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Originally Posted by SwoopAE
Re: Pettis/Nate it will depend whether Pettis fights with a smart gameplan. You don't brawl with a Diaz, and i'm not sure Pettis has the takedowns to regularly plant Nate on his back without risking giving up his neck or whatever in the process of it so I think the right gameplan and one that will win is to kick from range while leading Nate around the octagon like a matador and refusing to engage his taunting/etc by getting into a punching-based brawl. Nate's going to walk Pettis down and try and get into a pressure/volume war, if he succeeds he'll win, and if it's a technical range based striking battle involving kicks Pettis should be able to outpoint him easily. It just depends who can fight more logically and without emotion I think especially for Pettis, sticking to the game plan for Pettis will determine how the fight goes
The Pettis TD game has not been seen often but we do know he has one. We also know that Nate has zero TDD. His only TDD is that foes fear his guard. One of the multiple differences between Nick and Nate.
Pettis has only been sub'd once and that was an injury tap when he twisted his own back. A fair argument can be made that Pettis is a better submission fighter than Nate.
Zero fear of Nate's guard appears (in my view) to cause a chain reaction that renders his offense useless. His pressure game goes away because he'll walk into TDs. He can't call a time out by falling on his butt. He's left sitting on the outside eating leg kicks and/or getting taken down at will (RDA & Bendo). Josh Thompson not afraid anyone's guard either.
Unless Pettis pulls a Cerrone and fights stupid, which is possible, Nate should be the perfect opponent for him. Slower, no big power, no kicking game at all, and most important zero TD game.