Nate Diaz dominated Rory Markham with a very impressive striking display, winning by first-round TKO Saturday night at UFC 111.
Diaz was fast and furious throwing punches from the start, and a couple minutes into the fight he dropped Markham with a hard knee. After that he locked Markham up on the ground with a body triangle, and from there he simply rained down the punches until the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
Diaz has fought at lightweight in the past and was moving up to welterweight for the first time, and he looked great. Markham, who is coming off a knee injury and was fighting for the first time in more than a year, came in overweight, weighing 177 -- but despite that size advantage, Diaz manhandled him.
"I'm only like 175 today but the weight class was easy to make," Diaz said afterward. "I train with big guys -- Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez."
The UFC might not be happy that Diaz thanked three Strikeforce fighters, but the UFC has to be happy with the way Diaz fought on Saturday night. It was an impressive showing.
Diaz improved his professional MMA record to 12-5. Markham falls to 16-6.
Diaz was fast and furious throwing punches from the start, and a couple minutes into the fight he dropped Markham with a hard knee. After that he locked Markham up on the ground with a body triangle, and from there he simply rained down the punches until the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
Diaz has fought at lightweight in the past and was moving up to welterweight for the first time, and he looked great. Markham, who is coming off a knee injury and was fighting for the first time in more than a year, came in overweight, weighing 177 -- but despite that size advantage, Diaz manhandled him.
"I'm only like 175 today but the weight class was easy to make," Diaz said afterward. "I train with big guys -- Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez."
The UFC might not be happy that Diaz thanked three Strikeforce fighters, but the UFC has to be happy with the way Diaz fought on Saturday night. It was an impressive showing.
Diaz improved his professional MMA record to 12-5. Markham falls to 16-6.
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