The story of the week, by all rights, should have been that the UFC triumphed again and put together a huge heavyweight fight at the end of the year … until Nick Diaz wigged out and went AWOL, missing two beauty pageants press conferences and losing his shot at GSP’s title and all the riches that would follow. Now every MMA site on the web has three stories about the man from the 209, and we won’t start talking about Lesnar-Overeem until mid-September at the earliest.
Since we’re all speculating, CagePotato thought we would pass on this delicious rumor: Nick Diaz will still be competing at UFC 137, against BJ Penn.
Dana White told MMAJunkie yesterday that he was working on finding an opponent to replace Carlos Condit, and he obviously had someone in mind, saying “if I told you what I want to do with that fight you guys would flip out, so we’ll see what happens.”
Diaz wasn’t born with enough middle fingers.
The story of the week, by all rights, should have been that the UFC triumphed again and put together a huge heavyweight fight at the end of the year … until Nick Diaz wigged out and went AWOL, missing two beauty pageants press conferences and losing his shot at GSP’s title and all the riches that would follow. Now every MMA site on the web has three stories about the man from the 209, and we won’t start talking about Lesnar-Overeem until mid-September at the earliest.
Since we’re all speculating, CagePotato thought we would pass on this delicious rumor: Nick Diaz will still be competing at UFC 137, against BJ Penn.
Dana White told MMAJunkie yesterday that he was working on finding an opponent to replace Carlos Condit, and he obviously had someone in mind, saying “if I told you what I want to do with that fight you guys would flip out, so we’ll see what happens.”
See, White has a real problem in Diaz. The last thing Zuffa wants to do is release him, since he would immediately sign a deal with another promotion like EliteXC or Bellator and be fighting again before Halloween. Despite all the backlash against Diaz in the last twelve hours, he’s still a massively popular fighter because of his style, and White has started to catch on to the fact that cutting fighters too quickly only makes his competition stronger.
Expect the UFC to take the stance that pulling Diaz from the title fight is sufficient punishment for his unreliability and general sketchiness, and for them to carry on with “business as usual” with Diaz. And the first step in that process will be the announcement that Diaz will have to face Baby Jay to start making amends.
A match between the two would be intriguing because both fighters have sharp boxing skills backed up with superlative groundwork, and both fighters have been criticized for inconsistency in the past. Of course, Penn is inconsistent in that you never know who will show up at a BJ Penn fight, while Diaz is not consistently a rational human being. The result: a fight every bit as unpredictable and competitive as Diaz himself.
Now if they can just get him back into the Octagon…
Filed under: UFCWhat is more surprising: that Nick Diaz blew off two straight promotional obligations and expected to stay in his championship match, or that many of his supporters believe he was somehow wronged by being removed from the opportunity of…
What is more surprising: that Nick Diaz blew off two straight promotional obligations and expected to stay in his championship match, or that many of his supporters believe he was somehow wronged by being removed from the opportunity of a lifetime?
I’m not here to pile on Diaz. He has already earned himself quite a penalty by losing out on a huge payday as well as a chance to win the UFC welterweight championship from Georges St-Pierre. Both are things he said he wanted, but neither was enough to get him to step on a plane. I am here to add a little sanity to a bizarre situation.
While no one questions his fighting heart and gameness, he has never answered the questions of maturity, a problem intermittently reflected in his behavior over the years, which at various times has included a slew of missed promotional obligations, a hospital fight, a positive drug test, an in-ring brawl, and no-showing a mandatory drug test that cost him a title match.
Yes, believe it or not, this is the second major title fight that he’s lost out on because he simply didn’t show up.
The behavior of Diaz in missing press conferences in back-to-back days comes as no big surprise. Anyone in the media who has tried to interview Diaz in the past knows he is notoriously press averse. Most fans know that. His bosses definitely know that.
Yet a few months ago, when Diaz openly campaigned for bigger paydays and more major opportunities, UFC president Dana White had only one request: play the game. Work with me.
It seemed simple enough, but in the back of White’s mind, he was never quite sure if Diaz was truly going to follow through with the promise.
It’s easy to wonder what would cause someone in line for the biggest payday of his life to throw it away for no good reason. Maybe this is exactly what we wants. He’s said in the past he doesn’t love fighting. In fact, he hates it. Why else would he miss not one but three flights? Why else would he offering no explanation to his bosses, simply going AWOL? There’s a basic disrespect underpinning that type of response. Even if he has legitimate issues that need to be addressed, you owe your bosses an explanation for absence.
That’s because Diaz is 28 years old. He’s a grown man, and has had the time, resources and support system to address his problems. It’s not as if he never attended a press conference before. Sure, each time he did it begrudgingly, but at least he was there. Woody Allen once famously said that “80 percent of success is just showing up.” Remarkably, the easiest part is sometimes the most difficult.
Many Diaz apologists have already protested the opponent switch; he’s out, and Carlos Condit is in. But the UFC has a billion-dollar business to run, and they can’t risk Diaz not showing up when it truly matters.
On a video released on Youtube on Wednesday night, Diaz never explained his absence, but says “I’ve never not showed up to a fight.”
That’s simply not true. In August 2009, Diaz no-showed a pre-fight drug test in the days leading up to his Strikeforce title fight with Jay Hieron. The fight was set, the title hung in the balance, and Diaz was nowhere to be found.
Does that scenario sound familiar?
That was exactly what White feared about Diaz in the past. Even when the UFC and Strikeforce were separate entities, White never spoke badly about Diaz, explaining that he simply wouldn’t play by the rules.
But during his current streak of 10 straight wins, Diaz became too good to ignore. As a fighter, there is much to like about him. He is tenacious, aggressive, talented and full of heart. He has great fight instincts, and a finisher’s mentality. He competes with a chip on his shoulder. There is always something to prove for him. It was that kind of drive that led to him to repeatedly ask for the opportunity that he was eventually granted.
White gambled. He believed Diaz. He took the chance that maybe he’d grown up.
When a fighter elevates himself towards the top, there are certain conditions that come with it. Many fighters don’t enjoy doing the media rounds, but it is a necessary evil. He always talks about wanting to make Georges St-Pierre money, or Floyd Mayweather money, but ignores the fact that both of those stars are out in front of the camera, selling the fight up until showtime. It may not be fun, but it’s how you get paid.
Diaz will somehow rebound from this. He’s still young, he’s still good, and he’s still in demand. In the long run, the experience may even come to help him. In the best-case scenario, he will learn from his mistakes and mature. In the worst-case scenario, it will pull his fans in closer. There will always be a certain counterculture vibe to MMA, and he might as well be its patron saint. Too good to lose, and too wild to be corralled.
Nothing lasts forever though, and unless something changes, Diaz is likely to be remembered as a hell of a fighter, and a terrible businessman.
Georges St-Pierre will now face Carlos Condit in the main event at UFC 137.After learning that Condit would replace former challenger Nick Diaz, this title bout has been met with an overwhelming amount of intrigue and a positive response. Perhaps …
Georges St-Pierre will now face Carlos Condit in the main event at UFC 137.
After learning that Condit would replace former challenger Nick Diaz, this title bout has been met with an overwhelming amount of intrigue and a positive response.
Perhaps the only negative aspect that could come out of this bout is that head trainer Greg Jackson has decided to opt out of training either fighter. Seeing as how both St-Pierre and Condit are teammates, it would make sense for Jackson to have a lesser role in the bout rather than be criticized for picking favourites.
Jackson expressed his thoughts on the upcoming bout between St-Pierre and Condit and said he was prepared for this type of situation. While he said he is not a fan of the idea of competing against a fellow teammate, he understands it is a smart business move in order to promote the event and both fighters’ careers.
So, does this mean Greg Jackson’s presence will be sorely missed?
Well, not necessarily.
Obviously not having Jackson in their corner, physically, might be a bit difficult at first. But the idea of no longer of having Jackson in a leadership role creates a great opportunity for other trainers like Phil Nurse and John Danaher to step in and take control and showcase their abilities as coaches. Each trainer has had previous experience working with each fighter individually, and they know how to formulate strategies based on their skill-set and experience.
Not to mention, the knowledge both St-Pierre and Condit can take from their experience from working with Jackson will surely benefit them—especially for St-Pierre, who is one of the most intelligent and strategic fighters in mixed martial arts.
Although the concept of both teammates competing against each other might intrigue a lot of fans, realistically, neither fighter has trained with each other extensively enough to worry at the thought of being exposed. So this bout makes even more sense on all levels.
For the first time, fans will witnessing be a bout between two teammates that will certainly break the proverbial wall in regards to providing more competition, and it could allow other bouts between teammates to come into existence in the future.
Both fighters are a product of Greg Jackson, and the performance they will put on at UFC 137 will not only settle the old adage of “teammate vs. teammate,” but it will also give a better indication of who actually is the better fighter.
Nick Diaz has a long history of antics that have never meshed well with UFC President Dana White.The head honcho has long thought of the former Strikeforce welterweight champion as a “true talent,” but has been against signing the Stockton native due t…
Nick Diaz has a long history of antics that have never meshed well with UFC President Dana White.
The head honcho has long thought of the former Strikeforce welterweight champion as a “true talent,” but has been against signing the Stockton native due to his inability to “play the game,” as he would say.
Today was no different, as Diaz no-showed a pre-fight press conference in the lead up to his title bout with reigning champ Georges St-Pierre, who will now face Carlos Condit on October 19 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
It’s the second day in a row that the 28-year-old his skipped his obligations to the promotion, when yesterday he was scheduled for an appearance in Toronto, Canada alongside GSP, but as you can imagine, things didn’t go as planned.
White is beside himself, going back-and-forth between whether or not to cut the exciting welterweight standout, though he might already have some other options for the Cesar Gracie protege.
Now that Condit, who is riding a four fight win streak inside the Octagon, has been pulled from his co-main event tilt with former champ B.J. Penn at UFC 137, White stops short of saying that Diaz could be in line to take on the Hawaiian–though only speculation remains.
“I’m sure I’m going to have one seriously pissed off Hawaiian to deal with”, said the UFC exec, who spoke with MMAJunkie.com about his immediate plans.
“I’m working on that now…If I told you what I want to do with that fight you guys would flip out, so we’ll see what happens”.
Diaz remains adamant that he still wishes to fight, but his spot within the organization is still shrouded in doubt after his most recent mishaps.
You would think that after screwing up badly enough to have a title shot yanked away and with your future career with your employer hanging by a thread as a result, you might want to, I don’t know, apologize and show some sort of emotion that resembles remorse for your actions.
If you’re Nick Diaz, you pretty much do the opposite of that.
You would think that after screwing up badly enough to have a title shot yanked away and with your future career with your employer hanging by a thread as a result, you might want to, I don’t know, apologize and show some sort of emotion that resembles remorse for your actions.
If you’re Nick Diaz, you pretty much do the opposite of that.
“I’m trying to get back to Stockton here. I was out in San Francisco at the last minute trying to get on an airplane this morning trying to get to a press conference for the UFC wanted me to fight for the title against Georges St-Pierre and now they’re telling me that they’re going to give the fight to Carlos Conduit, which I think is ridiculous and Georges thinks it’s a great idea because Carlos Conduit poses an even greater threat,” Diaz pointed out. “So I guess that just leaves me out. It’s funny, one second I’m about to come into some money, do a little boxing, you know, fucking probably lose some teeth. But I’m ready to get paid, you know? So I’ll fight whoever, whatever, you know. Anything. I’d definitely rather fight GSP, you know. I was ready to do some boxing, but they didn’t like that, so they got me out of that and they got me in a fight with GSP for the same money or more money or whatever. But now it looks like they get to save money and I don’t get paid.”
First off, how till the UFC save money when all of the billboards, print ads and video promos will have to be recut on top of a metric shit ton of other expenses they’ll have to incur because of the change of opponent? You can bet Dana will make it well worth Condit’s while to step up and take the bout as well.
Still, Nick thinks he’s the one getting screwed here.
“I’m locked in a contract and all these dealmakers making deals. I don’t know. All I know is I’m ready to fight, so I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the beauty pageant, but, you know, I’ve never not showed up to a fight,” he explained, like it excused his failure to meet his press obligations this week. “I’ve never backed out of a fight in my life.That’s not what I do, so I just wanted to throw all that out there. What are you gonna do? I’m ready to fight. I’m pretty much done here. You know what I mean? This is what it’s, you know? So peace out.”
So for those keeping score at home, according to Diaz he was duped by the “deal makers” (likely meaning Gracie and White) to turn his back on his boxing dreams to instead sign with the UFC, which would pay the same type of money and give him more opportunities than fighting cans and has-beens, but because he didn’t feel like going to this week’s “beauty pageants” he now won’t get to fight or make any money, which is ridiculous.
Somebody needs to explain the basic principles of economics to this poor sociopath.
Screw it, I’ll do it.
Nick, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. A big part of your job is to promote your fights. You didn’t do your job and now you’re suspended without pay. If you weren’t fighting, McDonald’s would likely have instituted the same punishment had you refused to clean the grease traps, so quit playing the victim who thinks everyone is out to get him. The Man isn’t holding you back. Your immaturity and bad decisions are. Know what I’m sayin’?
After learning that Carlos Condit will replace Nick Diaz to headline UFC 137, UFC Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre believes he got the better end of the deal in facing “The Natural Born Killer.”Still shocked by the sudden departure from Diaz, St…
After learning that Carlos Condit will replace Nick Diaz to headline UFC 137, UFC Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre believes he got the better end of the deal in facing “The Natural Born Killer.”
Still shocked by the sudden departure from Diaz, St-Pierre will move forward and prepare to face Condit, who is currently riding a four-fight winning streak.
“Condit has way more power, way more diversity of attack than Nick Diaz. He’s got very good jiu-jitsu. I think he’s going to be a way more dangerous opponent than Nick Diaz.”
Condit, who holds wins over Jake Ellenberger, Dong-Yung-Kim and Rory McDonald, was originally scheduled to face BJ Penn on the card’s co-main event. Had he got past the Hawaiian, he would have likely been next in line to challenge for the title.
However, removing Diaz from the main event allowed Condit to take advantage of the opportunity and compete for the title a little earlier than he expected. A recipient of consecutive “Knockout of the Night” honors, St-Pierre not only sees more of a threat in Condit, but a more versatile fighter than Diaz.
“I’ve watched a couple of his fights, and it seems to me he has a bigger variety of attack standing up,” the champion said of Condit.
“He can hit me with knees, elbows and everything, and he hits harder than Nick Diaz. For me, it’s a fight that I actually believe is way more dangerous.”
Although the bout has lost some significance, St-Pierre does not think about who his opponent is, but rather the potential problems put in front of him.
And while he was prepared to face Diaz, St-Pierre is content with a new challenger and superior opponent in Condit.
“But I do believe that Carlos Condit is more dangerous than Nick Diaz,” he said.
“I do believe that if Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit would fight, I would put my money on Carlos Condit. For me, it’s even a bigger challenge.”
Diaz wasn’t born with enough middle fingers. 
What is more surprising: that 
Georges St-Pierre will now face Carlos Condit in the main event at