UFC Fight Night Wednesday – Nate Diaz to Make a Name for Himself?
BetUS Sportsbook bettors who love mixed martial arts will have their eyes on Spike TV on Wednesday night (September 17) when Nick Diaz, the former TUF champion, will take on the more experienced Josh Neer in a UFC Fight Night special that is scheduled for three five-minute rounds from the Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska.
UFC Fight Night
September 17 — Omaha
Lightweights
NATE DIAZ -200
JOSH NEER +150
For betting purposes, let’s size up the contestants:
DIAZ (9-2, 2 KO’s), the -200 favorite in the BetUS UFC betting odds, is the brother of the more well-known Nick Diaz, who currently competes in Elite XC. He got into mixed martial arts while going to the gym with his brother, who was an active fighter at the time. Diaz was trained in Gracie Ju-Jitsu, named for the Gracie family, the sport’s dominant clan from its outset. He went pro in October of 2004 with a win in WEC over Alex Garcia. He is best known as the lightweight champion in the Ultimate Fighter 5, where he won in the finals when Manvel Gamburyan could not continue due to a shoulder injury. He is now on a four-fight winning streak, and in his last fight, back on April 2, he scored a submission over Kurt Pellegrino. Now that he is fighting in the UFC, he may achieve a level of notoriety that eclipses his brother, if he hasn’t already.
NEER (21-6-1, 9 KO’s), the +150 underdog at BetUS, is a product of the famed Miletich camp in Bettendorf, Iowa. He fought quite a bit as an amateur, which makes him kind of unusual among mixed martial artists. He became a pro in March of 2003 when he took out Josh Kennedy in the first round. He is the former Xtreme Kage Kombat welterweight champion, but went into the UFC in 2006. Later that year he suffered back-to-back losses to Josh Burkman and Nate Diaz’s brother Nick (who submitted him). Neer has lost only once in eight fights since – an IFL fight to Mark Miller last May. In his last effort, he scored a unanimous decision over Din Thomas on the same April 2 card on which Nate Diaz last fought. Nicknamed “The Dentist.”
Both of these guys don’t mind being in the standup position, though one might perceive that Diaz may have something of an edge in the ground game, with his jiu-jitsu skills. Neer certainly brings the edge in experience, though, and he is a versatile fighter, which is illustrated by his record, which shows nine wins by knockout and nine wins by submission.
Diaz, of course, couldn’t possibly find a better source to get a scouting report – his own brother, who as we mentioned scored a submission win over Neer a couple of years ago. Neer will want to stand up and dole out some punishment with his hands and some Thai boxing technique. The feeling here, though, is that this fight is going to eventually get to the canvas, and when it does, Nate Diaz is going to get the job done with a submission.
So even though we can get a price with the more experienced fighter, we’ll go with the guy who can bring the best superlatives to the table. That’s Diaz, the -200 favorite in the BetUS UFC betting odds.
