UFC 180 injury bug continues

http://mmajunkie.com/2014/10/source-joe-lauzon-forced-out-of-ufc-180-fight-with-diego-sanchez


First we lost Cain now we lost Joe Lauzon who was supposed to face Diego Sanchez. I was really looking forward to that fight.

Thats blows

what happened to diego? i know he isnt injured but he definitely isnt the same fighter he was since he lost to penn. i use to love sanchez but the guy completely changed. no power in his punches, wrestling seems weak, subs are non existent. maybe im crazy but when diego would show up to fight he was unstoppable. i miss the old diego

I don't think it's him that changed so much as it is the level of his competition. David Bielkheden, Luigi Fioravanti, and Joe Stephenson aren't BJ Penn, Jake Ellenberger, and Gilbert Melendez.

That is the problem exactly, diego hasn't changed. He has only plan A, and it is not a very intelligent one - move forward, even if you are getting kicked in the face.

fitch, koss, florian, diaz, alessio, karo, riggs werent mentioned
but its like he declined he never uses sub attempts or crafty wrestling to set something up. like commie said he jumps in there slugs it out and thats it. it also seems he lost all of his power in his punches.

Well he got owned by Fitch, beat Kos, Florian, and Diaz when they were either green, one dimensional, fighting out of weight class, or all of the above. His win over Karo was good, and he did catch Riggs with a good shot, but even those guys aren't/weren't on the level of today's upper tier.
And in all honesty, when did he ever set-up sub attempts or have a really well-rounded wrestling game? I remember most of his fights back then were very similar to most of his fights today; when striking, move forward and be ultra-aggressive and hope to overwhelm the opponent with a fast pace (though not with a very polished or technical striking arsenal) and a tough chin, and when on the ground, use aggressive (if not very polished) wrestling to overwhelm the opponent and apply some ground and pound when available.
The only difference from then to now is that it worked then, and it doesn't really work now.

in his king of the cage days he displayed excellent BJJ against low tier fighters in ufc he used his chin and cardio as his weapon of defense. i love vintage diego and wish he had more power in his hands.
found a pretty sick highlights video that is very repetitive but leaves you saying damn diego is a maniac.