Well rather unexpectedly tonight, BJ Penn, who sort of but I guess not really retired after his UFC 137 hard fought defeat against Nick Diaz has taken to Twitter to both insult and call out.
Well rather unexpectedly tonight, BJ Penn, who sort of but I guess not really retired after his UFC 137 hard fought defeat against Nick Diaz has taken to Twitter to both insult and call out Diaz and the fresh off a devastating 12 second knock out loss, Jon Fitch. Penn tweeted:
It’s kind of a cheap shot to a recently wounded Jon Fitch and it’s a far cry from that comradely picture [above] snapped by Cesar Gracie after the battering he took from Nick Diaz. But Penn has always proved to have the true heart of a warrior, and if a few unkind words is what it takes to get him fired up and back in the cage, so be it. This guy puts on a show. Welcome back, BJ.
The reason the UFC decided to reverse course and book Diaz vs. GSP is that it has all the makings of a pay-per-view blockbuster. But it was also the right decision from a competitive standpoint: After Diaz’s UFC 137 victory over B.J. Penn, he’s demonstrated that he deserves to be considered the No. 2 fighter in mixed martial arts at 170 pounds.
So as we rank the Top 10 welterweights in MMA, GSP stays on top with Diaz on his heels. Find out how we rate the rest of the division below.
1. Georges St. Pierre (1): St. Pierre has really never been threatened since losing to Matt Serra in April of 2007; his current nine-fight winning streak consists of six unanimous decisions, two TKOs and one submission win without ever being in any trouble. I don’t think St. Pierre is going to lose to Diaz, but I do think Diaz has the right style, both with his high-volume punching and his ability to submit people off his back, to challenge St. Pierre in a way he hasn’t been challenged before.
2. Nick Diaz (4): As Diaz won 10 fights in a row over the last three years, a lot of skeptics raised questions about whether the guys he was beating were really all that good. No one can ask that about his 11th straight win: Penn is universally regarded as a Top 10 welterweight, and Diaz gave him a thorough pounding. Jon Fitch, who’s No. 2 in most welterweight rankings, wasn’t as successful against Penn as Diaz was. Diaz can compete with the elite, and he’s earned his opportunity to fight the best of the best in St. Pierre.
3. Jon Fitch (2): After 11 months off following his draw with Penn, Fitch is slated to return against Johny Hendricks at UFC 141 on December 30. That’s a fight that won’t do much for Fitch in the welterweight division, but it should be a good opportunity for him to grab another unanimous decision victory.
4. Josh Koscheck (5): Koscheck looked great in his first-round knockout of Matt Hughes in September. Koscheck isn’t ever going to beat St. Pierre, but it was good to see that Koscheck has recovered and is ready to resume his role as one of the welterweight division’s elite fighters.
5. Carlos Condit (7): Condit has looked great on his current four-fight winning streak, but I see no reason he’s more deserving of a title shot than Diaz. I’d like to see Condit win another fight against another Top 10 opponent before he becomes the top welterweight contender.
6. Jake Ellenberger (NR): Ellenberger enters the Top 10 on the strength of his 53-second knockout of Jake Shields. I’d love to see him rematch Condit, whom he lost to by split decision in 2009.
7. Rory MacDonald (9): The 22-year-old MacDonald is 12-1, with the only loss coming to Condit. There’s little doubt that he’ll be fighting for the UFC welterweight title some day, although he’s in no rush to do that. He gets Brian Ebersole next at UFC 140.
8. B.J. Penn (6): Penn is 1-3-1 in his last five fights, but there’s no shame in losing to Frankie Edgar and Nick Diaz, or drawing with Jon Fitch. No matter how discouraged he was after losing to Diaz, Penn shouldn’t retire. He has a lot of big fights ahead of him.
9. Jake Shields (3): Shields is now on a two-fight losing streak after being decisioned by GSP and knocked out by Ellenberger. But look for him to bounce back in 2012. He has too much talent not to.
10. John Hathaway (10): A tough decision at No. 10, but I’ll stick with Hathaway for now. An injury forced Hathaway to drop out of UFC 138, but he’s a very promising 24-year-old with a 15-1 record.
Nick Diaz tops UFC 137 salaries with $200,000. Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz slated for UFC 141 in Las Vegas on December 30th. Carlos Condit didn’t step aside so much as Georges St. Pierre chose.
They say “a picture tells a thousand words” and I can’t think of a better photo to describe the Mixed Martial Arts sport than the one [above] here. Thanks Cesar Gracie for posting it. There.
They say “a picture tells a thousand words” and I can’t think of a better photo to describe the Mixed Martial Arts sport than the one [above] here. Thanks Cesar Gracie for posting it.
There were many tense moments leading up to this unforgettable night at UFC 137. It started with the main event change up from Nick Diaz getting a shot at the title against Georges St. Pierre to Dana White revoking the shot as punishment when Diaz cost him six flights he never made. White told the media in an unusual press conference in Las Vegas where he stood at a podium next to a seated GSP and an empty chair that he couldn’t trust Diaz to show up on fight night if Diaz wasn’t even willing to show up at a press event to promote it. He said, Carlos Condit will get the title-shot instead. When Condit received the call, he told us he couldn’t even speak to White, because he was so gratefully choked up. He called White back about 15 minutes later. Then he called his father.
But as it sometimes feels, that good guys finish last, Condit would not get to fulfill his title dreams just yet. GSP was injured in training and pulled out of the fight. White had already booked Diaz vs. BJ Penn to replace Condit in that co-main event, and Condit didn’t want to look for a replacement to fight as he felt he should wait for GSP to heal and keep his title-shot. So UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz was born with the tagline: “Expect the Unexpected”.
The card was filled with spectacular match-ups and hiccups throughout. Brad Tavares was injured, as well and pulled out, promoting Scott Jorgenson vs. Jeff Curran to the main card. On the day of weigh-ins, Tyson Griffin failed to make his 145 pound weight and opponent Bart Palaszewski agreed to a catchweight at 148. Griffin was knocked out by Palaszewski in the first round. Hatsu Hioki made his UFC debut and came out victorious amidst the crowd booing for what seemed a controversial split decision against George Roop. Roy Nelson retired Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic by TKO in the third round.
We learned from Cro Cop in the pre-fight press conference that he planned on this fight, (win or lose) to be his last. He came across very accepting and good with this decision, but in the post fight press conference, we were told by Dana White that Cro Cop would not be speaking with us, as he was very upset and had left the grounds immediately. Another fighter we would learn had become emotionally charged from his Unanimous Decision loss was a battered BJ Penn who unexpectedly announced his retirement when speaking to Joe Rogan. White told us in the press conference, he hadn’t heard about the announcement and would wait for BJ to take some time and let him know his plans.
Nick Diaz was suffering some medical issues of his own when he was finally able to join us in the post fight presser. He came out with a swollen eye and very somber over his win. He explained to us that he was not happy with the win and that he faced many challenges training for this fight. He let his disappointment over losing the title-shot get the better of him. He couldn’t afford to compensate training partners who no longer can offer their services for free or little money. He made mistakes and took punches on purpose. Then it was announced by Dana White that Diaz would receive the next title-shot. Condit had agreed to step aside after White had spoken with an extremely irate GSP who wants to fight Diaz for being so disrespectful. The event will happen over Super Bowl weekend in Las Vegas and Condit wants to fight on the card. White assured that Condit will get the next shot after Diaz. Someone asked, what if Condit loses? White replied, “Oh Shit.”
Diaz wasn’t any happier with the news of his title-shot. He felt he had to come across as a villain in order to receive the shot and he is getting it, because now he called out GSP and everyone wants to see him get his ass kicked. Diaz doesn’t seem to reason, that most fans of the sport enjoy watching him fight and we want to see the match-up simply for this reason. But then, I think…here’s nice guy Condit, who in essence is [willingly] forced to step aside…hmm…maybe Diaz has a point.
Nick Diaz makes a few good points, though. He’s very misunderstood by some members of the press, as well as fans of the sport. And yet, he misunderstands the press and fans, in return. For example Diaz discussed his financial issues with us in lengthy description of how he takes long runs in beautiful neighborhoods with sprawling homes and returns to his seedy neighborhood where his car gets busted into and junkies are picking up cigarette butts around his house. We laughed at what Diaz described because his delivery was charming and honest. We got it. There are so many of us out there who could relate to him in this economy and often there is a need to inject humor about it. He didn’t understand it was a case of laughing with him. He mistook us for laughing at him. And it clicks that Nick Diaz isn’t a villain. He just doesn’t understand our motivations, as we don’t always understand his.
The basic reason for a person to choose the career path of professional fighting is the need for proving this talent. I think that’s what they all want. Even though Cro Cop planned to retire and has enriched both his fans and the new breed of fighters with his performances, he was upset because he had something to prove, even if it was just to himself. BJ took every shot like a warrior in his fight with Nick, because he had something to prove. And Nick follows in that similar mentality. Only there are two things Nick should know that he doesn’t have to prove… He is not a bad guy and he is a brilliant fighter.
Nick Diaz has made his triumphant return to the UFC. And B.J. Penn may have fought for the last time.
Diaz, the former Strikeforce welterweight champion who hadn’t fought in the UFC since 2006, battered Penn for 15 minutes on Saturday night at UFC 137, winning a unanimous decision. The judges scored it 29-28, 29-28 and 29-27 for Diaz.
It was a great showing by Diaz, whose high-volume punching turned Penn’s face into a bruised, bloody mess. Penn also marked up Diaz’s face, but Diaz seemed to shake off all of Penn’s punches, while Penn looked worn down by Diaz’s punches.
It was the 11th straight victory for Diaz, who is now expected to be the No. 1 contender in the UFC welterweight division. Diaz called out UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre after the fight, accusing St. Pierre of being scared to fight him.
A Diaz-St. Pierre fight would be a huge one, which the UFC knows — it originally booked St. Pierre vs. Diaz before Diaz’s refusal to show up for press conferences promoting the fight got that bout scrapped. It seems just a matter of time before St. Pierre and Diaz settle it inside the Octagon.
But the shocking news came after the fight, when Penn said he doesn’t want to fight anymore.
“This is probably the last time you’re going to see me here,” Penn said. “I’ve got a daughter, another daughter on the way. I don’t want to go home looking like this. I’m done.”
Whether Penn is really done we likely won’t know for a long time: Plenty of fighters have announced their retirement only to change their minds later. But Penn has seemed recently like his heart wasn’t really in MMA anymore. Diaz may have taken away Penn’s will to keep fighting.
Nick Diaz has made his triumphant return to the UFC. And B.J. Penn may have fought for the last time.
Diaz, the former Strikeforce welterweight champion who hadn’t fought in the UFC since 2006, battered Penn for 15 minutes on Saturday night at UFC 137, winning a unanimous decision. The judges scored it 29-28, 29-28 and 29-27 for Diaz.
It was a great showing by Diaz, whose high-volume punching turned Penn’s face into a bruised, bloody mess. Penn also marked up Diaz’s face, but Diaz seemed to shake off all of Penn’s punches, while Penn looked worn down by Diaz’s punches.
It was the 11th straight victory for Diaz, who is now expected to be the No. 1 contender in the UFC welterweight division. Diaz called out UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre after the fight, accusing St. Pierre of being scared to fight him.
A Diaz-St. Pierre fight would be a huge one, which the UFC knows — it originally booked St. Pierre vs. Diaz before Diaz’s refusal to show up for press conferences promoting the fight got that bout scrapped. It seems just a matter of time before St. Pierre and Diaz settle it inside the Octagon.
But the shocking news came after the fight, when Penn said he doesn’t want to fight anymore.
“This is probably the last time you’re going to see me here,” Penn said. “I’ve got a daughter, another daughter on the way. I don’t want to go home looking like this. I’m done.”
Whether Penn is really done we likely won’t know for a long time: Plenty of fighters have announced their retirement only to change their minds later. But Penn has seemed recently like his heart wasn’t really in MMA anymore. Diaz may have taken away Penn’s will to keep fighting.
Nick Diaz
