On Friday, November 2, 2019, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be making their 500th live event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York for UFC 244.
Headlining the event will be a welterweight bout between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz for the newly created ‘Baddest Motherf*cker’ in the game belt.
After a three-year hiatus, Nate Diaz returned on August 17th, 2019 at UFC 241, with a winning performance over Anthony Pettis reminding us (those that needed reminding), why he is regarded already as one of the ‘Baddest Motherf*ckers’ in this sport by hardcore fans.
Watching cage side was Jorge Masvidal, who by all accounts wasn’t that impressed with Nate’s performance, so when Nate called out Jorge, it was music to his ears.
Coming off a five-second win via knockout of Ben Askren, Jorge Masvidal has of late been surging through the welterweight division this year with back to back violent knockout wins, and in the process, gaining more casual MMA fans due to his aggressive winning style.
The fans and the whole MMA community were begging for this matchup to be made, and to everyone’s delight, it was confirmed that Nate Diaz would face Jorge Masvidal for the Baddest Motherf*cker belt on November 2nd, 2019 at Madison Square Garden.
With both men having similar losing records Diaz (20 wins), 11 losses, one knockout, one submission, nine decisions, and Masvidal (34 wins) 13 losses, one knockout, two submissions and ten decisions, it comes down to who is the real BMF in this sport.
Although some fans will see this fight as a submission artist in Diaz, having had 11 of his wins come via submission, and knockout artist Masvidal having had 15 of wins come via knockout – a grappler vs striker fight, this couldn’t be further than what it seems on paper.
With official early betting odds coming in as Jorge Masvidal being the favourite over Nate Diaz, with odds ranging from -165 to -179, as stated by Sascha P from Sports Betting Dime, it was only fair that I asked a few other people who they thought would win the BMF belt.
“The American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar – TUF 1 finalist and UFC Hall of Famer says:
“I’m leaning on Masvidal because he’s been wrecking guys.”
Matt Bailey – The MMA Bible and superfan says:
“Masvidal has shown explosive skills recently, however, I feel Diaz will be all too familiar with this, opting to keep distance early on but will close the distance as the fight goes on. I expect this to be a stand-up affair but feel that Diaz will look to turn to his grappling in the latter stages of the fight, and it may well hit the canvas. I’m expecting a lot of clinching and cage work in this fight with Diaz getting the better of Masvidal in these exchanges. Both fighters have exceptional stand-up skills in which I see it being a very fast-paced chess match style. With all of the above said my official prediction is – Nate Diaz via decision.”
Mark Baldwin of FightPost says:
“It’s a difficult fight to pick a winner. Masvidal, after a career slump, is riding into this fight after highlight-reel knockouts of Darren Till and Ben Askren. Masvidal is on the verge of a title shot. A win over Diaz should give him that chance sometime in 2020. The odds slightly favour Masvidal, and that’s the way I see it also. There is every chance Diaz could be too busy, and for me, he has more ways to win. But I think Masvidal gets it done, probably on points, although a late stoppage in his favour can’t be ruled out.”
And as for me, well, if Masvidal can get it done within three rounds he can win, otherwise, as Nate is known as a slow starter and comes alive more as the rounds go on, I see Nate taking it over the five rounds and wins via decision.
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Five Rounds with Emma 