Diego is going to get fucked

[Guest Brian]

Or so I hope. And then Karo can get his title shot against GSP. The Article:

 

Spike TV and Zuffa have scheduled an Ultimate Fight Night event for Thursday, August 17th with the main event of Karo Parisyan vs. Diego Sanchez.

 

MMAWeekly's Rumors section previously noted that Parisyan and Sanchez were going to be fighting in August, and that fight has now been moved from the UFC 62 pay-per-view (on August 26th) to the Ultimate Fight Night broadcast on August 17th.

 

The date of the Parisyan vs. Sanchez fight, and the fact that the fight is scheduled to happen in the first place, has also been confirmed by a graphic on Diego Sanchez' official web site.

 

The August 17th live fight special will air from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM and will serve as the lead-in to the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback.

 

After the strong ratings that were drawn when a live "Ultimate Fight Night" event served as the lead-in to the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 3 back in April, it only makes sense that Spike TV and Zuffa are doing it again.

 

All of the UFC's previous live fight specials, as well as the upcoming specials on June 24th and 28th, have taken place in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, as of today, Zuffa has not made a request with the Nevada State Athletic Commission to hold an event in the state of Nevada on August 17th. This could mean that Zuffa is planning to venture outside of Nevada for the first time on Spike TV, or it could simply mean that Zuffa has not yet secured a venue for August 17th in the state of Nevada.

 

Karo Parisyan had been publicly promised a shot at the UFC Welterweight Title after he won three consecutive fights in the UFC, which were against Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle, and Matt Serra. Parisyan was scheduled to fight for the title against Matt Hughes last November, but Parisyan injured his quadriceps in training and had to pull out of the fight. Parisyan seemingly lost his status as a top contender due to the fact that he got injured, as his next fight in the Octagon was a victory over Nick Thompson, who was making his UFC debut.

 

After winning the middleweight competition in dominant fashion on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, Diego Sanchez moved to the welterweight division, where he won back-to-back fights with impressive performances against Brian Gassaway and Nick Diaz. The latter is one of the most-watched fights in UFC history, as it was the main event on the UFC's most-watched live fight special in history. Last week at UFC 60, Sanchez won a close fight via judges' decision over John Alessio.

 

While it's rumored that BJ Penn believes he should get the first title shot against the winner of this fall's battle between Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Title, one could certainly make the case that the winner of the Parisyan vs. Sanchez fight should receive that distinction instead.

[starvenger 0]

I think Karo will win this, but he could get in trouble (i.e. lose) if he tries to bang with Diego. Diego doesn't have strong KO power, but like Karo he's a free swinger, so a lucky punch could stagger Karo and turn the tide.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Karo's taken shots from better strikers then Diego, I'm not too worried about him getting dropped.

 

But goddamn if this isn't a "Pick 'em" if I ever saw one. It'll be interesting to see if Karo can take Diego down as it hasn't happened much in Diego's UFC career, if at all. I don't think Karo will be able to stop the takedown like Allessio did but a big hole in Diego's game was exposed at 60 and hopefully Karo will be able to make something of it.

 

Nice to see UFC starting to give half a shit about the UFN's, finally. I imagine we'll be seeing the winners of TUFIII on this card as well and probably a few others.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

All 3 of Karos losses have come from strong wrestlers who took him down and grinded him out (Sherk 2x, GSP). I see Diego doing the same thing. Some will point to the Alessio fight to show how poor Diegos takedowns are, but Karo doesn't fight like Alessio - Karo will engage Diego which will make the takedowns easier. Plus, Karo got taken down by Nick Diaz, it shouldn't be hard for Sanchez to. Also, Sanchez has a better gas tank than Parisyan, and his sub defense is very good, which means Diego could possibly out-work Karo in the first two rounds and maybe even finish him in the third, and even if he doesn't finish, the work he did will get him the decision.

[Guest Brian]

They should just up and make this a number one contender fight. Karo hasn't fought Hughes yet, and GSP is still a relatively fresh fight (Their last fight was almost two-and-a-half years ago), and Diego has never matched up with either. If Hughes loses, I say throw the winner in with GSP, and let Hughes battle out Penn, and the loser can go off and fight the winner of TUF 4 (DIAZ~!) or something.

 

Anyways, Karo's going to present a ton of problems in this fight. I want to see some motherfuckin' Karo ground and pound. I want to see him sprawl, clinch, and toss Diego like a rag doll. I think Diego's submission gam is much overrated as he mostly just him powering through guys rather than skill (armbars from the mount and rear naked choke, much like Hughes does).

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Diego's extensive submission grappling resume tells me that skill has a lot to do with it. He's underrated because he's retarded.

[Guest Brian]

Diego's extensive submission grappling resume tells me that skill has a lot to do with it. He's underrated because he's retarded.

 

So he's underrated by his own fault?

 

I don't doubt that he's better than he's shown in a submission setting, because I have seen a couple of his matches, but transitioning that into MMA is a different beast as far as he's concerned. He's seems to rely more on his wrestling and power in that setting.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

No, he's not underrated by his own fault. A lot of people don't give him credit because he acts like a retard. That's what I'm saying.

 

I understand Sub Grappling is different than MMA subs (hello Matt Serra) but that's still a good indicator of whether he simply runs through guys or he is more slick. The thing with Diego is that he CAN run through people, but if he can't, he relies on skills. You say Diego relies on powering out armbars and submissions, and you wanna talk about proving your submissions in MMA, how many guys has Karo submitted on the big stage? The ugliest man in MMA is like a poor man's Dave Menne (whose not a star in his own right). Karo has overpowered his opponents just as much as Diego if not moreso. In fact, I'd say Karo relies more on his physicality than Diego, proof of this is that Karo hasn't really shown much off of his back and really tends to get beat on by guys stronger than him, especially wrestlers. All of his wins have come when he's used his superior strength to manhandle guys. They're both slick, don't get me wrong, but whenever Karo runs into someone bigger than he he gets manhandled. Diego's guard in MMA has proven to be more offensive, even when dealing with bigger guys. His guard is more effective than Karo's in my opinion.

 

Karo squeaked by Diaz, and almost was caught in a kimura, while Diego almost caught Diaz in an armbar, and beat him handily. Their one common opponent last time I checked, I could be wrong though.

 

I still would pick Karo (and this is a pick'em), based on his superior clinch game and his ability to work on top, however I think it's wrong to say that Diego's ground game is more reliant on power than Karo's is, for the reasons stated above. If anything, the fact that Diego is more capable off of his back than Karo might be the deciding factor, as they're both bound to end up there one way or another. Karo's got a shitty sprawl.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I also have to disagree about Matt Hughes only powering out submissions, but that's a whole other argument. It basically boils down to how I'm not gonna fault him for bringing up his physical gifts to match the amount of technique he has.

[Guest Big_Jay101]

Supposedly Diego threw his back out in that last fight is why his takedowns were horrible.... but I see this being like the Diaz fight buildup wise, nobody gives Diego a shot and then Bam he suprises us or proves us wrong.

[Lei Tong 0]

Diego's takedowns are usually pretty mediocre anyways. He's just so aggressive and relentless with them that they eventually work.

[Guest Brian]

Supposedly Diego threw his back out in that last fight is why his takedowns were horrible.... but I see this being like the Diaz fight buildup wise, nobody gives Diego a shot and then Bam he suprises us or proves us wrong.

 

Based on the Sherk fight, the Diego fight was Nick's to lose and, like he tends to do, just gameplanned it wrong.