Possible GSP-Diaz bout looms over UFC 143
Last Saturday, with its second show on FOX, the UFC managed to confirm two of the biggest money matches in the sport: Rashad Evans finally booking a light heavyweight title shot against his former training partner and protégé Jon Jones while Chael Sonnen reclaimed the rematch with middleweight champ Anderson Silva he was unable to get after testing positive for testosterone after their first fight.
However, the main event this Saturday at UFC 143 determines whether the UFC gets to book the biggest potential blockbuster match of the year: Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick Diaz.
This time last year the two welterweights were on opposing sides of MMA’s last great promotional divide; Georges St. Pierre was the clean-cut established UFC champion while Nick Diaz was gaining momentum and notoriety as the edgy, unpredictable Strikeforce titlist. In the past, I've written about the contrast between the two, from their polar opposite personalities and their vastly different approach to fighting. St. Pierre’s game plans exploit his opponents’ weaknesses without taking many risks, while Diaz ignores his world-class grappling in favor of slugging it out with his foes.
The UFC’s buyout of Strikeforce and the controversy surrounding the unique clause in Diaz’s contract allowing him to take a boxing match paved the way for a dream match that even St. Pierre had been openly calling for since 2009.
But a series of events beginning with Diaz being a no-show at for UFC 137 promotional events, followed by a bad knee injury for St. Pierre twice cancelled the eagerly sought match. In between, Diaz poured gasoline on the kindling after his destruction of B.J. Penn at UFC 137, shouting, “Where you at Georges?!” and accused the champion of faking being injured because he didn’t want to fight anybody.
It was those words that so incensed St. Pierre that he demanded that the UFC cancel his already postponed defense against Carlos Condit so he could take care of Diaz as soon as he was able to do so. The unusual vendetta from the usually mild-mannered champion has continued into the promotion for this weekend’s interim title match between Diaz and Condit in Las Vegas.
St. Pierre may be on the injury shelf but he played a starring role in the latest UFC Primetime special on FX, where GSP let fans see the darkness Diaz’s taunts had put him through. So desperate is the linear champion to face his nemesis he has openly talked about wanting Diaz to win over his Team Jackson teammate Condit.
So clearly has the French Canadian’s hatred for Diaz overshadowed the biggest fight in Condit’s career that Diaz stepped in at the pre-fight press conference to criticize St. Pierre and the media for overlooking the “Natural Born Killer.” And on one level it’s easy to understand where Diaz is coming from. In a battle that pits the former Strikeforce champion vs. the last ever WEC welterweight champion, we see two all-action fighters colliding while at the top of their games. Both are dangerous standing up or on the ground and both are capable of taking the fight out of the judge’s hands.
But even the best fight is still just a fight. Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick Diaz is so much more. Whether it’s Dana White looking at his bank balance, counterculture MMA fans hoping that the straight-laced St. Pierre is finally taken out of his comfort zone or the champion himself desperate for revenge, they’ll all be hoping that Carlos Condit doesn’t secure the victory that derails the UFC’s biggest match of 2012.
