Though the opportunity to find out who is the more consummate combatant has gone awry due to Nick Diaz testing positive to marijuana, welterweight king Georges St-Pierre still believes that he’s the better fighter of the two.
“As far as Diaz, of course I would like to fight him because he thinks he’s better than me,” St. Pierre told the Sherdog Radio Network’s “It’s Time” show with Bruce Buffer. “I think I’m better than him.”
Following his unanimous decision loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143, a disgruntled Diaz decided to call time on his career, a decision that hasn’t sat too well with St-Pierre apropos what the Stocktonian could earn in future bouts, as well as the sacrifices that he has made en route to where he’s at now.
[…] “But I think he should not retire. He did all of the sacrifice in his life to be where he’s at right now. He’s at the highest point of his career, and if he retires now, he’s left a lot of money on the table that could pay for all of the sacrifices he has made during all those years. I think the sport of mixed martial arts needs a guy like him.”
Despite the fact that he would love to throw down with Diaz, St-Pierre is now focusing on the task at hand, which is an eventual title defense against the new interim 170-pound champion Condit.
“Of course because of the emotion, I wanted to fight Diaz, but now I want to fight Condit,” St. Pierre said. “I want to fight the best man, and the best man is Condit.”
“I wanted to fight him because of what he was, not because of what he said,” St. Pierre explained. “He was ranked No. 1 before that fight. … As much as we dislike each other, I like the guy in a way that I need a guy like him to motivate me and to make me a better martial artist.”
St-Pierre did say that a matchup with the Cesar Gracie fighter was not out of the question, as he believes Diaz would bring out the best in him if they were ever to lock horns. However, that is dependent on whether Diaz does a U-turn on his retirement plans.
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