UFC 137 was suppose to be the night that former Strikeforce welterweight champ Nick Diaz met Georges St-Pierre for the UFC welterweight title.
Instead, Diaz missed two required press conferences and will now take less pay to face B.J. Penn. Replacing Diaz is is Penn’s original opponent and St-Pierre’s teammate, Carlos Condit.
While it is disappointing to see Diaz out of the St-Pierre fight, having him face Penn is even better.
Both Penn and Diaz are Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts who are also good at boxing.
Diaz is an entertaining fighter. He’s hard to take out, and no matter how good of a striker or ground expert his opponent is, Diaz will play their game just to say he’s better than they are at it.
Penn is also not one to shy away from his opponents.
Despite being small for a welterweight, Penn has held his own against Matt Hughes, Jon Fitch, and St-Pierre in their first fight.
When Penn is motivated, he’s one of the most dangerous fighters in MMA.
Carlos Condit is another dangerous fighter, but he is facing the best the division has to offer in St-Pierre.
Despite being the best, St-Pierre has also been one of the most boring fighters in the welterweight division.
St-Pierre doesn’t like other referring to him as a boring fighter. But he also does not take risks.
St-Pierre is the best at game planning and exploiting his opponent’s weaknesses.
Although he has tried to put his opponents out, St-Pierre hasn’t finished a fight since he defeated B.J. Penn at UFC 94 in 2009.
Condit may also be cautious coming into the fight knowing he’s facing the best.
Diaz and Penn on the other hand may come out guns a blazing just because they want to one up one another and put on a good show.
We’ll have to actually wait until October 29 to actually see which fight will be better. But my bet is Diaz and Penn could take home Fight of the Night.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com