UFC 158 will pit welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre against challenger Nick Diaz in a match that features two fighters who are complete opposites.
St-Pierre is much easier to figure out of the two.
He is always the ultimate professional who does exactly what is necessary of him in regard to his responsibilities to himself and the sport as a whole.
St-Pierre is always well-prepared and in great shape after countless hours of training, and he is a lock to do all the promotional work that must be done before any event he headlines. Not to mention, GSP isn’t an obnoxious, loudmouthed person who is full of himself to a nauseating extent.
These qualities make it extremely easy to root for the champ.
Diaz on the other hand, does things very differently.
While you can’t really question Diaz’s dedication to training and his work leading up to a fight, you can question his effort in the promotional work and overall responsibilities to the UFC.
In fact, this fight between Diaz and GSP was supposed to happen at UFC 137, but Diaz failed to handle his pre-fight responsibilities and UFC President Dana White ended up pulling the plug.
Even for UFC 158, Diaz has already skipped the open workouts before the event, per MMAJunkie.com staff.
And as far as being a loudmouth is concerned, Diaz completely dominated St-Pierre with numerous long tirades during a media conference call, which also left other fighters on the same call unable to get a word in at all, according to the report.
As if Diaz needed to give people another reason to dislike him.
It appears Diaz is once again attempting to sabotage his own career by tempting White to throw him off this card as well. That could potentially happen if Diaz doesn’t show up to the press conference on Thursday, which again wouldn’t be his first time doing something so bizarre.
It would be another big blow to Diaz who is finally returning to the Octagon after serving a year-long suspension thanks to a second positive drug test for marijuana, per the same MMAJunkie.com article.
At this point, Diaz’s problems are very much self-inflicted. He is no doubt a talented fighter, but it’s frustrating to see him throw away his chances at taking a step to the next level and that’s what makes him impossible to cheer for—especially against a guy like St-Pierre.
There are plenty of fighters who would love the opportunity to fight the champion and would sleep in the airport terminal in order to make sure they didn’t miss their flight. Diaz doesn’t seem to have that same kind of desire inside of him and that’s disappointing to say the least.
The fight is still a few days away as it takes place on March 16, but that’s more than enough time for Diaz to have himself erased from another UFC card. But if he does make it, don’t expect to hear much cheering for Diaz as he continues to be one of the bigger villains in the UFC today.
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