Nate Diaz is undeniably one of the UFC’s most popular fighters, but the real question is whether his skills match his fierce reputation. Ben Askren, during his appearance on the Funky and the Champ show alongside Daniel Cormier, challenged the idea of Diaz being a highly skilled fighter. Askren, a renowned wrestler and former Bellator champion who recently returned after a serious illness, was not inclined to praise Diaz as a top-tier competitor.<\/p>\n
Both Cormier and Askren have multiple MMA world titles, yet Askren had some difficulties during his late, short UFC tenure. Diaz, despite winning The Ultimate Fighter and getting a title shot, never quite had the athletic edge to reach the sport’s elite level.<\/p>\n
Askren pointed out that Diaz\u2019s UFC record (16-11) and overall MMA record (21-13) reflect more of an average competitor than a dominating force. He acknowledged Diaz\u2019s popularity comes more from his personality and antics than his fighting prowess. Askren humorously warned Cormier against sharing this critique alone, fearing backlash from Diaz\u2019s fiercely loyal fanbase.<\/p>\n
Cormier seemed to agree that Diaz was decent inside the Octagon but not exceptional. Askren emphasized that Diaz\u2019s reputation might be inflated by his charismatic persona rather than his actual fighting results.<\/p>\n
Fan Take:<\/strong> This debate is pivotal for fight fans because it highlights the ongoing discussion about hype versus skill in MMA. Understanding where fighters truly stand sharpens appreciation for the sport\u2019s competitive nature and the personalities that keep it exciting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nate Diaz is undeniably one of the UFC’s most popular fighters, but the real question is whether his skills match his fierce reputation. Ben Askren, during his appearance on the Funky and the Champ show alongside Daniel Cormier, challenged the idea of Diaz being a highly skilled fighter. Askren, a renowned wrestler and former Bellator […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2443],"tags":[2444],"class_list":{"0":"post-37425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fighting","8":"tag-fighting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}