UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is one of the most recognizable fighters in MMA, is a fan favorite and is the UFC’s golden boy. However, to retain these accolades, he absolutely must finish former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz at UFC 137.
It’s hard to imagine that at one time St-Pierre was an extraordinarily popular fighter and had few, if any, detractors. This was in large part due to his respectful personality, fighting spirit and exciting style that earned him the nickname “Rush.” But this would eventually turn sour.
After taking the UFC welterweight title from Matt Hughes at UFC 65 via devastating head-kick knockout, many thought the young phenom would remain champion for years to come. Unfortunately for St-Pierre, The Ultimate Fighter season four winner Matt “The Terror” Serra humiliated him in a brutal first round TKO victory.
Since then, St-Pierre has been a noticeably more careful fighter, especially after he regained the title from Serra at UFC 83.
Before winning the belt for the second time, St-Pierre had 17 fights with a 15-2 record overall. Only three of those 15 victories were by way of decision. Things changed once St-Pierre recaptured the championship from Serra.
In the six fights he has had since then, five have gone to decision and the only “finish” was B.J. Penn’s corner electing to stop the bout.
It can certainly be said that St-Pierre has faced tougher competition in those fights than in his previous ones and that’s why he hasn’t finished a fight in so long (it’s been over two years since the finish in the Penn fight) but many fans and pundits don’t adopt that attitude.
The fact of the matter is that a significant portion of the MMA community labels St-Pierre as a “boring” fighter who never seeks to finish the fight. According to them, he always looks for a decision and usually prefers to use his wrestling to negate an opponent’s offense while doing no attacking of his own; he is the quintessential “lay and pray” fighter.
Whether or not this sentiment is true or false isn’t particularly important because so many people believe it. Fans are angered when he doesn’t finish a fight and turns in a lackluster decision; they want to see fights finished, they want a champion who “stands and bangs,” they want…Nick Diaz.
Nick Diaz had a mildly impressive run in the UFC at 6-4. However, that is not what he is most remembered for by fans. The fans of today remember Diaz for his brash attitude (flipping off cameras, wanting to slap Ariel Helwani) and his thrilling, taunt-laden, never-say-die fighting style.
Even though Diaz started out as a hated figure in the sport due to his disrespectful nature, trash talk and purported classlessness, he is swiftly becoming something of an anti-hero. Fans are rallying behind Diaz because he represents the total antithesis of St-Pierre.
St-Pierre is a clean cut poster boy who never, ever speaks out of line (in fact he uses “canned answers” that have no real emotional attachment or care in the delivery; he is a PR person’s dream in that sense), and doesn’t always “put on a show” as it were.
Compare him to Diaz who is a scrappy, tough, trash-talking person (who was even involved in a post-fight brawl) that always seeks to finish fights either with his hands or by submission. The two could not be any more different.
Thus, going into the fight the fans will be torn. St-Pierre is the more popular fighter but many have been becoming increasingly annoyed with him after each decision over an opponent they feel he could’ve finished.
Diaz on the other hand has been putting on exciting fights for a while now and his fanbase is growing.
Should St-Pierre again win by a (boring) decision, the fans will be fed up and turn on him; they will grow to hate him. He may lose his ability to draw buys due to the fact that fans think he is boring; even his sterile personality will be hated on.
The fans will then support fighters like Nick Diaz who have a more crowd-pleasing style.
Thus, while St-Pierre fought conservatively in his other fights to guarantee victory which guaranteed fame, fortune and fans, in this case it is the opposite. Against Nick Diaz, St-Pierre needs to fight to finish to retain all of the gains he has made in the sport as well as his reputation as one of the greatest of all time.
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