Pros Pick: Diaz vs. Daley
Diaz Heavily Favored
Mike Ciesnolevicz: Nick Diaz is just the better MMA fighter here. I think this fight will look a lot like the Diaz vs. Cyborg fight, or worst-case scenario: the Daley vs. Shields fight. Diaz is gonna take some shots and have a few close calls, but eventually he wears Daley down, gets him to the floor and wins by armbar or rear-naked choke. Diaz has a lot of ways to win this fight while Daley has only a left hook.
Stephane Vigneault : Diaz by submission in round two. I can’t stand Daley!
Gabe Ruediger: Going with Diaz. Should be an entertaining fight and I really think Daley will be competitive, but Diaz's ground and gas tank are the deciding factors.
Sean Loeffler : OK well this one is an easy one for me. Nick Diaz is by far my favorite MMA athlete of all time (I say athlete because he is not just a fighter). I really love the way he fights and moves in the cage. Secondly, Paul Daley has a bad attitude and threw a horrible cheap shot after the Koscheck fight. I say horrible because it was completely ineffective. It would have been cool if it fu--ed him up. Not because I don't like Josh -- he's tough -- it just would have been the only clean shot Paul landed all night. Which by the way: how do you not knock out a guy walking away [when he’s] not even looking (laughs)? ... Anyways, 100 percent: Diaz murders Daley ...
Billy MacDonald : The question on everyone's mind is will this be the fight where we get an elusive sighting of Nick Diaz's ground game? I personally don't think so, but I think that it won't matter anyways as Diaz avoids too many shots and utilizes his reach. I’ve got Diaz by decision.
Tom Vaughn: This is the biggest Strikeforce fight ever, I'm pumped for this match. Paul Daley is a dangerous man for anyone, including himself. With one punch KO power, Daley can end a fight at any point (before, during or after). In this fight, Nick Diaz can not risk taking a punch to give one as he usually does. Nick needs to fight smart early and gain ground as the fight progresses. I'm a Nick Diaz fan and I like Team Cesar Gracie. I don't know why, how, or when but I think Nick Diaz will find a way to win this fight. Nick Diaz by miracle.
Buddy Clinton: Technically, I see Diaz being able to handle Daley due to his experience and frame. If Nick wants to bring this fight to the ground, he will find a way to get it there. Yes, Jake Shields had some difficulty in the beginning submitting Daley, but he pulled off the sub and Nick will/could do the same. Daley has been able to give jiu-jitsu fighters difficulty in the past, but Nick is not your typical jiu-jitsu fighter. I see this fight coming down to one main component: who wants it more. Nick is on an impressive streak and has had a chip on his shoulder for years. Everyone watching him fight can see this. The streak will continue with Diaz pulling off a sub or TKO towards the end of the second.
Eric Pele: I got Diaz all day on this one. He’s got too many weapons for Daley. Diaz by third-round stoppage.
Jorge Lopez: I think in order for Daley to beat Diaz he has to kick the s--t out of his non-checking leg and avoid being taken down. I want Diaz to win and think he will via submission in the third.
Derrick Noble: This fight will be like that time Nick Thompson and I were training. It was a hard sparring day. Nick was getting over aggressive so I hit him once and he paused for a brief second, then flew backwards as if he were superman and was dazed on the floor. Nick Diaz will put Daley down and submit him in the second round.
Nick Thompson: This fight is somewhat similar to the time I was in my cornfield and heard a whisper, “If you build it, he will come.” Pursuant to the whisper, much to the disbelief of my neighbors, I plowed under my cornfield and built a baseball field. Thereafter Shoeless Joe Jackson and the seven other players banned in the 1919 Black Sox scandal, despite all of them having died many years prior, emerged from my corn and began to play baseball on the field. Some people could see them, some couldn’t -- including my brother-in-law, who thought I was nuts. Despite the field driving me into bankruptcy, there was no way I was going to get rid of the baseball field. In fact, I followed the whisper, yet again, when it led me to take famed 1960s activist author Derrick Noble, who had since become a recluse, to a baseball game. At the game, we both had a vision that led us to visit Chisholm, Minn., where a minor league ball player-turned-doctor had died many years prior. On the way home from Chisholm, Derrick and I picked up a hitchhiker; a young ball player -- who, somehow, happened to be the one and same ballplayer-turned-doctor who had died many years prior. Once back at my farm, the ball player-turned-doctor joined the other ball players. All of it was truly unbelievable and, in fact, many did not believe it. For example, my brother-in-law still could not see the ball players and was very upset that the field was driving us into bankruptcy. He was also upset that my daughter could see the ballplayers and thought that we were making her delusional. During a confrontation about the bankruptcy, my brother-in-law accidentally dropped my daughter and she began to choke. Off of the field walked the ball player-turned-doctor and he was transformed from the young kid into the old doctor. He then saved my daughter’s life by removing the hot dog stuck in her throat. My brother-in-law could then finally see the players and understood why we were not selling. Derrick Noble was invited into the corn from where the dead players were coming to see what was on the other side. And then I was rewarded for following the voice. My father, a huge baseball fan, who had passed away many years prior, was catching for the team. I got to meet him and play catch -- something I refused to do as a kid and always regretted.Pros who picked Diaz: 26
Pros who picked Daley: 3
Pros who couldn’t decide: 2
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