Although he was preparing to face BJ Penn last weekend at UFC 137, the only opponent who Nick Diaz was focused on was Georges St-Pierre.
During his post-fight interview, Diaz proceeded to call out the UFC welterweight champion. It turns out, Diaz had every intention of doing so.
Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, was a special guest on “The MMA Show” with Mauro Ranallo, and he revealed that both him and his client were instructed by UFC matchmaker Joe Silva to call out the champion.
“Before the fight, after the weigh-ins, we were told by Joe Silva, ‘If you guys want it, you guys call people out. That’s how the fights get done,'” Gracie said.
Diaz claimed that St-Pierre was faking his injury to purposely pull out of his bout with Carlos Condit, who was favoured over Diaz after he failed to appear at some media tours to promote the event. Shortly after, St-Pierre would opt to face Diaz instead of Condit, personally requesting a title bout to UFC President Dana White.
Gracie said he wanted to make sure Diaz was comfortable calling out St-Pierre.
“When I speak to Nick, I have to speak in ‘209ese’ and that’s the language he understands,” he said. “That was directed at him, I didn’t think he was going to hear it obviously.”
With Diaz’s title shot secure, it is expected his bout against St-Pierre will be scheduled for Super Bowl weekend on February 4th.
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