Nick Diaz, after unilaterally imposing his will—actually unwillingness—over those two fateful press conferences for UFC 137 a while back, has already won two rounds before October 29, 2011.
Round 1: Regaining the headline billing which was originally his and Georges St-Pierre’s in the first place.
Round 2: Regaining the headline billing, and this time in a more winnable match against B.J. Penn.
By a fortunate twist of fate and St-Pierre’s knee, his makeshift and face-saving fight versus Penn has risen from co-main event to become the event itself come the final Saturday of this month at Mandalay Bay.
After the dizzying love-hate roller-coaster ride this Cesar Gracie protege gave MMA fans, he still comes back to the UFC as a headliner. Only this time, he is opposite a fighter who has lost his belts and not as daunting as the one who wears one.
This is more palatable to the more exacting fans who believe that this comeback kid does not deserve a title shot in MMA’s top organization—yet. And that his original title fight versus St-Pierre was a tad premature and pretentious for “little” Nick.
“You a Strikeforce champion? Huh, Strikeforce ain’t a force to contend with, while GSP is and will blow you away!” they say.
Versus Penn, he faces a former champion who is a lesser wrestler, threatens “only” with boxing rather than with the whole striking arsenal, and hails from a lower weight class.
This doesn’t take away the fact that Penn is only the second fighter in UFC history to win titles in two different weight classes. He remains a first-class submission artist and is still regarded by many as a top welterweight.
Diaz without a doubt will make the most of his chance to make a loud statement by beating The Prodigy. And this time we can count on him to show up. (Right?)
Lucky guy, this Nick “I Hate Beauty Pageants” Diaz. Who knew how the UFC 137 main fight card would end up after that poor imitation of a Houdini stunt?
In hindsight, Diaz is more psychic than psycho.
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