UFC president Dana White warned that things would reach another level between UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz at Friday’s UFC 158 weigh-ins, and there was no hyperbole involved in that statement.
Nick Diaz made his way to the stage in his normal weigh-in attire, that is to say, his street clothes. His similarly attired brother, Nate, accompanied Nick.
Not surprisingly, the two Stockton, Calif. natives did not receive a warm welcome from the Montreal crowd, which may have been responsible for the extended flex/mean mug that the challenger left the crowd with.
No, the Montreal fans were clearly behind their hometown boy, Georges St-Pierre, who received a nice hand from the crowd as well as chants of “GSP” as he stepped to the scale.
St-Pierre didn’t spend any more time than necessary on the scale, confirming his weight with the commission and quickly getting dressed to get to the staredown. It should be noted that, during the entire time, Diaz’s eyes never strayed from his opponent.
Once St-Pierre stepped into the staredown, Diaz ripped the wristband from his arm, tossed it to the side and stepped into St-Pierre, but White was ready and quickly stepped between them, giving them no time and space to engage each other.
The irritation that was etched across St-Pierre’s face during the press conference was replaced by what seemed to be mild amusement as White separated the two.
The same could not be said about Diaz’s visage; there was no amusement there at all.
The two fighters then did their on-microphone duties with Joe Rogan and went their separate ways, hopefully not to meet again before they stare each other down across the Octagon on Saturday night in Montreal.
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