The Trenches Ep. 47 Poll: Are you glad Nate Diaz is back?

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Sherdog Main Page writers Ant Walker and Jason Burgos want to talk things over and answer your questions on a Live Video Chat series titled "The Trenches," airing WEDNESDAY at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT.

We also want your thoughts on a poll posted in this thread, with this week's poll question asking the following:

Are you glad Nate Diaz is back?

Chime in on the conversation by voting in our poll or posting any fight questions you have.

Ant holds over 15 years of martial arts experience, training in multiple styles including Boxing, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Kung Fu and Krav Maga, and also coached amateur MMA fighters. A former Sherdog Radio Network personality and current contributor to Sherdog.com, this self-described "gym rat" seeks to impart his knowledge and discuss all things MMA with his fellow community members.

A journalist by trade, Jason has also co-hosted and produced multiple podcasts (including the "Fight Strength Podcast" with American Top Team trainer Phil Daru) over the years. He has contributed for several publications, and was a Senior Editor for MMASucka.com before landing at Sherdog. Along with his plethora of articles based on his exclusive interviews, Jason frequently covers live events for the site, chronicling the happenings with his growing photographic talents.


The Trenches Episodes:

Spoiler

The Trenches, Episode 46: Low Funds and Odd Tactics
The Trenches, Episode 45: Make Subtitles Great Again
The Trenches, Episode 44: The Answer to Aging
The Trenches, Episode 43: California Cringe
The Trenches, Episode 42: Whole Foods is Super Necessary
The Trenches, Episode 41: Lineker's Independence Day
The Trenches, Episode 40: Innocent Until Proven Interim
The Trenches, Episode 39: The Episode That Shall Never Be
The Trenches, Episode 38: Cruising to a Co-Promoted Snake Whipping
The Trenches, Episode 37: Just BeClause
The Trenches, Episode 36: Vulgar Display of Chatri
The Trenches, Episode 35: One for the Old Guys
The Trenches, Episode 34: UFC 237 vs. Bellator 221
The Trenches, Episode 33: ONE and Done
The Trenches, Episode 32: UFC vs. Bellator vs. The Avengers
The Trenches, Episode 31: Number One Contender Belts
The Trenches, Episode 30: Fall From Grace
The Trenches, Episode 29: ONE of a Kind Show
The Trenches, Episode 28: Mexican Wrestling Cain
The Trenches, Episode 27: 3 Piece and Soda
The Trenches, Episode 26: Conor McGregor vs. The Phone
The Trenches, Episode 25: BJ Penn's Legacy
The Trenches, Episode 24: UFC 235
The Trenches, Episode 23: The Retirement of GSP
The Trenches, Episode 22: UFC vs. Bellator Doubleheader
The Trenches, Episode 21: Adesanya vs. Silva
The Trenches, Episode 20: The Licensing of Jon Jones
The Trenches, Episode 19: The NSAC Hearings
The Trenches, Episode 18: UFC Brooklyn
The Trenches, Episode 17: Welterweights and Title Shots
The Trenches, Episode 16: Looking Ahead in 2019
The Trenches, Episode 15: The UFC 232 Debacle
The Trenches, Episode 14: UFC returns to Milwaukee
The Trenches, Episode 13: The GOAT Featherweight
The Trenches, Episode 12: Greg Hardy and Rachael Ostovich
The Trenches, Episode 11: Anderson Silva vs. The Next Anderson Silva
The Trenches, Episode 10: Golden Boy MMA
The Trenches, Episode 9: What's next for Conor?
The Trenches, Episode 8: The death of the Flyweight division
The Trenches, Episode 7: Cormier defends against Lewis
The Trenches, Episode 6: The Trade
The Trenches, Episode 5: Eddie Leaves the UFC
The Trenches, Episode 4: UFC 229 Brawl
The Trenches, Episode 3: Leading up to UFC 229
The Trenches, Episode 2: The Rise of Gegard Mousasi
The Trenches, Episode 1: UFC 229 Presser

Ask Ant Articles:

Spoiler

Ask Ant 8/19: The Finances of Fisticuffs Edition
Ask Ant 8/10: The Liars and Crooks Edition
Ask Ant 8/4: The Europe1 Edition
Ask Ant 7/27: The Tragedy and Transcendence Edition
Ask Ant 7/21: The Rumor, Libel and Slander Edition
Ask Ant 7/14: The Let's Not Get Ahead Of Ourselves Edition
Ask Ant 7/5: The Conceive, Believe, Achieve Edition
Ask Ant 6/29: The 12-to-6 Elbows Edition
Ask Ant 6/21: The Unprotected Knuckles and Exposed Prospects Edition
Ask Ant 6/15: The Style vs. Style Edition
Ask Ant 6/7: The Chubby Champs and Fat Fat Stacks Edition
Ask Ant 5/31: The $27.45 Million Question Edition
Ask Ant 5/17: The Senior Circuit Edition
Ask Ant 5/4: The 'Strictly for the Hardcores' Edition
Ask Ant 4/20: The 'Where's the Beef' Edition
Ask Ant 4/12: The 'You Should Have Seen The Other Guy's Face' Edition
Ask Ant 3/30: The Masked Cain Edition
Ask Ant 3/22: The Cord Cutting and Fence Grabbing Edition
Ask Ant 3/16: The Whole Picture Edition
Ask Ant 3/9: The Whiskey Warriors Edition
Ask Ant 3/1: Pulsing, Picograms and PFL Edition
Ask Ant 2/23: Farewell to GSP Edition
Ask Ant 2/16: UFC on ESPN 1 Edition
Ask Ant 2/8: UFC 234 Edition
Ask Ant 2/2
Ask Ant 1/18
Ask Ant 1/12
Ask Ant 1/5

2018
Ask Ant 12/28: UFC 232 Edition
Ask Ant 12/14
Ask Ant 12/7
Ask Ant 11/30
Ask Ant 11/16
Ask Ant 11/9
Ask Ant 11/2: UFC 230 Edition
Ask Ant 10/26: MMA Trade Edition
Ask Ant 10/19
Ask Ant 10/12
Ask Ant 10/5
Ask Ant 9/27
Ask Ant 9/21
Ask Ant 9/14

Thank you, and please be respectful. We appreciate it.

 

We saw two very experienced fighters (DC, Yoel) lose this weekend that used unorthodox striking get soundly beat by their opponents. Previously, these unorthodox methods would be fairly dominant. Is this an example of how our sports evolving? Is this the official passing of the torch for Yoel and DC, or do you expect one (or both) of them to make comebacks?

 

Here’s another one for you! Look forward to your take on this.

We saw a very controversial end to the prelims this weekend. In smith vs worthy, both guys were feeling each other out for awhile. As joe rogan hinted right before a flush knock out was landed, he thought it was because these guys knew they could knock each other out. The crowd intervened and began booing the fighters to commit more to the fight, and the corner yells at smith to engage, just a few seconds later we see smith edge closer and get instantly flush ko’d.

My question: do you think this is why the ufc traditionally avoids pairing fights in which fighters train together? Why wouldn’t they have done that for this fight? Finally, this was clearly a case of audience interference in a fight. What can be done to prevent this? Or do you feel that it’s simply a pet of the game and smith needs to learn to block out the “haters”

 

We can definitely get behind this question.

 

There’s no way that’s a fight night card. At the very least that’s a co main to a title fight

 

It's gotta be a PPV at this point. One of the few non-title fights that would sell nowadays.

 

The only real reason I can think he feels it’s needed is for the promos. The thing is I doubt casuals would even notice if someone who wasn’t a champion headlined a card

 

I agree, I think the personality and presence would sell more than a stupid 10-pound morphin' belt.

 

That’s why I’m opposed to interims that feel forced. Like the Dustin poirer one was totally just for the sake of having the headline of champ vs champ.

Especially now that all headlines are 5 rounds it feels pointless

 

Interims are usually pretty forced, as a desperation move to sell more PPVs. Now, it's barely a glorified number one contender belt, if anything.

 

Exactly, and honestly I think it complicates the landscape for casuals. My girlfriend I a great read on casuals cause she just sometimes asks what’s going on when I’m really into a fight, or asks about events and will watch the cards if I have friends over. And she gets incredibly confused by the interim titles. She’ll pretty much just say “I don’t get why you wouldn’t just take the title from the guy who had it if he can’t fight” lol.

 

I think it makes more sense. Casuals DO NOT follow the history of multiple belts in the same division.

 

Any more questions for the guys?

 

I’ll throw one more in there


We saw a lot of penalties go unpunished this weekend. Groin strikes, eye pokes, dirty tricks. Do you think the UFC needs to take an aggressive approach to solve this issue?