Nate Diaz to return at UFN 11

The Natural994 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 10:36 AM

Nate Diaz to Return at UFC Fight Night 11
Posted by UFC Junkie on July 17, 2007 at 8:18 am ET

Nate DiazNate Diaz (6-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC), fresh off his win over Manny Gamburyan at The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale, will put his recently won UFC contract to good use at UFC Fight Night 11 on Sept. 19. His opponent has not yet been named.

The original announcement of the fight came from GracieFighter.com. Diaz trains under Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at his academy in Pleasant Hill, Calif.

The 22-year-old Diaz, the younger brother of UFC veteran Nick Diaz, was selected for The Ultimate Fighter 5‘s lightweight cast after solid performances in the WEC, Strikeforce and other organizations. He entered this past season of the Spike TV reality series as one of the early favorites.

After wins over Rob Emerson, Corey Hill and Gray Maynard, Diaz was pitted against fellow finalist Gamburyan at The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale last month. Although he lost the first round, Diaz experienced some major luck in the second. Early in the round, Gamburyan shot for a takedown but dislocated his shoulder in the process. He was forced to submit from the injury, and Diaz was awarded the six-figure UFC contract and an assortment of prizes.

UFC Fight Night 11 takes place at The Palms Las Vegas and airs on Spike TV. It will likely serve as the lead-in for the upcoming welterweights-only season of The Ultimate Fighter. This sixth installment of the reality series will feature current UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra and former champ Matt Hughes as coaches.

For the latest UFC Fight Night 11 fight card, check out the UFC Rumors section of UFCjunkie.com.

http://ufcjunkie.com/2007/07/17/nate...ight-night-11/

The Natural994 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 10:43 AM

I'm not a big Diaz fan...I don't really like either of the Diaz's actually....But kudos to him for winning the show against some tough competition....Now...I wonder what the UFC will do with him...Probably just going to feed him someone rather easy right now to build some hype rather than give him a fight....But I really would like to see him fight Frank Edgar, Tyson Griffin, Sam Stout,Clay Guida or Dokonjonosuke Mishima for now to see where he really is.

BringOutYourDead · #3 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 11:59 AM

If they give him any kind of match ups like they gave his brother then he'll be in for a rough run.

jlruthven84 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 12:08 PM

They'll give him a semi-can at least for his first fight, then start pitting him against the likes of Sam Stout.

An eventual ground battle w/Hermes Franca would be sick.

Adambomb · #5 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 12:15 PM

How about a re-match with Manny if his shoulder is healed? Manny was going to win that fight imo. Diaz didn't really impress me too much. He just caught guys in submissions. That's impressive if you're fighting top competition, but not against TUF caliber opponents. If they want to make him a star he's going to need to be brought along slowly.

The Natural994 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adambomb

How about a re-match with Manny if his shoulder is healed? Manny was going to win that fight imo. Diaz didn't really impress me too much. He just caught guys in submissions. That's impressive if you're fighting top competition, but not against TUF caliber opponents. If they want to make him a star he's going to need to be brought along slowly.

I agree. If he fights someone with good GnP he's in for a whooping imo. He seems very weak for a 155lbr. He's got a lot of sub skills but I think it can be over powered in his case.

archer0545 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 12:36 PM

I wanna see Nate go against Lauzon, now that would be a good fight! Thoughts?

liddell316 · #8 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlruthven84

They'll give him a semi-can at least for his first fight, then start pitting him against the likes of Sam Stout.

An eventual ground battle w/Hermes Franca would be sick.

He already fought Franca and lost, but it was a good fight until he Hermes got him with an armbar.

LethalStriker · #9 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 12:48 PM

I'm thinking Nate fights someone like Jeremy Stephens, Naoyuki Kotani, Junior Assuncao, Doug Evans or Nate Mohr.

pillow · #10 (**permalink**) 07-17-2007, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LethalStriker

Doug Evans

That would be most excellent, some good ground work.