Paul Daley is not the first to gas in the octagon and he probably won’t be the last. That physical lapse, as in many other fights before him, was the half the story behind why Daley failed to kick Nick Diaz’s you-know-what and take his Strikeforce Welterweight belt in San Diego tonight. The other half of the story – the incontrovertible half – was Nick Diaz is one bad mofo. He proved beyond a shadow of doubt that he deserves the Strikeforce welterweight belt beyond the 10 man tear he has been on lately. And twice during that intense first round, Diaz proved that he could take a punch way better than the bombastic Daley. Starting with the trash talking in the opening seconds, Diaz went on to pummel the stocky Brit into an early daze that had him looking for a take-down. (My oh my, talk about turning the tables on the Brit who usually punches other fighters into early KO or TKO!) A wobbled Daley recovered from that early pummeling and true to customary form knocked Diaz down twice but could not – for the life of the Queen – finish the American wunderkind. What gave? Well quite a few things actually. Diaz was no Koscheck for starters! He came out to prove that and then some right from the opening moments.
Diaz does Daley at Strikeforce 04-09-11 in San Diego, California: The mouthy Brit is done in by poor conditioning not to mention Nick Diaz’s flamin’ fists of fury.
