My Review and Judging of Condit vs. Diaz (Personal Opinion)

Ok, so I thought I’d re-watch Condit vs. Diaz and try to dissect the fight since there was so much controversy in the decision.  Before I go round by round here are the striking stats from the fight as taken from Fight Metric:

Overall strikes:
Condit: 159 
Diaz: 117
Significant strikes:
Condit: 151
Diaz: 105
Round 1: Condit 30 (28 significant strikes), Diaz 28 (23)
Round 2: Condit 29 (29), Diaz 35 (32)
Round 3: Condit 33 (32), Diaz 24 (22)
Round 4: Condit 37 (36), Diaz 11 (11) 
Round 5: Condit 30 (25), Diaz 19 (17) 

Fight Metric overall score: Condit 306, Diaz 274

And here is what the judges will judge in each round:

Effect Striking

Effective Grappling

Aggressiveness

Octagon Control

Damage

So I’m going to rewatch the fight and state MY OPINION and see how I would score each round.  I will report each round as I watch it and not watch the whole fight at once, ok so here we go…

Round 1:

Striking: for all the striking scoring I am going to refer to the statistics.  Also the argument can be made that a head shot is valued more than a leg kick; however, there is no official ruling stating this point so I am going to count any strike (leg, body head) of equal value. Condit (30, with 28 significant strikes) Diaz (28 with 23 significant strikes) Condit wins striking.

Grappling: There was none in this round so N/A

Aggressiveness: No here is where my opinion comes into play.  Diaz continuously walked forward to engage in the round; however Condit threw more strikes.  In my opinion I feel that someone who is trying to punch and kick you is a greater sign of aggression than if someone is walking towards you, So for this and the other rounds my points for aggression will go towards the person that throws the most strikes and Condit threw 30 strikes compared to Diaz’s 28, very close but advantage Condit.

Octagon Control: Diaz continuously was walking Condit back forcing him to the fence where his strength is; however he never pinned Condit against the cage, but also Condit never escaped from a bad position, which I remember he does in the fight so advantage Diaz for implementing the control.

Damage: No fighter appeared hurt or marked up so little to no damage was implemented by each fighter so N/A is this category, each will say they hurt the other more; however as an observer there is no distinguishing way to tell who received more damage.

Close round with Condit winning 2/3 of the three judging criteria (Grappling N/A Damage N/A)) I score it Condit 10-9

Round 2:

Striking: again going with the stats with a particular strike to a particular area not having more significant value than another, Condit (29, with 29 significant) Diaz (35 with 32 significant) Striking goes to Diaz.

Grappling: N/A

Aggression: as said before IMO I’m basing aggression on who throws more, not who walks forward, in this case Diaz threw more, aggression goes to Diaz.

Octagon Control: In this round Diaz pinned Condit against the cage; however, Condit circled out took the centre and re engaged, it was evident at this point this was Condit’s strategy to have the fight in middle and not against the cage and that is where the majority of the round took place, advantage in Octagon control, Condit.

Damage: again no visible signs of damage seen and no fighter show’d they were ever hurt, no wincing when hit. Damage N/A

So for this round Diaz takes 2/3 judging criteria that were visible, Round 2 Diaz 10-9

Round 3:

Striking: Condit (33 with 32 significant) Diaz (24 with 22 signifact) striking goes to Condit.

Grappling: N/A

Aggression: Condit threw more therefore IMO Condit wins aggression

Octagon Control: Diaz continues to push forward and when Condit is against the cage he circles out and takes the centre and re-engages.  It is now solidified at this point this is Condit’s game plan to control where the fight takes place and it is working for him, Diaz’s attempts to push Condit against the cage and hold him there are not working. Octagon control goes to Condit.

Damage: First time there is visible swelling under Diaz’s right eye which requires cold compress, slight damage, but damage none the less, so if I had to award damage in this round, it would go to Condit

Condit wins 4/4 judging criteria that were visible, but by very slight margins, round 3 Condit 10-9

Round 4:

Striking: Condit (37 with 36 significant strikes) Diaz (11 with 11 significant) It was very easy to see this round was more decisively in favour of Condit than the previous 3. Striking goes to Condit.

Grappling: First time in the fight a real grappling encounter occurred.  There were 2 takedown attempts by Diaz that Condit appeared to easily stuff and he was able to disengage, Condit’s defense was stronger than Diaz’s offence, advantage goes to Condit in the grappling.

Aggression: Condit threw a significant amount more strikes than Diaz did in this round.

Octagon Control: Condit continues to work his stick and move game plan, avoiding being push against the cage by Diaz and retaking the centre and immediately re-engaging. Octagon control goes to Condit.

Damage: Diaz now appears to have a red steak down his lower right cheek, not very significant but new from the previous round, if an advantage should be given for damage inflicted in this round it would be Condit, however, it appears to be very minimal and more of a sign of mat rash, so I won’t award points for damage done.

Condit takes 4/4 Judging criteria that were judged, with the damage that was inflicted being very insignificant.

Round 4 goes to Condit 10-9

Round 5:

Striking Condit (30 with 25 significant) Diaz (19 with 17 significant) advantage Condit

Grappling: VERY SIGNIFICANT moment in grappling, Diaz gets Condit on the ground with back control.  This is the first time either fighter has been in a real dangerous position of possibly being submitted. Diaz tried to get the choke but never locked an arm under the chin and when he switched to the armbar Condit immediately slipped out never having his arm trapped.  A very significant moment in the round, but due to no submission being locked in requiring an escape, and a total time of 1:20 being spent on the ground I don’t believe and again IMO, that this ground exchange warrants rewarding an entire round to Diaz; however Diaz definitely wins the grappling category in round 5.

Aggression: Condit again threw more strikes while the fight was standing (total of 3:40) while Diaz was the aggressor on the ground for (1:20) so for aggression since Condit was more aggressive for a longer period of time, Condit wins aggression

Octagon Control: I will reward Diaz with control in this round.  While I previously stated Condit was implementing his game plan on his feet for (3:40) Diaz gained the only advantageous position of the fight and a very dangerous one at that.

Damage: Not a lot of damage is really visible on any fighter; however, we see the first sign of weakening in a fighter.  Condit lands a leg kick that slightly buckles Diaz’s leg, not incredibly significant; however it is a new sign of damage that had not been seen before in the fight, so I would reward Condit with inflicting more damage.

Condit takes 3/5 judging criteria therefore awarding him the round 10-9.

Condit wins the fight 49-46 with Diaz only winning round 2 with a score of 10-9.

So there you have it, my interpretation of the fight and how I would score it after re-watching it.  I tried to be unbiased in my scoring, and tried to explain my definitions of aggression and Octagon control.  Again, I personally feel that if someone is throwing strikes at you, that is a greater sign of aggression than someone walking towards you.  And my definition of Octagon control is based on who decided where the fight took place, not necessarily the person walking forward or backward.  Hope you enjoyed the postr and feel free to send feedback, either on here or on twitter (@mikeyhol) Thanks for reading!