Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, News
In what will only stir up more rumors of a Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz megafight, Diaz’s boxing promoter Don Chargin on Monday afternoon issued a press release stating that Nick Diaz will stick with MMA “as it has been deemed that it be in Nick’s best interest to focus on his primary combat sport and profession.”
Strikeforce welterweight titleholder Diaz, who is allowed to box under his Strikeforce agreement, had planned on boxing Jeff Lacy in the fall if he doesn’t receive a shot at UFC champion St-Pierre.
“Right now he has an opportunity of a lifetime as it pertains to his MMA career,” Chargin said. “While I don’t doubt that Nick and his team were serious about taking the big step into boxing, it only makes sense for him to finish what he started and see how far he can go in MMA before he does anything in boxing. It’s all about timing … we began these discussions over two years ago and nobody would have imagined the type of demand that there currently is for Nick as a mixed martial artist.”
Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie also left a statement in the release, denying that Diaz’s camp used the boxing fight to gain leverage for a St-Pierre fight and although he didn’t mention St-Pierre, pointed at a special opportunity for Diaz.
“[Boxing] wasn’t just out of nowhere but at this point in time, there’s a certain chance that comes along once in a very long while and it only makes sense to stick to MMA as of right now,” Gracie said. “Nick’s been working really hard to get to this point in his MMA career and it wouldn’t make sense for us to make that transition into boxing right now. If this were a couple months ago or if certain fights had played out differently, we’d definitely be ready to go into boxing, but that’s not how it played out. Don Chargin is a great boxing promoter and he understood our dilemma completely and I thank him for that.”
Last week, Diaz met wlth UFC president Dana White to discuss his MMA future, but both parties have remained tight-lipped about the meeting. Oddsmakers over the weekend already began putting St-Pierre as an early favorite against Diaz.