UFC 137 is the beginning of a four week stretch in which the UFC will host four major cards. UFC 137 has undergone some significant changes due to injuries as well as some of Nick Diaz’s classic behavior, but at the end of the day any card headlined by Diaz vs. BJ Penn should produce some serious fireworks.
Diaz was originally scheduled to face UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, but due to Diaz failing to show for two straight press conferences, UFC President Dana White chose to remove Diaz from the main event and insert Carlos Condit in his place.
Condit was all set to take on former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion BJ Penn in the co-main event, but due to his insertion into the main event and the days getting shorter and shorter until October 29th, the UFC moved Diaz into Condit’s spot opposite BJ Penn.
If all of that wasn’t enough GSP suffered a knee injury which forced him to pull out of the fight with Condit. So here we are today just a few days away from fight night and we have lost both Condit and GSP. The Penn-Diaz bout will now occupy the main event slot with a heavyweight tilt between Cheick Kongo and Matt Mitrione sliding into the co-main event slot.
As of now Condit will face GSP once he has been medically cleared, but there has been some talk that Diaz could leapfrog Condit should he defeat Penn in impressive fashion. Think of it as the mixed martial arts version of “As The World Turns!”
One thing is for sure, the fans will still get to see great fights, they just might come off later than we expected.