Stephen Thompson has made his pick for the welterweight tilt between Nate Diaz and Anthony Pettis.
On Aug. 17, Diaz and Pettis will clash inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The 170-pound bout is set to serve as UFC 241’s co-main event. It’ll be Diaz’s first outing since Aug. 2016.
Thompson Picks Pettis To Beat Diaz
In Pettis’ last bout, he earned a second-round knockout victory over Thompson. “Wonderboy” appeared on Submission Radio to discuss Diaz vs. Pettis (via The Body Lock).
“Yeah man, I think that’s a very interesting fight,” Thompson said. “You got an explosive guy versus kind of like a marathon guy. Nate Diaz being the marathoner and Anthony Pettis being the more explosive guy, the sprinter. Anthony, he’s had some gas tank problems in the past. I think he might have fixed that. But he’s super fast and tricky. He’s caught some really good jiu-jitsu guys. He’s really good everywhere.”
Thompson continued:
“So is Nate. Nate takes a lot of damage but he’s very hard because he’s very long. He keeps his opponents at bay with his striking as you saw with Conor McGregor. Conor McGregor had a hard time catching him with his hands because he was so long. And he’s just relentless. Him and his brother take shots and they just keep coming forward.”
Thompson went on to praise Pettis for his speed and believes he can “out-trick” Diaz. As far as a prediction goes, Thompson is going with “Showtime.”
“It’s been a while since he’s [Diaz] fought. I think it’s been a few years. I think his last might have been Conor? Wow. So it’s been a while. Is Nate the same guy? We don’t know. So I’m going with my man Pettis.”
