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6. Diaz’s Gogoplata
Pride 33 “Second Coming”
Feb. 24, 2007 | Las Vegas
The inimitable Nick Diaz has had a long and strange journey down the winding road of mixed martial arts. He has fought in every major promotion, from the WEC and the UFC to Pride, EliteXC, Dream and Strikeforce, and he has experienced a dizzying array of ups and downs.

Following a rough three-fight losing streak that ended his first run in the UFC, Diaz got back on track with a win outside the promotion; a return to the Octagon netted him stoppage wins over Josh Neer and Gleison Tibau. Rather than re-sign with the UFC, however, Diaz eventually ended up signing with Pride for its second attempt to crack the American market. The Japanese promotion matched Diaz with Takanori Gomi, who at that point was the second- or at worst third-best lightweight in the world.

Observers prognosticated a firefight between two high-output fighters, and they were not disappointed. Gomi defended against Diaz’s submission attempts from the bottom and landed hard ground strikes early, and when they exchanged on the feet, Gomi dropped him with a brutal right hook. Diaz survived, and when they ended up in the pocket again, the American’s volume punching began to take a toll on an exhausted Gomi.

That was just the first round, which by itself it was a donnybrook of epic proportions. The second began the same way, with Gomi landing vicious shots but Diaz keeping his output high and weathering the early storm. A minute and a half into the round, Gomi shot a beautiful double-leg to bring Diaz to the mat, but as he turned the corner to finish the takedown, Diaz was already attacking. He locked up Gomi’s right arm with his left leg and brought his left shin across Gomi’s throat while using his right leg to control and hands to pull the Japanese star’s head forward.

It was the second gogoplata in Pride history -- Shinya Aoki locked the first on Joachim Hansen -- and an amazing end to one of the best fights of all-time.

Number 5 » Front Kick