Montreal – The buildup to UFC 158’s main event between UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz seemed to reach its boiling point during Thursday’s pre-fight press conference. However, if we are to believe UFC president Dana White that that’s not the case, things are going to get better.
St-Pierre and Diaz exchanged words on the recent media call for the fight, but during those verbal volleys, St-Pierre mostly kept his cool. Sure, he called Diaz an “uneducated fool,” but he never raised his voice during the call and at times, he actually seemed amused by the goings on.
On Wednesday, the promotion held the open workouts for Saturday’s fight card and that veneer of cool seemed to be slowly stripping away off the champion. That may have had something to do with the fact that his challenger had not bothered to show up for the workouts.
As the champion ran the gauntlet of media, doing four separate scrums before moving on to one-on-one video interviews, Diaz was presumably back in his hotel room resting up.
The heat increased at Thursday’s press conference as a visibly irritated St-Pierre had more than one exchange with Diaz as they sat on the dais. However, if we are to believe White, St-Pierre’s blood has been boiling for some time. In fact, the UFC president said, “He told me a few days ago, ‘I want to make sure that when this is over that he retires.’ So, just to give you an idea of where he is.”
White also expects things to heat up going into Friday’s weigh-ins. “You think they’re bad today, wait until tomorrow at the weigh-ins; they’ll be 10 times worse than they are today.”
That may be the promoter in White talking, but it’s looking like there may be some truth to those words, as St-Pierre’s irritation with Diaz has clearly increased as their meeting draws near.
Weigh-Ins will take place at 4 p.m. ET at the Bell Centre in Montreal and Bleacher Report will be on site to keep you informed of all the goings on from that event.
Stay tuned.
All quotes obtained firsthand.
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