UFC lightweight fighter Nate Diaz was very diappointed with his performance during his TUF 9 Finale fight against Joe “Daddy” Stevenson this past Saturday night. Although Diaz admits that Stevenson is a “tough dude”, he still felt that he could have won if it weren’t for some of his careless mistakes. The fight was mostly controlled by Stevenson as he dominated Diaz with his wrestling skills. Diaz was able to get back to his feet during the 3-round grappling battle, but Stevenson looked way too strong that night as he collected points with numerous takedowns. Diaz was defeated by Stevenson via a unanimous decision and here’s what he had to say:
“Joe’s a good dude, a tough fighter. I did some things I shouldn’t have did, I shoulda pushed off and played a little smarter game … I felt kinda discouraged when I hit my back in the first round, just didn’t seem like it was goin’ so good. I shoulda just changed things up a little, pushed him off me and maybe not tried to have grappled him so much. I knew he was gonna try and lay there and hold. I figured the smartest gameplan for him or anybody else out there would be to hold me there and not do anything. When he was holding me I didn’t feel too motivated about getting up. I’m kinda disappointed because my brother just won and I lost, but I feel more like I just lost a 15-minute grappling match than I did a fight. It sucks.”
