UFC

Now that St. Pierre has had some time to reflect on things he has re-evaluated how interested he actually is in fighting Diaz, at least when it comes to an expected defense of his title in November.

“I want to fight the best man, and the best man is Condit,” said the 22-2 champion in an interview on Bruce Buffer‘s Sherdog show , adding emotion had clouded his judgment beforehand. Still, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t mind settling the score with Diaz at some point down the road.

“As far as Diaz, of course I would like to fight him because he thinks he’s better than me (and) I think I’m better than him,” explained St. Pierre before turning talk to the controversial Californian’s future. “But I think he should not retire. He did all of the sacrifice in his life to be where he’s at right now. He’s at the highest point of his career, and if he retires now, he’s left a lot of money on the table that could pay for all of the sacrifices he has made during all those years. I think the sport of mixed martial arts needs a guy like him.”

Diaz has not commented since saying he was retiring from MMA after his disgust with the judges’ decision in his fight with Condit. The 28-year old was the more aggressive, less technical of the two this past Saturday night and paid for it with the defeat.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

UFC

Diaz lost by unanimous decision to Condit in the main event of the card, as “The Natural Born Killer” claimed the interim UFC welterweight title.

Rumors of a possible Diaz-Condit rematch were being talked about on Wednesday. Cesar Gracie, the manager and head trainer for Diaz reported that there would be no rematch, and added he had no further comment.

Diaz, who announced his retirement from MMA inside the Octagon following the loss, also tested positive for marijuana back in 2007 following his win over Takanori Gomi. He was fined $3,000 and suspended for six months as a result. As a second offender he could receive a full year this time around.

When asked for comment on the matter, UFC President Dana White responded that he was “beyond disappointed”.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

UFC President Dana White recently reported an immediate rematch between Diaz and current UFC interim welterweight champion Condit would be scheduled to take place before Georges St. Pierre returned from injury. Just as quickly as the rematch was reported, rumors started that someone from either Diaz or Condit had decided against the bout.

According to a report by MMAJunkie it may have been Gracie himself who nixed things though he did not offer much more than to say the match would not go down, leaving those around the MMA world to sit and wonder.

Gracie’s comments are just the latest in a string of twists and turns surrounding the scrap. Condit is still expected to be in Las Vegas on Friday to meet with White. Until then fans will continue to have to wait and see what happens next if anything at all.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Diaz would go on to defeat Penn via Unanimous Decision and called out St. Pierre in a profanity laced attack claiming that GSP wasn’t really injured and instead was ducking a potential fight with him. At the UFC 137 post fight press conference White claimed that GSP was as angry as he had ever seen him and demanded his next fight be against the Stockton, CA resident as opposed to Condit. White also stated that Condit was okay with the situation and instead would face a yet to be named opponent at UFC 143 in the co-main event. As we would learn later on, Condit was not happy with the situation.

Of course, as luck would have it, GSP’s knee injury would turn out to be much more severe than anyone first thought and he would require surgery keeping him out until the fall of 2012. The natural thing to do for the UFC was to match-up Diaz and Condit which was scheduled for the main event of UFC 143 and would be for an interim title. The winner would then face “Rush” once he was healthy for the right to become the undisputed 170-pound champion.

The anticipation for Diaz-Condit was incredible as the UFC marketing machine was in full effect. White was telling anyone who would listen that this bout could be one of the best the UFC had ever seen. Based upon both fighters’ histories he wasn’t off as both men liked to stand and bang. They also brought a lot of intensity, toughness, and heart into every one of their fights. GSP felt uncomfortable rooting against the fellow Greg Jackson trained Condit, but still harbored a lot of ill will towards Diaz and made no secret of who he was pulling for.

The much anticipated tilt took place this past Saturday night and did not go anywhere near as well as planned. Condit fought a methodical, well-planned fight. He avoided Diaz’s pressure by keeping his feet moving at all times and landed a great deal of leg kicks and seemed to be ahead on the judges scorecards. When Bruce Buffer announced “The Natural Born Killer” as the winner it did not sit well with Diaz or his legion of fans who felt that Condit was awarded for avoiding Diaz at all costs and doing the bare minimum to take home the victory. As Joe Rogan interviewed Diaz after the fight he went into full tantrum mode and claimed he was done with MMA; that he no longer needed to be part of the sport.

It seems as though his threats and promises have worked to his advantage once again as word leaked out yesterday that Condit had not only agreed to, but asked for a rematch with Diaz before his scheduled bout with St. Pierre. Apparently Diaz was able to get under the skin of Condit in much the same way he did with GSP. The entire thing just goes to show you that self promotion is just as important as the fight you put on inside of the cage. The real story here is whether or not the UFC is hoping for a Diaz win so they can finally get the money bout everyone wanted in the first place, but has been canceled on two separate occasions – St. Pierre vs. Diaz.

Diaz lost the bout on all three judges’ scorecards. He won just one round on two of the judges’ cards and was awarded two rounds by the third judge. No one is arguing the fact that Condit fought a safe fight, but is there really a need for an immediate rematch based upon the outcome of the first fight? However, to be honest, this is the best call the UFC could make. Without trying to placate Diaz who seems to know how to push White’s buttons along with his opponents, if this fight doesn’t take place there is a potential nine-month gap between fights for Condit. If that is the case then what was the need to create the interim title in the first place if it was just going to be held up for nearly a year anyways?

The fight was close enough to get these two guys back in the cage as soon as possible. As we have learned in the past the judges aren’t always the most educated, responsible people in the arena at any given time. It’s certainly not fair to ask Condit to wait a minimum of nine months before GSP is ready to fight. This fight will kill three birds with one stone, it keeps Diaz happy, even if it means bowing down to his demands once again, it keeps Condit fresh and it gives more meaning to the interim title. For once the UFC is making the right call.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Trainer Cesar Gracie recently came forward to express his belief that fans hadn’t seen the last of Nick Diaz inside the Octagon or any cage for that matter. While Gracie thought it would take Diaz a year or so before getting the itch to fight again, it appears it will actually only be a matter of months after UFC President Dana White went on Twitter to confirm Condit had agreed to fight Diaz again and clear up any confusion surrounding the outcome of their first bout.

White did not go into specifics but did say that Condit wanted the match-up to occur. Today’s news came as a complete 180 from comments made this week by Condit’s manager who said his client would wait for Georges St. Pierre rather than face Diaz again in an immediate rematch.

This past weekend, Diaz was handed a decision loss at the hands of Carlos Condit in the main event of UFC 143. The bout was for the interim UFC welterweight title and Diaz, along with numerous fans, fellow fighters, and media members, felt like he deserved to have his hand raised when things were done.

During the post-fight interview, the Stockton native announced he was done with MMA and was moving on, citing the judges’ approach to scoring as the reason for his departure from the sport. The news shocked just about everyone watching in attendance and live on pay-per-view, including Joe Rogan who was conducting the post-fight interview. When Rogan continued to push for more from Diaz, the controversial welterweight explained he felt all Condit did was run from him.

PHOTO CREDIT – HDNET/UFC

While UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre has not come out to officially say he’d be willing to relinquish his rights to the title in order to fight polarizing rival Nick Diaz, it appears he has mentioned he’s open to doing so in private company.

The shocking revelation came Tuesday evening as part of UFC Tonight where host Kenny Florian, who is friends with GSP and trains with him at TriStar, said the currently injured St. Pierre brought it up over dinner after watching Carlos Condit outpoint Diaz last weekend at UFC 143.

Condit earned a shot at St. Pierre with the victory though it may be in vain if “Rush” follows through on his comments by giving up his belt to settle the score with Diaz. During the build up to the Diaz-Condit bout GSP expressed his desire to see Diaz win after the Stockton scrapper called him out after beating B.J. Penn in his previous Octagon appearance.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

The Nevada State Athletic Commission released the list of UFC 143 salaries today where Diaz out-earned the rest of his peers by a fairly significant margin even though he lost his fight. According to NSAC figure, Diaz was paid $200,000 for his headlining spot against newly named interim champion Carlos Condit, who also cracked the six-figure mark with an $110,000 paycheck for his performance.

Other fighters fattening their bank accounts with notable salaries included Josh Koscheck ($146,000) and Fabricio Werdum ($100,000). On the opposite end of the spectrum, somewhat surprisingly, Roy Nelson only made $20,000 in defeat, the same as Mike Pierce and a little less than Scott Jorgensen, indicating he is likely still on his original TUF contract despite it being two years old.

Here is a complete list of pay for UFC 143 including event specific bonuses where required:

Stephen Thompson: $77,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus, $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus) def. Dan Stittgen: $5,000
Rafael Natal: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Michael Kuiper: $6,000
Matt Riddle: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Henry Martinez: $6,000
Matt Brown: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Chris Cope: $8,000
Edwin Figueroa: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Alex Caceres: $8,000
Dustin Poirier: $89,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus, $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus) def. Max Holloway: $6,000
Ed Herman: $62,000 (includes $31,000 win bonus) def. Clifford Starks: $8,000
Renan Barao: $22,000 (includes $11,000 win bonus) def. Scott Jorgensen: $20,500
Josh Koscheck: $146,000 (includes $73,000 win bonus) def. Mike Pierce: $20,000
Fabricio Werdum: $165,000 (no win bonus, includes $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus) def. Roy Nelson: $85,000 (includes $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Carlos Condit: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus) def. Nick Diaz: $200,000

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Diaz, who Condit outpointed last night at UFC 143 in the evening’s main event, was seen by numerous fans, fighters, and media members as having deserved the victory based on his aggression as opposed to Condit’s calculated counter-attack in the extremely close contest. While UFC President Dana White was not among them, stating he felt Condit deserved the judges’ favor, he apparently understands the argument against it and would be willing to put the fight together if both sides agree to terms.

“It’s crazy, but…I was thinking about it after the fight,” said White in an interview with MMAJunkie. “People are bitching, and people think that was close…we could do that fight again before GSP comes back.”

However, White isn’t ready to force Condit into an immediate rematch with Diaz nor does he know if Diaz has any interest in continuing his MMA career based on his post-fight statements about retirement.

“It depends on Carlos, too. Carlos has got to say – and Nick’s got to say, ‘I want to fight him again,’ too,” White explained.

Fighters facing off in back-to-back bouts is not without precedent, such as when Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn squared off in consecutive clashes after “The Answer” barely beat Penn the first time around.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

“Some people aren’t mature enough to handle it. This isn’t soccer. I have no problem being sportsmanlike about this whole thing. I understand it’s a sporting event. But to me this is a fight,” Diaz explained in an interview with MMAFighting. “I’m not going to let things change that to help this sport become what it is. I think this sport IS what it is. I don’t worry about looking good. I do what I’ve got to do to survive, to keep my teeth in my head, and my head on my shoulders. I apologize to whoever can’t put that together and understand that.”

“People try to say, ‘Nick Diaz, he’s crazy or not crazy or fake crazy’,” the outspoken welterweight continued. “I’m like, ‘Hey, bro, what you see is what you get.’ I’m not out here trying putting on an act like I’m crazy. In my opinion, everyone else is crazy. They’re the ones who put on an act for you, doing what they’re told in front of the camera…They turn these guys into robots. I’m just not going to be that guy. Don’t tell me I’m crazy. I’m out here acting natural. I’m the only one here being realistic out here about this sort of thing.”

Diaz also said his style of fighting reflects his opinion about keeping things real, opting to brawl against strikers instead of rely on his high-level grappling ability. It’s also a mindset he sees Carlos Condit possessing, who he faces this Saturday night in the main event at UFC 143, and an aspect of his opponent he genuinely appreciates.

Fans can see what Diaz does next, a prospect often as entertaining as his offerings inside the cage, when he collides with Condit. The show fires up at 7:00 PM EST on FX/Facebook before main card action starts at 10:00 PM EST on PPV.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

According to Diaz’s manager and head trainer, Cesar Gracie, the answer is “no”

Gracie, who was careful to speak in hypothetical terms rather than disrespect Condit by assuming Diaz would exit with a victory,

“If we’re fortunate and we win this fight, I would advise Nick to not take another fight before the GSP fight, unless it was maybe at a different weight class, because we wanna wait for (St. Pierre),” Gracie explained in an interview on The MMA Hour.

Diaz has fought at heavier and lighter weights than his current home as a 170 pounder. While far from anything resembling a certainty, if Diaz were to take a swim in a different divisional pool it would likely be as a middleweight given his size.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Diaz and Condit spoke about their upcoming fight in an extended preview for the PPV where the “Natural Born Killer” made it clear he feels he has an advantage over Diaz in all areas, especially when it comes to striking.

“I feel like I’m a more technical fighter than Diaz,” Condit explained when asked about how he compared to the former Strikeforce title-holder. “I have more weapons in my arsenal. I just bring some different stuff to the table.”

“He can take a good shot but can he take knees? Is he going to be able to take elbows? It’s a different when it’s a shin across your face,” he continued.

Getting word of Condit’s statements, Diaz replied, “That’s a nice thought, right? Go out there and throw some kicks and some elbows, some knees, and win the fight. Can you get that stuff off when you’re running backwards?”

While the outcome may be in question there’s no doubt Condit-Diaz should deliver a “Fight of the Year” candidate when they clash in the cage. Condit has finished 26 of the 27 opponents he’s beaten while Diaz has racked up stoppages in 21 of 26 total victories.

Check out the complete preview below:

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Specifically, the 26-year old most receive clearance from an ophthalmologist or sit out until June 28, with a minimum suspension involving “no contact” until January 30, based on an undisclosed “right eye injury”. Diaz absorbed a number of shots to the face during his Fight of the Night encounter with Donald Cerrone who himself will be out until Valentine’s Day with no contact until 1/30 due to a “cut lower lip”.

Other notable fighters possibly facing a mandated six-month vacation include Brock Lesnar, though the suspension means little in the wake of his retirement, as well as Vladimir Matyushenko and Manny Gamburyan. Both must receive clearance from an orthopedist with the former needing his left knee looked at and the latter his troublesome right shoulder (which will also require x-rays).

Here is a complete list of UFC 141 medical suspensions:

Diego Nunes – Suspended until 2/14 with no contact until 1/30 (cut left eye)
Manny Gamburyan – Must have right shoulder x-rayed and cleared by an orthopedist or no contest until 6/28; minimum suspension with no contest until 1/30, no contact until 1/21
Dong Hyun Kim – Suspended until 1/30 with no contact until 1/21 (left foot contusion)
Junior Assuncao – Suspended until 1/30 with no contact until 1/21 (cut right cheek)
Nam Phan – Suspended until 2/29 with no contact until 2/14 (cut right eyebrow)
Alexander Gustafsson – Suspended until 1/30 with no contact until 1/21 (right tibia contusion)
Vladimir Matyushenko – Must have left knee cleared by an orthopedist or no contest until 6/28; minimum suspension with no contest until 2/14, no contact until 1/30
Jon Fitch – Suspended until 2/29 with no contact until 2/14
Donald Cerrone – Suspended until 2/14 with no contact until 1/30 (cut lower lip)
Nate Diaz – Must be cleared by an ophthalmologist or no contest until 6/28; minimum suspension with no contest until 1/30, no contact until 1/21 (right eye injury)
Alistair Overeem – Suspended until 2/14 with no contact until 1/30 (cuts on right eye)
Brock Lesnar – Must have abdominal injury cleared by a doctor or no contest until 6/28

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

The unfortunate news was revealed earlier today by UFC President Dana White through his Twitter account. As a result Diaz will now face Carlos Condit on the same card – UFC 143 – with an interim belt at stake.

Condit was already scheduled to fight at the same event with Josh Koscheck as an opponent. He also saw Diaz slide into the contendership slot he’d already been promised after UFC 137, a fact likely adding a bit of incentive to shine against the controversial Californian when they meet inside the Octagon. Condit holds an overall record of 27-5 with twenty-six stoppages and is on a four-fight winning streak including victories over Dong Hyun Kim, Dan Hardy, Rory MacDonald, and Jake Ellenberger.

Diaz, a former Strikeforce champion, is coming off his finest performance to date when he dismantled BJ Penn in late October. The mean-mugged 28-year old hasn’t lost since 2007, picking up eleven straight wins in the period since.

No word has surfaced on what will be done with Koscheck.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

However, to hear GSP tell his side of the story, it looks like Diaz’s challenge didn’t get under his skin at all and that he actually preferred to fight the former Strikeforce star all along.

“I’m very happy to fight him,” St. Pierre stated in an interview with QMI. “It’s always been the fight I’ve wanted to have. They only thing is he did not show up at the press conference…so the fight got cancelled – not because of me, but because of him and what he had done. But me, I wanted to fight him. He wanted to have a title fight and he got it. (Talking trash) the best way to do it and it’s not personal.”

Drawing criticism from his opponents whether directed at him as a person or fighter is nothing new to “Rush” who dealt with similar smack during the build for bouts against Matt Serra, Josh Koscheck, and a handful of other competitors the 22-2 St. Pierre went on to successfully defeat inside the Octagon.

“I’ve seen it all from everyone before. If they’re trying to get into my head and make me fight a bad fight, it’s just mind games and it doesn’t work,” St. Pierre explained before adding in that much of what people say to him gets lost in translation. “I don’t even understand (or) speak English very well. I don’t understand most of the things that (Diaz) says when he trash-talks. I don’t really care.”

In fact, St. Pierre says he has a far more worthwhile goal to direct his attention to rather than buy into Diaz’s hate.

“I’m just going to focus on hurting him,” the 30-year old concluded. Given the fact GSP’s workout program constantly keeps him in tremendous shape, as well as the notion the French-Canadian champ seems to perform at an ever higher level when motivated by his opponent’s behavior, it seems Diaz may want to quit while he’s ahead and work on training rather than trying to fire St. Pierre up.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

At UFC 137, Diaz dominated Penn, winning a clear Unanimous Decision and retiring the Hawaiian legend. Following his victory, Diaz called out St. Pierre saying that the UFC welterweight king was “scared to fight him” and that claimed that he was faking an injury.

The comments upset St. Pierre and had him begging to fight Diaz. UFC president Dana White, who was adamant that Condit would get the next title shot no matter what happened at UFC 137, granted GSP’s request. Condit has agreed to step aside for Diaz, although his manager Malki Kawa states, “St. Pierre chose to fight Nick instead of Carlos.”

While no date has been announced for St. Pierre vs. Diaz, UFC is hoping to have the fight headline their Super Bowl weekend event.

*PHOTO CREDIT – UFC*

Originally scheduled to face Georges St. Pierre for the UFC welterweight title in the main event of UFC 137, Diaz was removed from the card entirely after missing a couple of media appearances. After releasing a YouTube video, filmed in his car, that is more famous for his comments towards another drivers mother than it is for his remorse.

UFC president Dana White was so upset at Diaz for his actions that he added the former Strikeforce champion back to the UFC 137 card to face B.J. Penn in the co-main event.

A few weeks later, St. Pierre had to pull out of his new fight against Carlos Condit, bumping Diaz vs. Penn into the main event slot. The next day, Diaz was late to a media call, which apparently was the fault of the UFC staff and not Nick’s, and when he finally got on the line he was very candid with his responses to questions.

In every situation, “Nick Diaz” was a trending topic on Twitter, leading certain members of the MMA media to believe that this would be a good sign for UFC 137. I beg to differ. What’s trending on twitter means absolutely nothing. Every time WWE runs a PPV, the wrestlers/matches currently going on end up trending on twitter. These PPVs barely do 150,000 domestic buys.

You know what was trending on Twitter the same time as Diaz the other week? “Lindsey Lohan” For those that don’t see why that’s a big deal, the correct spelling of Ms. Lohan’s first name is “Lindsay” not “Lindsey”.

I love Twitter, but I also acknowledge that it’s a very flawed media device and shouldn’t be used to gauge interest in a product. Here’s the thing people don’t seem to realize about twitter: it’s used by young, tech savvy people, who are also sheep. You may think everyone on twitter is a moron, and there are a lot of them out there, but there does take a certain level of internet smarts to send out a tweet.

The young and tech savvy people that use twitter and help certain topics reach a level to where their trending are the same young people who don’t have enough money to actually buy the products that are trending and are the same tech savy people who can get these products through illegal means.

Diaz has always been a polarizing character, sometimes controversial, figure. There’s a saying that “controversy creates cash” but so far in his MMA career, thanks in large part to being part of the Strikeforce organization, Diaz hasn’t drawn a ton of cash. He’s drawn ratings for the organization but when you really look at, he’s been the face of two organizations with the other being EliteXC. One went out of business and the other is on the verge of doing so.

Also, just because you’re able to draw TV ratings, doesn’t mean you’ll draw PPV buys. The biggest problem there is that once fans see you on TV, they don’t feel like paying for your fight. The best example of this is Kimbo Slice. He was a huge TV draw. Every time he fought on television, he set a new record. Then, when he was finally put on PPV at UFC 113, he added almost nothing to the buyrate.

Don’t get me wrong, if the UFC 137 buyrate does bad, I won’t put the blame on Diaz and I’m not saying that he doesn’t have the potential to draw, but to say that his “controversial” actions, the fact that he trended on twitter, and the fact that he brought viewership to Strikeforce means he’s this superstar in MMA or that the UFC 137 buyrate is going to be huge is just wrong.

There are very few superstars in MMA. St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar are about the only superstars in the sport. There are guys who are on the verge of stardom and guys who can draw with the right opponents, but Diaz has never proven that he can sell a PPV.

However, Penn, Diaz’ opponent this Saturday, has proven to be a consistent draw in the sport and whatever the UFC 137 buyrate ends up being, the credit (or blame) will likely fall on the shoulders of Penn and not Diaz.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

However, Penn will find himself in that very situation this weekend when he stands across the Octagon from Nick Diaz – successful in ten straight – as the main event of UFC 137.

Earlier this week the UFC aired the organization’s standard Countdown program for UFC 137 where the journey to Saturday night’s scrap was chronicled including a number of interesting tidbits such as Diaz’s admiration of the popular Hawaiian, the son of Stockton talking about struggles as a youth, and a tentative Penn shooting guns with training partners Matt Hughes and Jeremy Horn.

You can watch the entire segment dedicated to UFC 137’s headlining tilt below:

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

After having a title shot with Georges St-Pierre taken away from him for missing several of those media events, Diaz showed up late to Wednesday’s conference call for UFC 137, an event he is now headlining alongside opponent B.J. Penn.

“Hey, how’s it going,” Diaz casually asked nearly 45 minutes after the call had started.

The Californian plead he case, stating he didn’t know that he was still needed for the promotional obligation due to St-Pierre being forced out of his fight with Carlos Condit just a day earlier due to a knee injury, mentioning he hadn’t been given any information from the UFC to suggest otherwise.

“”All I know is that somebody’s getting paid over a hundred grand just to tell me what I’m supposed to do and what I’m not supposed to do. And I’m like, for that much money, I think I could have had somebody standing around telling me, ‘Hey, you can’t miss this press conference. That kind of voids the whole contract, and then you’re out, and you get (screwed)…You make no money. So you have to be at this thing.’,” Diaz explained.

“I’m just gonna do what I always do and train, and when it’s time to fight, I go fight,” he continued. “And it’s really about me, it’s not about whatever’s going on in the world or who I’m fighting or who I’m not fighting. I’m not gonna really have a choice on that. My job is to fight, so I have to fight when I’m told to fight, and that’s what I do well.”

In Penn, Diaz will be facing a former training partner and someone he really didn’t want to meet inside the Octagon. “The Prodigy,” who has dealt with the wrath of UFC President Dana White himself, said he embraces the good and bad of Diaz.

“Nick is Nick, he’s gonna do what he does,” Penn said. “I enjoy watching the stuff that Diaz does. He doesn’t change, he’s always himself and that has nothing to do with me.”

Whether or not Penn will enjoy what he sees from Diaz on October 29 will be a completely different story and one appearance the outspoken Graciefighter will absolutely be showing up for.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

“The truth is Georges doesn’t want to fight me in the street or in a cage. He knows who I am, and he knows where I came from,” Diaz recently explained in an interview with MMAJunkie. “I don’t have the commitment? I’m younger than him, I have more wins in my career than he does, and I’ve worked harder to get where I am. He knows the truth, and he didn’t say anything and won’t say anything because he doesn’t want to get his ass whipped by me the same way he got his ass whipped by Jake (Shields) – the night we went to the press conference and Georges went to the hospital.”

The harsh criticism was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the tongue-lashing Diaz gave to his popular peer.

“I really don’t appreciate this motherf—– sitting there at that press conference and laughing at me. That’s some real bitch sh-t. He’s sitting there laughing like it’s funny or something. If I saw Georges on the street and called him a bitch, I bet you he wouldn’t do sh-t. I bet you if I walked up and gave him a slap, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t do sh-t. But you can’t do that to me. That’s not how it works for me. That’s something to fight about.

“The bottom line is Georges is being a little bitch,” Diaz continued. “He didn’t step up and say anything when the UFC pulled me out of this fight. I understand sometimes you have to do what you’re told, but why wouldn’t you tell the media you still want to fight me? If I was Georges, I would want to fight the best. I would have asked for the Anderson Silva fight. I would have asked to fight the Strikeforce champ. But he sits there like a robot and doesn’t say anything at all, just like he’s not going to say anything about me calling him a bitch now. If I saw B.J. Penn walking down the street and called him a bitch, we would be fighting right there on the spot.”

The blunt brawler spoke a bit more about Penn too, though not without alluding to St. Pierre in the process.

“It’s not like it’s an easy fight for me,” the son of Stockton said of his new opponent at UFC 137. “I’m not like these bitches. I’m not going to hold Penn down the whole time like these guys have done. They held B.J. down because they’re bigger than him and stronger than him. I’m not going to do that. I’m not a little bitch to try and hold somebody down. I’m going to go out there and fight this tricky motherf—– and it could mean a lot of problems for me. It would have been a lot of problems for them, too, if they had fought him like I fight. They would have lost that fight.

However, as negative as Diaz’s statements were regarding “Rush”, he also made it clear he did see a silver lining to the dark cloud cast over the situation.

“I am happy for Carlos (Condit),” the 28-year old Californian explained. “He has a kid and a family. I have don’t have any of that. I gave all that up to fight and be the best. I hope this opportunity helps Carlos and his family.”

The comments come less than a week after Diaz apologized in taped statement for missing “the beauty pageant” , otherwise known as a now-infamous press conference where Condit was named as Diaz’s replacement after the former Strikeforce title-holder didn’t show up to promote the fight to media.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Guess which event stole the headlines this past week…

On Wednesday, Dana White announced that Nick Diaz was out of his UFC welterweight title fight against Georges St. Pierre after missing multiple media appearances. Taking his place would be Carlos Condit, who was originally scheduled to fight B.J. Penn on the same card.

UFC showed a lot of testicular fortitude in making this decision. They didn’t slap Diaz on the wrist for missing a couple of press conferences, they punched him in the face and knocked him down. They took away the biggest opportunity and payday of his career and said, “If you want to be in a big fight, you have to help us promote the big fight.”

On the surface, missing a couple of press conferences doesn’t seem like a big deal. But UFC made is a big deal by pulling Diaz from the fight. If he had just fined Nick, this would have all blown over and people would have just chalked it up to “Diaz being Diaz.” Instead, Dana had to rant and rave about Diaz being “unprofessional” and how he’s “never dealt with something like this before.”

UFC knew what they were getting themselves into when they moved Diaz over from Strikeforce to UFC. He held up Strikeforce more than once, whether he was unwilling to take a drug test on time or his actions in the last ever Strikeforce show on CBS or his lack of cooperation in trying to put fights together that the fans wanted. Even though we didn’t always know where Diaz was, we knew who he was. He was going to smoke weed, he was going to trash-talk opponents during fights, and he was going to be himself. That’s why so many fans flock to him.

In response to being pulled from the biggest fight of his career, Diaz posted a video of him driving around, cursing at fellow drivers, and apologizing for missing “the beauty pageant.” He acted like he failed to support his daughter on Toddlers & Tiaras. Not only did he offer no real apology, he had no explanation as to why he missed his flights to Canada and Las Vegas. He showed little to no remorse for his actions and made it very difficult for fans to feel sorry for him.

Except UFC did feel sorry for him. Just over 24 hours later, Dana announced that Diaz was back on the UFC 137 event. Not as a guest of Dana’s though. Nope. Dana wasn’t going to make him sit cageside the entire event as a way of saying, “You could have been in there tonight. Instead you’re sitting with me while I Tweet and yell with Joe Rogan.” Instead, Dana is putting Diaz back in the cage, in the co-main event, against Penn.

Diaz couldn’t be trusted to show up and promote the main event, but I guess he can be trusted to show up and promote the co-main event. I guess that makes sense. It’s not like UFC is going to do a Primetime series on the co-main event.

After showing the MMA world how big his cojones were on Wednesday afternoon, Dana quickly put them in Stephanie McMahon’s purse next to Triple H’s on Thursday night.

Maybe Dana and Nick reached an agreement that Nick could do all of his media appearances in his car via FaceTime or Skype. Maybe Diaz swore that, this time, no matter what, this time will be different. He’ll be on his best behavior and prove that he’s a changed man. He’ll put himself on gym arrest so everyone knows where he is at all times. Maybe he did the unthinkable and blackmailed himself, letting Dana know who provides him with his extracurricular substances and if he didn’t do everything asked of him, Dana could turn this man in.

Or maybe nothing changed. Maybe Dana just succumbed to the pressure from fans who spammed his Twitter demanding to see Diaz vs. Penn. It wouldn’t be the first time that Dana has changed a fight based on fan reaction. Or maybe Dana realized that he didn’t have a worthy co-main event because he so strongly dislikes Jon Fitch that he wouldn’t give him the opportunity to rematch Penn so just giving Diaz the fight was the only way to save the card and make Penn happy as well.

I hope Diaz learns from this. Not from UFC’s punishment, or lack thereof, but from his friends and his peers showing disappointment in his actions and from his fans, who were upset that their favorite fighter blew the opportunity that they helped create. I’m not so sure “Diaz being Diaz” or “Classic Nick” is going to cut it anymore. Next time he pulls this, UFC might put him in the opener instead of the co-main event.

We may never know what actually went down between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday night. What I do know is that after punching Diaz in the face and knocking him down, UFC helped up Diaz, gave him a free shot in return, and then slapped him on the wrist as punishment.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE