Nick Diaz manages to say he’s not making excuses, while at the same time making every possible excuse for the fallout from UFC 137.
In an interview wit mmajunkie.com, Diaz wants to point the finger everywhere but at himself. DIaz’s explanation was juvenile as usual,
“If I’d have known the fight was going to be off, I would have [expletive] gone to the press conference, or I would have told somebody, ‘Hey, if I don’t make it to this stupid [expletive], I’m not fighting”.
Diaz is not a 12-year-old child who needs to be told what to do. This isn’t a case of, if you go mow the lawn, you can have your allowance for the week. Diaz knows that Dana White doesn’t play around when it comes to his company and shouldn’t have tried to play the same games he got away with former Strikeforce CEO, Scott Coker.
If Anderson Silva, arguably the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world can be threatened with being fired, why did Diaz think he could get away with not playing his part in promoting UFC 137?
Later in the interview, Diaz claimed he didn’t even know there was going to be a press conference that day. Press conferences are trivial these days with the Internet, but to Dana White and the UFC, they’re still considered valuable tools with connecting to the media.
Diaz may have skipped out on some medical testing in Strikeforce, but the UFC is an entirely different league.
As White said at the press conference, “I asked him to play the game a little.” Diaz instead chose to take his ball and go home.
Following the debacle of the Diaz-Mayhem rivalry that never materialized, Diaz’s reputation is starting to falter. For being someone who never backs out of a fight, Diaz has seemingly managed the feat twice.
But instead of accepting that it was his fault (or his camp’s if he truly didn’t know), Diaz goes on to blame Georges St. Pierre for the fight falling through.
So GSP takes part in the media functions, allows a UFC television and production crew to follow him around for a few weeks and accepts a fight against someone who hasn’t fought for the UFC in years, and it’s his fault.
“I really don’t appreciate this mother [expletive] sitting there at that press conference and laughing at me,” Diaz said. “That’s some real bitch [expletive]. He’s sitting there laughing like its funny or something.
If I saw Georges on the street and called him a bitch, I bet you he wouldn’t do [expletive]. I bet you if I walked up and gave him a slap, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t do [expletive]. But you can’t do that to me. That’s not how it works for me. That’s something to fight about.”
You’re right, Nick. GSP probably wouldn’t do anything if you slapped him on the street. Not because he isn’t tough or because he’s afraid of your Stockton background.
It’s because he’s a mixed martial artist.
He knows what it takes both inside the octagon and outside to become a champion. The time spent sparring is just as valuable to the time spent in front of a microphone to UFC brass.
Nick DIaz is no doubt an excellent fighter. But if he wants to be more than just the “street thug,” he needs to grow up.
Although he isn’t trying to make these little excuses, DIaz has filled the blogosphere with reasons why he lost his title fight.
Here’s a tip for Diaz: If he wants to find the real reason he “doesn’t have the commitment to be a champion,” as GSP put it, all he needs to do is look in the mirror.
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