There’s a silver lining in every bad situation.
After being yanked from his previously-scheduled title bout with Georges St-Pierre, Nick Diaz firmly believes he drew a much tougher opponent in former two-division champion BJ Penn.
“I think BJ is a lot better to be honest with you, on a technical standpoint. He’s much better at Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, even on a physical level I wouldn’t count him out,” Diaz said on a media conference call. “I don’t think he should be fighting at this weight. I think he’s a much better fighter than GSP all around.”
Diaz was initially set to face St-Pierre at UFC 137, but he was removed from the bout after missing two scheduled pre-fight press conferences. Welterweight contender Carlos Condit took his place, and Diaz was demoted to the co-main event to face another MMA legend and former training partner.
“I’m not happy about it at all. I’m fighting a guy that’s my friend, or was my friend, and now I’m fighting this guy,” Diaz said. “I’ll be set to fight. I signed to fight a certain guy [St-Pierre]. I thought we had a deal. That’s kind of where I’m at on it.”
Instead of challenging St-Pierre for the UFC title, Diaz will now face Penn, who is coming off a first-round knockout win over UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes and a draw with perennial welterweight contender Jon Fitch.
In MMA, it’s tough to compete against friends, training partners or family members.
Still, Diaz understands what’s at stake. If he gets past Penn, he will likely be rewarded with another title shot against the winner of St-Pierre and Condit.
“I’m going to deal with it. This is hard times, just like it’s been. I’m not expecting it to get any easier,” Diaz said. “This definitely doesn’t make it any easier. I don’t like fighting people that I already know, or I’ve already met, or trained with, or have video on me. We’ve spent a lot of time training together. It’s kind of shady feelings going into fights like that. I’m just doing what my manager says.”
Diaz is focused on the job at hand, and he plans on going into UFC 137 and defeating Penn. Even so, he is still upset at the fact that St-Pierre won’t be standing across from him.
For months, Diaz has talked about facing St-Pierre, and when he finally was awarded the opportunity, he let it slip through his hands.
St-Pierre may be one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, but Diaz feels like he has the tools to topple the champion and take his place among MMA’s all-time greats.
“I think I have the right skills and the right tools to do the job in that fight. I don’t know if this fight is going to make me come off any better or worse,” Diaz said. “I know that I think that Georges comes out; he’s a little bigger than BJ size-wise, so he’s able to hold BJ and stall for the rounds. I don’t think he would have been able to do that to me, especially in a five-round fight.”
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