UFC Fight Night 20 Diaz vs Maynard results (spoilers)

Pretty good card with some exciting and very close fights.

Preliminary Card
Middleweight bout: Nick Catone vs. Jesse Forbes
Catone defeated Forbes via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).

Middleweight bout: Gerald Harris vs. John Salter
Harris defeated Salter via TKO (strikes) at 3:24 of round 3.

Lightweight bout: Kyle Bradley vs. Rafael dos Anjos
dos Anjos defeated Bradley via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Welterweight bout: Mike Guymon vs. Rory MacDonald
MacDonald defeated Guymon via submission (armbar) at 4:27 of round 1.

Lightweight bout: Thiago Tavares vs. Nik Lentz
The fight was a majority draw The judges scored the fight 29-27 (Lentz), 28-28 and 28-28. A point deduction was given to Tavares for a shot to the groin.


Welterweight bout: Rick Story vs. Jesse Lennox
Story defeated Lennox via majority decision (30-27, 30-27, 28-28)

Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Jay Silva
Leben defeated Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)


Main card

Welterweight bout: Amir Sadollah vs. Brad Blackburn
Sadollah defeated Blackburn via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Another impressive performance from Sadollah showing kicks, knees and some good punches. Dominated Blackburn who was a pretty good finish. Id like to see Sadollah finish fights and to also show his ground game more. Maybe Volkman next.

Middleweight bout: Tom Lawlor vs. Aaron Simpson
Simpson defeated Lawlor via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).

Very exciting fight between the very charasmatic Lawler against Simpson. Very close fight and hard to call but I think it was the right decision in the end. Lawler dominated the first, Simpson just about edged the second and then easily won the last. Best shot for Lawler was a draw becuse the first was possibly a 10-8 but very exciting and close fight. Lawler has a great personality, if he backed it up with fighting ability he could be a star.

Lightweight bout: Efrain Escudero vs. Evan Dunham
Dunham defeated Escudero via submission (armbar) at 1:59 of round 3

Disappointed in Escudero, I really thought he could become the next big thing at LW. Impressive performance by Dunham who was arguably losing up and till the armbar. Escudero needs to start again. Dunham now should look for a tougher fight, maybe Lauzon next.

Lightweight bout: Gray Maynard vs. Nate Diaz
Maynard defeated Diaz via split decision (29-28, 28-29 30-27).

Good but not great performance by Maynard. I think he easily won, 30-27 sounds like a correct scoreline. More damage was done by Maynard, Diaz has no power at all. Suprised he didn't use his wrestling more to smother Diaz but he was possibly looking to round his skills out more. I would have liked a finish from Maynard but oh well. Right now I wouldn't want Maynard to fight BJ Penn, not because he doesn't deserve it but because he isn't ready yet. Id like to see him fight Sanchez first, if he wins we will know he is ready but needless to say improvements need to be made to fight BJ Penn.

Big win for Dunham. Escudero was winning the fight and just got careless. I don't think he needs to change too much. Just focus more.

Wasn't impressed by Maynard. I think this loss could spell the end of Nate in the UFC. Strikeforce awaits.

I don't they will release him as a former TUF winner. Only TUF winner has ever been released and Diaz has lost to tough opponents, two of them being split decisions. He has wins over Guillard, Pellingrino and Neer. Has a 6-3 record, Guida has a 5-5 record and still in. If the UFC can keep someone like Mac Danzig who lost to Neer, they can keep Diaz around.

Even if he does get released, Strikeforce is a terrible destination for him. There are very few fighters there he can beat if the DREAM guys go over, he won't win a match. Imagine facing guys like:

Aoki
Hellboy
Alvarez
JZ
Melendez
Thompson
Huerta
Crusher

The WEC or Shine fights would be a much better destination.

Another great UFN including highway robbery and an upset of sorts.

Can not see how Simpson won the fight IMO the 1st Round was easily a 10-8 round Lawlor land far more cleaner shots and troubled Simpson numerous times Round 2 could have gone either way and 2 I had for Simpson.

Dunham didn't surprise me but probably a lot of people his ground game looks very solid.

Diaz IMO just about won the fight Maynard looked dreadful and his hopes of fighting BJ next have gone.

Can not see how Simpson won the fight IMO the 1st Round was easily a 10-8 round Lawlor land far more cleaner shots and troubled Simpson numerous times Round 2 could have gone either way and 2 I had for Simpson.

Dunham didn't surprise me but probably a lot of people his ground game looks very solid.

Diaz IMO just about won the fight Maynard looked dreadful and his hopes of fighting BJ next have gone.
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I think it was probably a draw but Simpson definitley won the last two rounds.

Not sure how Diaz won the fight at all, he did nothing. Maynard landed much cleaner shots and had Diaz in trouble several times. Diaz has nothing at all on his punches, just awful power. Diaz might have edged the first but I don't think so, Maynard always controlled where the fight went and always did more damage. Dreadful is very harsh, not sure you can use that word. I would prefer it if he didn't fight BJ next but if he wanted to he would deserve to go next, he has beaten the toughest opponents. Who else deserves a shot? Rematch with Florian

Maynard should keep well away from BJ,if he is scared to go to the ground with Diaz,he has no buisiness sharing a cage with BJ.I understand that he would be weary of the sub attempts,but come on,you are the suppossed to be next in line for a title shot and you are scared to mix it up and use your base art,wrestling,against a guy that is nowhere near the top 10.
Takedowns score points,your a wrestler,surely you are good enough to attempt one now and again.Wrap him up and let the ref stand you up if you need to,you still score for the takedown.

His boxing is very sloppy and there is no way he should rely on that to win him fights.
Why is it that so many fighters can't find a balance with their skills?

BJ will absolutely destroy Maynard in every aspect of MMA,I thought Maynards wrestling could actually give BJ something to think about,but now I know that Maynard would be to scared to take BJ to the matt,he stands absolutely zero chance of beating BJ in a striking match.
I've flipped now and would prefer to see Edgar take on BJ.

Sadollah looked solid again,I really hope he can go on to bigger things,I like him alot.

He has only had a handfull of pro-fights but everyone of them have been against a high level fighter,well a much higher level than 99% of fighters start off their career against.

CB twice,Matt Brown,Baroni and Blackburn are great wins for any rookie and he was unlucky to have been stopped against Hendricks,who is still undefeated.Sadollah will beat Hendricks in a rematch IMO.

Lawler and Efrain easily won their 1st rds but both ended up losing the fights.
Hats off to Simpson and Dunham,they both showed fantastic heart and cardio.

I didn't score the Lawler 1st rd as a 10-8 so I have no problem with the scores.I gave the first as an easy 10-9 to Lawler,Simpson just edged a close 2nd and then easily won the last.

Efrain looked good in the first but was wild,sloppy and out of ideas from the 2nd rd onwards,was not really impressed with him at all.Just like the Lawler-Simpson fight,you could see this fight turnig,Dunham looked the fresher fighter for the rest of the fight and I gave him the 2nd rd.The sub to finish him was sweet,he had his arm locked in deep,there was no way Efrain was getting out of that,Efrain was stupid not to tap earlier.

BJ would cause the first murder in the UFC if he fought Edgar, I really don't want to see that. Edgar is a tiny LW and his wresting isn't good enough to takedown BJ so we get a replay of the Sanchez fight except 10 times worse.

Maynard has the best wrestling in the division, make no mistake he would try and take BJ down. In the post fight interview he said he made a mistake to try and stand with him but after he saw his face he just wanted to stand and bang. He said it was stupid, I think he wanted to see if he himself had enough skill standing up to win a fight, he did.

Was it just me or was Sadollah really odd in the post fight interview? I was pretty confused

Either way I was impressed with him as well, dominant performance on the feet. Not sure who's next, some on like Volman maybe although I think he needs an easy fight.

I don't quite by it that this wasn't his gameplan from the start,to stand and bang and stay away from the place that you lost to the guy the last time,if not then I think Randy did a shit job of coaching because not once did he tell him to take it down,nor once tell him he wasn't following the gameplan,infact he was saying the complete opposite and telling him to stick to it.
Maynards boxing was horrible last night and if he fought any fighter that doesn't throw pitter,patter punches like Nate last night,he could of been in a world of trouble,Nate conected with probably more punches last night,they just have nothing on them,but when Maynard connected they made Nate stumble,in Olympic boxing Nate would of probably out scored Maynard.

Seeing if you can out strike a guy who has only 2 KO's in his career and can't punch for shit,is not much of a test to see how good your standup is,and if it was a test,He might have won the fight but for showing off his striking skills,I'd say that was a resounding,Fail.

If he is going to try and wrestle BJ,then bring it on,if he tries standing with him,then I have zero interest in watching that.
Edgar has better hands than Maynard,so for me,who thinks Maynard would shit himself on the ground with BJ.If he was scared to take Nate there,he isn't going to take BJ there.

So if I want to see BJ in a stand up fight,I want to see it against an opponent with better striking like Edgar,instead of the crap striking of Maynard.

Sadollah seems to be working the Forrest Griffin angle of being interviewed,it works,the crowd love the Honest,simple everyday kind of guy.

Ye I agree he has poor standup and should have used his wrestling but its not as bad as your making it seem.

Maynard has a chance against BJ. Edgar has none. If Maynard can't take BJ down, No one on the LW division can and BJ should just move to WW.

Sadohllah and Griffin are really similar in terms of fighting ability and personality. Not sure Sadollah can become a champion (I think he should go to LW) at WW but definitley a good fighter.

anyone see between the 2nd and 3rd round randy give gray a ticking off, i thought it was funny "hey stop playing around in there, thats his game" lol

I noticed that as well.

I've been saying that Maynard should be BJ's next fight for a while,he has a weapon in wrestling that might cause BJ problems but if he doesn't use it against BJ then I have no interest in watching Maynard getting completely schooled in a striking battle,it would be like what Edgar did to Sherk but alot worse.I think even though Edgar will still lose,it would be a far better fight to watch Edgar striking against BJ.

Maybe I am being harsh on Maynard,but I thought his performance last night was awful and deffinately not what we should expect from a potential title contender,that was not a performance I would expect from a top 10 ranked fighter in one of the most stacked divisions in MMA,as you can tell,I didn't enjoy the fight at all.
Every time Nate kept dropping his hands and talking shit,I was shouting at my TV,SHOOT,make the prick pay or at least throw a bloody punch,hell it's not as if Nate is going to spark you out on the way in,but instead Maynard just kept distance,his hands by his hip's ready to through one of the two obvious punches he had been throwing all fight and called him "Bitch"
That holding hands in front of each other to find range also annoyed the crap out of me,find your range by keep popping a jab out there,leaving an open left hand out there to be grabbed and looking for the one big right is only a step up in skills from when you hold a kid in front of you by the forehead.

To let Nate's shit talking effect you and to join in yourself,also shows to me he is not mentally ready for the top,Randy was completey right to tell him but the thing is Maynard should of already known that before he stepped in the cage.

Good performance by Sadollah, shame he couldn't finish Blackburn.

Lawlor v Simpson could have went either way. Lawlor clearly won the first and Simpson the last round. The second round was very close. I'd have been tempted to give Lawlor the win.

Escudero looked good in parts. When he rocked Dunham in the first he started throwing wild shots that Dunham just backed away from, one or two landed but he missed his chance to finish. Credit to Dunham for working his way back into the fight and pulling off a nice sub. Escudero ought to have tapped before he did.

I wasn't too impressed by Maynard v Diaz, both fighters punch accuracy was very poor. Maynard did enough though. I can't see him troubling BJ Penn, unless he can dry hump him for five rounds.

Really fair point Payne about mental strength, if he lets Diaz get under his skin just imagine what BJ would do. Sanchez has some of the best mental strength in MMA and he cracked 30 seconds into the fight with BJ Penn.
Maynard isn't norlmally like that, dissapointing that he let Diaz get into his mind. You don't seem to like Nate Diaz very much either
I agree that Randy was right to tell him off because he was fucking up.

Also agree about Escudero being an idiot for not tapping, to people never learn?