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Was BJ right is Diego an over achiever ?

4K views 55 replies 32 participants last post by  Mckeever 
#1 ·
On the countdown show BJ said Diego is an overachiever who has gotten further than he should have because he is mentally tough.

I never thought of it that way but really, I agree. I mean Diego has mediocre at best striking which is only effective because of his solid jaw and rapid pace, his wrestling is average, his BJJ is above average but far from great.

So what does everyone else think?
 
#2 ·
Yeah I agree. And it was interesting that he's never been in a 5 round match. I was thinking, if it goes to round 5 perhaps Diego would have the advantage.

But now I'm thinking, Penn is 10000x better at pacing himself and if it goes to the late rounds I give it to Penn now. And Florian's BJJ >>>>> Diego's BJJ, and Florian's striking is technically much better as well.



I simply see no way that Diego could possibly win this.
 
#3 ·
Diego is an over achiever. And all he really has for BJ is his mental toughness. In reality, Diego's skills are decent, at best. They just look so great because of his fast pace and great conditioning. Take away his aggressiveness and his talent is barely mid-level competitor. BJ will put Diego's overachieving to an end.
 
#7 ·
Being mentally tough doesn't make you an over achiever. Many fighters would love to be mentally tough like Diego. Being that tough mentally does a lot more for a fighter then slightly better skill.

I think Diego is going to take this. I just have this feeling that BJ is going to gas or that Diego somehow is going to mentally beat him like GSP did.
 
#15 ·
I'm not sure if you can really say Diego is an overachiever. He beat all the guys he was suppose to beat. He hasn't done anything that wasn't really expected of him imo.

However I do think that BJ's skill, athleticism and technique is at a level higher than Diego. So I guess if he does beat bj he would have overachieved.
 
#16 ·
Similar can be argued against BJ Penn. He's a lazy fighter who has gotten farther than he should have based on his talent. See what I did there?

How can you blast someone for working hard? Diego's mental toughness is as much a skillset as BJ's ability to learn technique at a faster level. It will all depends whose skillset will take them further. I personally think Diego is way focused right now and will break BJ's will.
 
#19 ·
I agree, there really isn't a 155'er that can take BJ down and pound on him until he quits. Maybe Maynard can put him on his back due to his size, but he'll probably get swept and submitted pretty quickly or KO'd on the feet.

I am really looking forward to this fight on Saturday just because Diego pushes the pace and has a very solid chin even though skill for skill BJ is better everywhere.
 
#20 ·
Toxic for some reason or another doesn't like certain fighters, therefore he also really criticises and under rates their fighting ability. Average striking at best, hmm no he is definitely above average. He is also an excellent grappler and his wrestling is far from just above average. Being mentally tough for all your fights doesn't get you as far as Diego has come, he has the skills to go with it.

Do i see him beating Penn? Nope, but he is definitely going to put up a better fight than Kenny Florian who like BJ said him self, "he just didn't want to fight" and ran away from Penn when ever he tried to engage, this wont be the case with Diego.
 
#21 ·
How is Diego technically any better at striking than average, he misses over half the punches he throws, is not even remotely accurate and leaves his chin wide open and exposed. Diego is far from the most skilled fighter, he only has so many defenders because he is about to fight BJ. I remember when everyone would adamantly defend Stevenson, then he got forgotten, but Sherk was a monster and blah blah blah, forgotten, then it was KenFlo, noticing a pattern, Diego isn't a legitmate contender he is the flavor of the month for the BJ haters.
 
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#22 ·
I don't think Sanchez will beat BJ Penn. With Penn as commited as ever, enjoying training and fighting and wanting to form a legacy I think he'll beat Diego fairly comfortably. However, I don't see how having immense mental strength which has allowed him to make the most of his abilities and become one of the best fighters in his division is a negative.

This mental strength has allowed him to rack up a seriously impressive 21-2 record in his MMA career, with his only 2 losses coming to top tier fighters in Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, and neither of those 2 guys could finish Diego. He's beaten Jorge Santiago, Kenny Florian, Nick Diaz, Karo Parisyan, Joe Riggs, Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida just to name a few. That's an impressive list of guys to defeat right there.

I honestly believe Sanchez offers BJ Penn a far greater challenge than Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson, and I expect the fight to be a war. I see BJ coming out on top, fairly convincingly, but you never know what Diego's going to bring to the table, I'd certainly love to see him pull off a win. I like Diego Sanchez alot. YES!
 
#26 ·
BJ's just trying to get into Diego's head, which is futile at this point.

Mental toughness + Diego's degree of aggressiveness (ie he just keeps coming at you, and coming at you till he KOs or submits you) will take him anywhere he wants to go.
 
#28 ·
Guys Diego has beaten, such as Guida, Karo, Diaz, Stevenson -- those all seem like guys he should have beaten, in retrospect. Only the Karo fight was really considered an upset, but it doesn't really look like one anymore.

You could argue that some of them, such as Joe Daddy, had bad game plans, but you can't count that against Diego.

Diego did much more to earn a title fight at 155 pounds than Penn ever did. He fought two dangerous lightweights leading up to Saturday, while Penn only needed to choke out a fading, then-unranked Jens Pulver to get his shot.

But even in those two fights, I'd say Diego was the favourite. So it seems more like he's fulfilled promise than overachieved, really.
 
#30 ·
Hmmm, I don't know what to make of BJ Penn's statements. On the one hand he quite right - The mental aspect of Diego Sanchez is stronger than his skills. On the other hand, you could argue that in order to even be an MMA fighter you have to start by being a tenacious mofo. Therefore, that could be applied to anyone, including Penn.

Thing is though, Diego will have been the biggest and most unrelenting 155er he has faced in quite a long time. It's good for him that he is on underestimating Sancheza, but if it goes to the later rounds, Penn better be on his toes because that's when Sanchez is likely to be most dangerous.

I would agree with Toxic that his striking isn't amazing. I would say it's decent, but nothing to write home about. His wrestling is good and his BJJ is decent as well. All in all he is a pretty well rounded fighter but doesn't have any specific devasting technique that should bother Penn too much. In that respect he is sort of like a LW version of Forrest Griffin.
 
#31 ·
i'd almost say he's a lightweight version of Nate Marquardt, good at most things but not amazing in anything.
 
#32 ·
This is absolutely ridiculous. Diego is only good because of his pace? Or because he is mentally tough?

I suppose Anderson is only good because he hits hard and fast, oh and Lyoto because he's calculating, or GSP because he's strong... and they all use that, and that's why they are good right?

Give me a break, the arrogance around here is astounding. Diego is a very VERY skilled fighter who uses everything he has to his advantage. And so is BJ, this could be the fight of the year for that reason.

BJ is expected to be a douchebag, not everyone else has to be.
 
#33 ·
I'm going to be a douchebag because it's true.

All the things Toxic said were true. Another thing to note too, from the Guida fight, Diego seemed to be slowing down considerably after expending so much energy in the first roudn bonanza. Getting taken down when normally he would defend it well. No one has seen Diego in a 5 rounder. Maybe his cardio isn't as great as everyone believes. They see a lunatic in the opening 1 and 1/2 - 2 rounds and think he runs on empty.

Also, was there a need for 2 very's when one of the very's was in caps?
 
#34 ·
Im really at a stalmate for this match, but I got a feeling Diego will slip/leave himself open at the wrong time.

If you notice BJ has timing like Fedor and Machida...in a split second he will contort his body and put on a rear naked or catch your chin with a cross, from an angle you might not expect.

2009 has been a strange turning point in MMA, but I got a feeling Diego will get KO'ed
 
#36 ·
I was wondering where people were saying Diego had really inaccurate striking for that Guida fight. Although that site isn't 100 percent reliable, it is enough to prove that Diego isnt as inaccurate as people make out. He was tagging Guida over and over and his striking looked pretty sharp. He is definitely a decent striker.
 
#44 ·
I don't think there is such a thing as being an 'over-achiever'. I mean Diego has the skills that causes problems for his opponents, his tenacity, mental + physical toughness, decent striking and tough ground game - both top/bottom. So I say he got to where he is because of his overall skillset and because he worked his butt off.
 
#45 ·
now I am a bj fan so im just putting that out there before the bj stans come after me for this post but...


bj says diego is an overachiever but so is bj. when you look at bj you dont see this dominant person you see a regular guy. in his words a kid from hilo hawaii with a dream. I mean how many people from hawaii can do what bj does. So with that being said bj is an overachiever as well.

I bring that up to say everyone is an overachiever in their own way and being called an overachiever because you have mental toughness... wtf... thats something thats very vital especially if your engaging in hand to hand combat. but i guess he pointed that out because that is basically what diego is most known for. you cant really point out any real weaknesses in diego's game except for experience when compared to who bj has fought. diego is an all-around good fighter
 
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