BruceHartman.net

I haven’t been too impressed with the fighters this season. Nate Diaz is the exception.

Manny Gamburyan’s skills are nowhere near those of his cousin, Karo Parisyan, and honestly, I’m not sure how he made it to the final. He never dominated a fight in the classic sense. Sure, he won, but not because he did anything (excepting his first fight which ended with a kimura). Taking someone to the ground, and then laying on them for the entire fight is not what MMA is about. Admittedly, the ref can be partly to blame… I found myself yelling at the tv for the ref to stand the fighters up quite often. I only wish he had Karo’s skill… Parisyan’s judo is a thing of beauty.

Diaz, on the other hand is a scrapper. His fights on the show started kind of rough (mostly featuring him fight round one from his back), but he eventually overcomes to submit his opponents in round two. His brother’s influence is clear… Nate has heavy hands and solid jiu jitsu.

I’m not too sure how fair it was to the rest of the fighters that Karo showed up to train Manny. No other fighters were allowed the opportunity to have family members come to camp. The point of sequestration is that all of the fighters are on an even playing field without the distraction (or advantage) of outside involvement. I think it was a poor decision by the producers (I assume Dana White signed off on it). Why not allow Nick Diaz to help his brother Nate? Also, the drama between Diaz and Parisyan in episode 11 should have been shut down immediately… another poor decision by the producers.

The final could be interesting, providing Diaz a chance to avenge his brother’s loss to Parisyan by defeating Gamburyan. My money is confidently on Nate Diaz to stay true to form: a rough first round followed by a submission in round two.