No one’s going to confuse the fighting styles of Nate Diaz and Floyd Mayweather anytime soon.
Although two-weight world champion Andre Ward admitted in 2014 that Nate Diaz could make it as a professional pugilist, he did not suggest the Stockton native was on Floyd Mayweather’s level. There are 49 individual pieces of evidence that prove no one is.
One of Diaz’s greatest weapons is his chin. The UFC star can take a serious amount of punishment and so far, the only strike to finish him was a seismic head kick from Josh Thomson that would have taken any normal human being’s head clean off. He’s able to eat a lot of shots, wade forward into the fire and let those beautiful combinations flow.
‘Money’, on the other hand, is not just a master, but the master of the defensive arts of boxing. So many knockout artists have entered the ring to try and piece him up without being able to land any haymakers whatsoever.
What they do have in common, according to ESPN’s Sport Science, is their power. According to the show, Floyd Mayweather’s average power punches are thrown with the force of 814 lbs. He’s not too far behind Nate Diaz, who, on average, throws with 820 lbf.
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We cannot forget what happened in the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 5, 2016. That was the night Diaz shocked the world and handed McGregor his first UFC loss before giving the greatest victory speech in MMA history.
Although the finish was a submission, Diaz beat his adversary down to the mat with his hands. He even locked in that rear-naked choke by literally punching McGregor’s dome into position.
There has been much debate over how this upset win came to pass. The cognoscenti have referenced the last minute replacement aspect, the weight class, McGregor’s cardio and even lingering injuries as possible factors that contributed to the result.
What is undeniable though is that Diaz’s strikes led to the end of the fight, and Mayweather’s able to pack a punch with similar power.
We’ll have to wait and see if Mayweather can use his power to put ‘the Notorious’ away once they square off inside the ring on August 26.
