[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

There are two primary reasons why I root for Nick Diaz: The Fighter.

One is that he truly is a magnificantly gifted fighter with stellar jits and really good MMA striking. I appreciate what he does during the fights and he's very entertaining and enjyoyable to watch.

Secondly, I really like seeing somebody aside from GSP really look like a BEAST at WW and I enjoy the possibility of having the two someday meeting to be in the corner of my mind, given how polar opposite they are both technically and personality-wise and how little GSP has really been challenged since his Serra loss by somebody with little more than a puncher's chance. The fact that they're in different promotions gives it a helluva lot more fantasy-eque appeal to me and it's just nice to see somebody at WW impress without LNPing all goddamn fight long(cough FITCHFITCHFITCH cough).

I have Diaz at #5 on my P4P list because I really DO believe he's the real deal and in regards to pure talent, he's tough to match, however he is also, a complete bonehead and that always swings around and bites him in the ass.

I don't like the Noons matchup because aside from avenging his last loss in a defunct organization at LW, Diaz has very little to gain here, he's not fighting a ranked WW like Hieron or somebody who's had some top caliber WW challengers like Daley etc. and is basically stepping in there with a guy who has a damn legit PUNCHERS' puncher's chance and that's a BIIIIG risk IMO. I like Diaz in the fight because Noons looked like balls vs. Huen and didn't look too much better vs. Gurgel and now he's jumping up into a five round fight with somebody who's got skill for days, but Noons has some cannons to unload. I see this going akin to the Smith/Diaz fight, but still, I don't see the upside in this fight for Diaz, especially not a main event. If they wanted to have him avenge a loss, I'd have given him Ruthless again...or Mayhem....