Despite his comments directed at Georges St-Pierre following his win over BJ Penn at UFC 137, Nick Diaz has no hard feelings towards the UFC welterweight champion.
Diaz called out St-Pierre immediately after his victory, accusing the champion of faking his injury in order to avoid facing Diaz in the main event. Shortly after, St-Pierre reportedly asked UFC President Dana White for a matchup with Diaz on Super Bowl weekend in February next year.
However, Diaz retracted his earlier statement regarding St-Pierre and said he doesn’t hold animosity towards him. In fact, he sees the French-Canadian as a role model in the sport.
“I don’t have anything against Georges St-Pierre, I think he’s a great fighter. I think he’s a nice guy just like everybody else,” Diaz told Fightline.com. “He’s a great role model.”
The former Strikeforce welterweight champion’s post-fight comments really offended St-Pierre—but Diaz said it was the only way he could of earned his title bout with the champion. Although he put on an impressive performance, Diaz was simply not happy with himself.
During the post-fight press conference, Diaz became frustrated with the way he has been mistreated by the UFC. He blames the lack of guidance from his own camp as a result of the misrepresentation of his image.
Obviously, Diaz hopes to achieve the success and the top position that St-Pierre currently and rightfully holds.
“I would love to be that too, if I was in that position. I just, unfortunately, have never had that opportunity or the right people behind me to push me to be that type of fighter or that type of role model or what you’d like to see,” he said.
However, Diaz’s current anti-hero image has brought nothing but success for the 28-year-old and it will certainly bring him more attention and appeal as his potential title bout with the champion draws closer.
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