Masvidal vs Diaz in boxing: Less crap than I thought it would be... but still crap

Just yesterday I wrote about my disdain for MMA fighters past their prime attempting to cash in on the latest craze of doing boxing matches against other people who are also not boxers and end up making a ton of money in the process.

I am a fan of boxing, but prefer MMA and it is purely because of the stranglehold that UFC has on paychecks that stuff like this is happening and also very lucrative to all those involved. I think that this transition to exhibition matches instead of focusing on who the actual best boxers in the world is a detriment not just to boxing but to combat sports in general.

That being said, the fight was more entertaining that I thought it would be, but only just.

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My money was on Diaz from the start mainly because he has NEVER gassed out and seems to have cardio for days. He also has the genetic equivalent of an iron chin and is basically impossible to knock out.

This started to become at least slightly evident about halfway through the 10 rounds when Masvidal was taking deep breaths in his corner between rounds but Diaz on the other hand was just clowning half of the time.

They threw a massive amount of punches and I wouldn't have like to be the guy that had to count those as they came in at around 1400 combined punches. Don't get excited though, most of those punches were tippy-taps the likes of which have never hurt anyone in the history of combat sports. There was a few shining moments but for the most part Masvidal covered up and looked for counter-attacks - many of which he landed - while Diaz just continued to walk Jorge down for the entire fight. I don't think Diaz took a step back the entire time and of course I am exaggerating here.

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The forays weren't all terrible though and three was a limited amount of hugging to break up the action as well. As an observer though, this looked like exactly what it was: Two people who are not boxers getting involved in a boxing match.

There are no official tabs on how many pay-per-views were sold at $50 a pop, but I would imagine there were several million globally. The undercards were irrelevant (to me) to the point that I didn't even go to the bar where it was taking place until a friend of mine that owns the joint told me that the main event would be starting in about 20 minutes or so. This has a lot to do with the fact that I drink faster when I am bored, and since there were a staggering 11 fights on the undercard, would have been asleep on the bar by the time the main event happened had I got there at the starting bell.

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So the fight was a lot less terrible than I thought it would be that doesn't mean it was good and when Diaz starts talking about a "rematch" with Masvidal I said "give me an effing break" while sitting with my friends. Nate is clearly chasing more money now and since he now owns a fighting promotion he is likely going to be doing even more of these. He also said that he would be open to a 3rd installment vs Conor McGregor which of course, would be a big money fight as well.

At 39 years old, Nate, as much as I like him, doesn't have a tremendous amount of options available to him as far as genuine championship ambitions are concerned, and Masvidal? well, he has even fewer. After getting a very lucrative contract with UFC he went on a 4-fight losing streak and is likely trying to scrap together what little remains of his notoriety from the "fastest KO in UFC history" that happened vs another non-boxer who does boxing, Ben Askrin.

I would tell you to look up the highlights of this fight rather than watch the full fight but honestly, it isn't really worth it. This was reasonably entertaining, but if we were to put either one of these guys in the ring with a top 50 actual boxer, they would get absolutely destroyed.