Well, that’s one less thing for Dana White and Georges St-Pierre to worry about.
As announced on the UFC’s Twitter feed, welterweight title contender Nick Diaz and his brother Nate Diaz arrived in Montreal on Tuesday night for Wednesday’s first UFC 158 press conference.
For the older Diaz brother, that’s actually an accomplishment.
Showing up for press events is a general requirement for UFC headliners, but Nick had issues doing so during 2011 in a chain of events that eventually cost him a title shot against St-Pierre at UFC 137.
However, Nick’s odd luck managed to swing in his favor, as an injury to GSP paved the way for B.J. Penn to step in as a replacement headliner against Diaz.
Unfortunately, Diaz’s win over Penn was followed by an interim title shot defeat to Carlos Condit.
But MMA is a strange sport, and at the request of the returning undisputed champion St-Pierre, Nick is back in the title picture for a superfight grudge match.
Now, all Nick has to do is make it to Montreal’s Bell Centre on Jan. 23 by 7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET.
But just in case the Stocktonian somehow misses the press conference (and others after it), Dana White may be more than ready to make a switch.
In a rarely-used tactic of “safety net” matchmaking, UFC 158’s main card will host three bouts between six of the top welterweights in the sport, with Carlos Condit rematching Rory MacDonald and Johny Hendricks putting his No. 1 contendership on the line against Jake Ellenberger.
Any one of those men could take Diaz’s place, should the need arise.
Hopefully, every fighter makes it to the card and the bouts stay intact. Barring unforeseen changes, UFC 158 will be held at the Bell Centre and broadcast on pay-per-view on Saturday, March 16.
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