After Nick Diaz’s loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143, a fight between Diaz and Georges St-Pierre was dashed to pieces.
Many fans and most of the media were hoping that Diaz would walk away victorious, but Condit was able to fight from the outside and walk away with the decision.
Diaz lost, no matter how controversial some might see it being, and now he is going to have to get back in line and win some bouts if he wants another chance.
But will he do it?
After his fight with Carlos Condit, Diaz announced that he might be done with MMA. In an article written on Yahoo Sports, he mentioned his frustration with the fact that Condit ran and he pushed the fight.
As fans who paid good money to see the fights, it’s hard to not sympathize with Diaz. Fans want to see spectacular finishes and exciting moments. Instead they got five rounds of one fighter pedaling backwards while the other chased him.
Diaz is talented and with enough effort, a fight with Georges St-Pierre would be possible. He would have to get some serious wins over top contenders under his belt and St-Pierre would have to keep the title, but it isn’t unthinkable that it could happen.
It all comes down to Diaz.
He is a young man plagued with problems and doesn’t seem to be able to control them. If he feels his time as a fighter is up, then he will walk away.
If Diaz even wins one more fight in the Octagon, the UFC will make the match. There is simply too much money involved for it to not happen.
Even if Condit does beat St-Pierre for the title, the UFC could still make money from the animosity that both fighters have shown each other, but if the fight is going to happen, Diaz needs to keep competing.
It isn’t in Diaz’s nature to give up, though he is erratic enough to throw away an opportunity like the ones he has before him.
So the real question isn’t if Diaz will face St-Pierre, but if he will grow up enough to let the match happen down the road.
And that is only something that Diaz knows the answer to.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.com that focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
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