Nate Diaz vs Jim Miller The breakdown

Headlining UFC on Fox 3 Nate Diaz and Jim Miller will go to battle for what may very well be a number 1 contender spot. Here goes my breakdown of the fight.  

Jim Miller - High school and Collegiate Wrestler, BJJ Black Belt
Jim Miller's style is a hard grinding pace, his stand up is dangerous enough to hurt you and his wrestling base mixed with his Black Belt level BJJ makes him a serious threat if the fight hits the mat. Jim Miller has very good take downs when he gets the fight down he's not going to out wrestle his opponents he's going to try to improve his position and always looks for something he can submit his opponent with. This style got him to the top of the division and makes him a pretty exciting fighter.  

Jim Miller - Side Notes
Jim Miller averages over 3 submission attempts per 15 min fight (fight metric) and holds 12 submission wins. Jim Miller has never been knocked out or submitted.

Nate Diaz - BJJ Blackbelt, High Level Boxer 
Nate Diaz's preferred style is sprawl and brawl, but he's not afraid to fight off his back and use his black belt level BJJ skills. Nate has some of the best boxing in the division, he doesn't necessarily have knock out power but he can hurt his opponents by landing a lot of quick punches that add up over the coarse of the fight. Nate recently got his Black belt in BJJ under Cesar Gracie and will use his skills when he needs to, he has a really good guard and isn't afraid to attack with submissions. Dominating wins over Takanori Gomi and Donald Cerrone landed Nate Diaz in this potential number 1 contender fight.  

Nate Diaz- Side Notes
Nate recently was promoted to black belt under Cesar Gracie, Nate has never been submitted in the UFC, Nate has never been knocked out in his career. Nate holds 10 submission wins.  

Nate Holds the standup advantage
Nate is looking like a beast in the stand up game lately since coming back to lightweight, he out strikes nearly all of the opponents that he holds wins against in both significant strikes and total strikes and lands nearly 43% of his strikes according to fight metric. Nate also has about a 5 inch reach advantage that can keep Miller at a distance. Nate's boxing also compliments his BJJ game where he can break his opponents down hurt them and then attack with a submission when their hurt.

Miller gets the wrestling advantage
Nate struggles a bit against good wrestlers and Miller is a good wrestler. While Nate struggles with take down defense at times Miller completes 46% of his take downs. This one looks like Miller is going to take the fight down at some point where Miller is very active on submission attempts and he could out work Nate on the ground and work for a submission.

 Final thoughts and Prediction
I believe that Nate Diaz holds the key advantage to this fight which is the stand up game. He's the physically bigger fighter and has almost a half foot reach advantage over Miller and also has been looking unstoppable with his boxing. Diaz also has a hudge momentum boost going into this fight. Big wins over Gomi and Cerrone along with receiving a his Black Belt in BJJ has got to have Diaz feeling confident. I think Diaz would be able to hold off the take downs and submission attempts for the most part of the fight and pick apart Miller how he did Gomi and Cerrone. I definitly dont see either one of these guys getting finished, with both guys being black belts in BJJ it would be awesome to see a grappling war but my prediction is going to be Nate Diaz by Unanimous Decision. Nate's stand up is going to be a little too much for Miller.

Let Me know your thoughts on the comments or twitter @FightJabber and keep checking in before the event in case I do The Breakdown on another fight for UFC on Fox 3.