fighter is involved or when they fight one another vargas v de la hoya vargas v mosley de la hoya v mosley barrera v morales pacquaiao v morales.

Dana is matching him tough, but against guys who have wholes that are built for a guy like diego to take adv of- as good as diaz is he has limited wrestling and has a hard time w/an opp who won't trade and won't back off when they taste his power. Diego gave the blueprint.. and riggs/sherk followed it, with a few minor adj; but the game was set get him to open up w/strikes take him down and work him over. He is physically weak and his wrestling is non existant, u can outposition and control him if ur strong enough eff shutting down his submission game.

The 1st guy he fought, a standup guy w/avg groundskills; who was taken down controlled and beaten down

The win is impressive-but when u look a little closer it's not as impressive; if and when he faces a pierre/penn/hughes, then i will really see what he is about. Those guys are not good matchups w/him and will be more of a physical and tech match for him than karo

[hardcorekid661]

but yes matchmaking is really resembling boxing