Chase Hopper has scolded John McCarthy for suggesting Kamaru Usman would get ‘lit up’ by Nick Diaz.
During a recent interview with ‘TMZ’, Nick Diaz (26-10 MMA) indicated he’s targeting an end-of-year return and he’d like to challenge Kamaru Usman (20-1 MMA) for the title.
It was John McCarthy who spoke about a Nick vs Kamaru battle on his ‘Weighing In’ podcast saying:
“If there’s one thing that you know about Nick, he’s gonna come and give you everything that he’s got. Would I mind seeing him against Kamaru? No, I wouldn’t, other than this: Kamaru would stand with him until he started getting lit up and then he’s gonna go and use his wrestling – which he should. I’m not saying he shouldn’t, but what is Nick always complaining about? People wrestling.”
Continuing, much to the disappointment of Chase Hooper, ‘Big John’ said:
“And then it’s on the ground, and it’s gonna end up being yeah, he can try and use his submission game and stuff, but I don’t think that Kamaru would end up standing up with Nick that long, that much out of the first round. Things would start to become difficult.”
McCarthy went on to say that Diaz would use his volume to overwhelm Usman, whom he sees resorting to his prior wrestling background.
“He’s a handful as far as the way he creates situations that he just touch, touch, touch, and he’ll throw power in there, and he’ll take shots to give shots, and he just keeps this buzzsaw action going that makes you start to become more defensive than offensive. And you end up saying screw this and when you’ve got that wrestling background, you’re Kamaru Usman, you go, ‘I’m taking him down,’ and that’s what I see here.”
Taking to ‘Twitter‘, Chase Hopper had this to say about McCarthy’s comments:
“I’m a huge fan of the Diaz Bros. They were the ones that got me into the sport, but objectively this isn’t true and is probably one of the worst MMA takes I’ve seen.”
Chase Hooper (11-2 MMA) is just coming off a victory over Felipe Colares (10-4 MMA) which took place at UFC Fight Night 206 on May 21, 2022.
Do you agree with McCarthy’s take on a Diaz vs Usman fight or are you in agreement with Chase Hooper?