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Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz at UFC 137: Is GSP Diaz’s Worst Nightmare?

When the news came out earlier this week that UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre would be fighting Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz at UFC 137, discussions immediately began about whether Nick Diaz is the man who can dethrone GSP.Wi…

With Diaz’s unique set of skills, many believe that St-Pierre is in for a rude awakening. But I’m here to say the exact opposite.

Georges St-Pierre is Nick Diaz’s worst nightmare.

Sure, Nick Diaz is different than any other opponent that St-Pierre has ever fought. He brings tremendous cardio along with unbelievable toughness; and that’s not even bringing up his actual fighting skills.

But St-Pierre is essentially a better version of the style that has stifled Diaz throughout his entire career. It has been such a problem for him, in fact, that Diaz has even publicly complained about the way that fighting inside a cage has negatively impacted the sport by giving an advantage to wrestlers.

Though he doesn’t have a college background in it, few would debate the point that Georges St-Pierre may actually be the best wrestler in mixed martial arts. It was years ago, but if Sean Sherk, Joe Riggs and Diego Sanchez could handle Diaz, just imagine what the top welterweight in the world can do.

It has been long perceived that Diaz’s biggest weakness is stopping wrestlers, so he will certainly be working on that as he prepares for the fight. But like many of St-Pierre’s opponents in the past, expect there to come a point in the fight, particularly in the fourth or fifth rounds if it comes to that, where GSP makes use of his 77-percent takedown offense and brings the fight to the canvas.

From there, we’ll have a chance to see just how good Diaz’s jiu-jitsu really is. No one doubts Diaz’s skills on the ground, but the biggest question may be if he will be able to find any openings to throw on a submission against perhaps the “safest” fighter in the sport today.

GSP uses an unbelievably controlling style to keep his opponents on the ground without ever really being in any trouble of being submitted from the bottom. In fact, one could make the case that the last time he was even in any trouble whatsoever if being submitted was all the way back in March of 2006 in his first encounter with BJ Penn. Penn was seemingly attempting a gogoplata, but St-Pierre broke free and landed a flurry of punches before winning the judges’ decision.

But it’s not just Diaz’s wrestling that could be a mismatch in this fight. While many fans and experts believe that he will be at a disadvantage in the standup game, Georges St-Pierre may just surprise us all again by taking it to his opponent on the feet.

Almost everyone expected his most recent fight against Josh Koscheck to be another St-Pierre wrestling clinic to avoid his opponent’s ever-improving standup game. But much to the contrary, GSP actually seemed very comfortable picking apart Kos on the feet. In fact, early in the fight, a broken orbital bone showed that St-Pierre may have more power in his hands than we give him credit for.

Then again, Diaz does have some of the best punching skills in the business as he showed against Paul Daley. While Daley’s powerful hands clobbered Diaz more than once, the kid from Stockton kept his composure and was able to unleash a series of body and head shots that eventually ended the fight in the first round.

But as was shown in the fight with Daley, Nick Diaz’s confidence can sometimes be his downfall. While he was unquestionably the better fighter on the ground, he insisted on standing with the Brit and exchanging blows. GSP doesn’t have the same kind of power that Daley does, but his quickness and technique are probably even better. If Diaz leaves his hands down again, he’s going to get absolutely picked apart.

The bottom line is that Georges St-Pierre is practically custom-built to beat a guy like Nick Diaz. All of Diaz’s usual advantages in jiu-jitsu, standup technique and cardio will be nullified in this fight due to St-Pierre’s efficient and smooth game-planning.

If he can avoid getting into a firefight, this is definitely GSP’s fight to lose. Don’t be surprised if it goes to another five round decision as Diaz has only been finished twice in his career, but look for another thorough, one-sided win from the world’s top 170-pound fighter.

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Nick Diaz vs Georges St-Pierre Begs the Question: What About Anderson Silva?

Georges St-Pierre is the poster boy for the UFC and why not? He is clean cut, intelligent, a great fighter and an easy sell all around the world for not only the promotion, but big players in the world of sport. With advertising campaigns&nbs…

Another face of the UFC is Brazilian middleweight Anderson Silva, who maybe isn’t as media or fan friendly as St-Pierre due to the language barrier, but he more than makes up for that with his eight consecutive title defences and spectacular finishes.

Both fighters have pretty much cleaned out their respective divisions and being only one weight class apart from each other fans have been begging the UFC to make the St-Pierre vs Silva superfight happen.

The buzz for the super fight has been going strong for the better part of the last two years, but every time it appears as if it may be a possibility, it gets shot down and put on the back burner until both Silva and St-Pierre win their next fights.

Silva was coming off his front kick knockout of Vitor Belfort and White had said that one of the last pieces in place for the super fight to happen was for St-Pierre to beat Jake Shields at UFC 129 in Toronto, which he did.

Obviously St-Pierre’s performance against Shield’s didn’t quite live up to its expectations and that can partly be blamed on the fact that St-Pierre injured his eye and Shields, like many of St-Pierre’s past opponents, wasn’t bringing the fight to the champion.

St-Pierre’s performance, coupled with the fact that the UFC now owns Strikeforce and the rights to all their fighters, there seemed to be a strong push from the fans and media to make the St-Pierre vs Nick Diaz fight happen and that is exactly what was put together for UFC 137.

Once again, St-Pierre vs. Silva was pushed to the wayside as St-Pierre will defend his welterweight title against Diaz, and Silva will be putting his middleweight title on the line against the last man to beat him Yushin Okami.

The fight with Diaz has the makings of a good fight and one can’t really blame the UFC for putting the fight on, but it is difficult to say with conviction that the matchup will put St-Pierre in danger of losing his belt.

Diaz is an aggressive fighter and there is no doubting the fact that he will bring the fight to St-Pierre. He has a vast enough skill set to compete with St-Pierre standing up or on the ground.

A fight with Diaz will probably bring out the best in St-Pierre and will most likely be a very exciting fight.

The same can not be said for the Silva vs. Okami fight. Although Okami is a great fighter with a solid wrestling base that has frustrated many of the middleweight division’s top contenders, he simply doesn’t bring any fireworks into his matches.

Okami will look to take Silva down and Silva will patiently wait to counter Okami in the exchanges. Of course this could turn out to be a great fight, but it certainly doesn’t have the feel that a St-Pierre vs. Silva matchup would have.

St-Pierre would have to search out take downs against Silva who has shown that his one weakness in mixed martial arts is his wrestling, and Silva would have to keep the fight standing, where he would stand a very good chance at catching the welterweight champion with one of his devastating strikes.

Despite Silva’s lack of a solid wrestling game his Brazilian jiu-jitsu makes up for it and is something St-Pierre would have to watch out for while hanging out in the Spider’s guard, just ask Chael Sonnen about that.

The facts that this fight has been kicking around for two years, that both Silva and St-Pierre have kept on winning and both guys are under the UFC banner really begs the question, why hasn’t Silva vs. St-Pierre come to fruition?

There are a number of speculations that can made.

For one, the UFC has two of the most dominant champions ever and to force one of them to lose maybe bad for the fighter’s image and ultimately for the promotion. That being said, if St-Pierre has to move up to middleweight or Silva down to welterweight, most people won’t hold a loss for the fighter who changes weight classes against them.

Secondly, a fighting weight seems to be difficult to agree on. St-Pierre has been very careful around the idea of moving up to middleweight, claiming he would do it permanently and that it would be a complete re-orientation of his career—a risk the welterweight champion seems unwilling to take.

Asking Silva to drop to welterweight is a tall task considering his height and natural weight. He did say at one point that he would go down, but all talks of that happening seem to have been shelved.

The last possibility would be for the two fighters to meet somewhere in the middle for a catch weight bout, but then it doesn’t have the lucrativeness of a title fight where one of the fighters is putting their belt on the line.

Speculation aside, there is no doubt that the UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenza Fertitta have expressed their interest in the fight only to have them come back on their words for some reason unbeknownst to the fans or media.

Dana White is constantly referring to the fight as a fantasy fight where a lot of pieces need to fall into place to make the fight a reality, what exactly those pieces are is anybody’s guess.

Of course St-Pierre vs. Diaz should be an exciting fight and despite Okami’s sometimes boring style, Silva has the ability to add excitement to any fight he is in, unless his opponents’ names are Demian Maia or Thales Leites.

Maybe once these matchups have gone and past and if both Silva and St-Pierre still have UFC gold around their waists fans will get the chance to witness one of the grandest pound-for-pound matchups in the history of the sport.

Hopefully it happens soon because Silva certainly isn’t getting any younger at 36 years of age.

Leon Horne has been contributing to Bleacher Report for three years now. He focuses mainly on mixed martial arts, but he has also written about tennis, football and hockey. Just send him a message if you want to talk sports or discuss any opportunities. You can follow him on Twitter for updates:

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Why Clay Guida as the UFC Lightweight Champion Is Dana White’s Worst Nightmare

Last night couldn’t come fast enough for me. I was salivating at the chance to watch Anthony Pettis and Clay Guida mix it up at The Ultimate Fighter Finale 13. Everything was pointing towards the direction of not only a Fight of the Night bonus, but a …

Pettis has shown time and time again that he has a penchant for pulling off exciting and surprising moves that leave people shaking their heads in amazement. From his head kick knockout of Danny Castillo, to his outwrestling Shane Roller at WEC 50, Pettis leaves no stones unturned when looking for ways to win.

He is as active a fighter as there is, and now that he was going to face off with the original Energizer Bunny of mixed martial arts Clay Guida, we thought these two were going to go nonstop for 15 minutes and leave the fans screaming in favor of five round nontitle fights.

Ever since fans got their first glimpse of Guida, they recognized his heart and his insatiable desire to compete. This is a man who could probably run a marathon after just finishing a grueling war inside the cage. Even with all of his desire and energy, Guida was still lacking an ability to finish his opponents; he would get them down and seemingly lie on top of them.

Some started calling him Lay Guida because of his lie-n-pray style. Don’t get me wrong. I am not someone who constantly complains when another fighter continuously takes his opponent down and inflicts little to no damage. As long as he is trying to land or improve his position, then it’s up to the fighter on the bottom to get back up.

Guida seemed as though he was trying his hardest to hurt his opponent or get into a better position instead of lying inside of their guard, but he wasn’t all that successful. Don’t get me wrong. He was giving it his all, and he wanted to do more—that can never be called into question.

Guida had his share of spectacular moments, such as his fights of the year with Tyson Griffin and Diego Sanchez, but it is my belief it was due more to the pressure put on by his opponents than it was his willingness to stand and trade with them. In his fight with Sanchez, he took a beating and even when he took Sanchez down, he did virtually nothing. In fact, Sanchez was far more active from the bottom than Guida was from the top.

Then Guida started training with Greg Jackson, and it was a like a light bulb went off in his head. He became more aggressive and in turn much more appealing. He won three straight fights all by stoppage against Shannon Gugerty, Rafael Dos Anjos and Takanori Gomi. Against Gomi, he looked like a true title contender. He was fighting to win instead of fighting not to lose.

Those fights combined with the excitement that Pettis brings to the cage each and every time out were reasons enough for fans to expect a war last night. Instead, we were treated to Guida reverting back to his pre-Jackson days, and doing what he had to do not to lose.

Even though he spent most of the fight on top of Pettis, it was Showtime who was looking for ways to finish the fight and land strikes from his back. He was far more active and was constantly looking for armbars and triangle chokes. One thing I do have to say about Guida is he showed excellent submission defense last night.

No one wants a champion who is going to fight the way Guida did last night. We are not asking these guys to risk losing every time out just to make us happy, but there has to be a happy medium. Fans felt Frankie Edgar was too boring until he showed his first victory over BJ Penn wasn’t a fluke, and then followed that up with a fantastic fight against Gray Maynard.

If I’m Dana White, my worst nightmare would be a UFC Lightweight Title bout with Guida and Maynard as the two participants. Both men have a history of smothering their opponents without doing much to finish them off. Maynard seemed to really open up against Edgar at UFC 125, but it’s still to be determined whether or not that was sign of things to come or just an aberration.

Guida is everything a champion is not. He is not very easy on the eyes. In fact, he looks like a caveman. His hair is unkempt and all over the place. He rambles on and on during his interviews making very little sense and has no problem belching or blowing his nose in front of the cameras. Not everyone has to be dapper like GSP, but a champion is expected to carry himself in a certain manner.

Is Guida the type of fighter White and Lorenzo Fertitta want leading the charge for one of their most exciting divisions? Is he the guy they want to send out on press junkets promoting the sport and trying to attract new fans? Absolutely not, which is why there will be plenty of sleepless nights for UFC management if Clay Guida ever becomes the UFC Lightweight Champion.

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Top 5 Reasons Why the UFC Welterweight Division Is Not Close to Cleaned out

The public’s attention has been directed at the UFC’s welterweight division over the past couple of weeks, especially after the organization officially announced a very intriguing title fight between champion Georges St-Pierre and contender…

What has made this particular division a hotbed of headlines has been the developments of key match-ups, injuries, replacements, talent depth and the future of some of its most notable and young competitors.

The UFC’s 170-pound stable is fresher than ever, stockpiled with legitimate contenders to challenge the champ, if he manages to get past Diaz.

Obviously, most eyeballs have been firmly locked on the division’s highly touted, pound-for-pound title holder and his surrounding possibilities—a natural obsession from fans that love or hate him for being so dominant.

GSP may be the eye of the welterweight hurricane, the center of gravity, but he is accompanied by a line of eager contenders aiming to continually change the landscape.

Comparatively, the most intriguing divisional possibilities in the UFC are at 170 pounds right now, regardless of the misconception that the division is on the brink of being cleaned out. That sentiment couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here are the top five welterweight puzzle pieces, who have made impressive strides within the last year and will be within arm’s reach of a shot at the prized belt soon, keeping the champion busy enough to bury ideas of moving up weight classes.

Nick Diaz is only the beginning.

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The Ultimate Fighter Finale: Coaching Matchups Fans Want to See

As much as the Ultimate Fighter has been known for giving unknown MMA fighters a chance to fight for a UFC contract, it has also been know for the teams coaches going at it. Some coaches are picked because of title implications…

As much as the Ultimate Fighter has been known for giving unknown MMA fighters a chance to fight for a UFC contract, it has also been know for the teams coaches going at it.

Some coaches are picked because of title implications. Others just make for good tv or have grudges with one another.

This season of TUF was a letdown for many. Some of the fighters and coaches alike lacked the personality and flare that past seasons have brought us.

Both Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos have been respectful to each other making for boring television.

This season’s relatively calmness could change next season when Michael Bisping coaches against Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Both guys are known for their personalities, and have the ability to work their opponents’ nerves.

Here are some other coaching match ups that people may want to see.

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Five Ways to Make UFC Undisputed 3 the Ultimate MMA Game

Earlier this week the UFC announced that the latest title in their video game series, UFC Undisputed 3, would be released in January 2012. Several new features were announced to get fans excited, including the additions of the featherweight and bantamw…

Earlier this week the UFC announced that the latest title in their video game series, UFC Undisputed 3, would be released in January 2012.

Several new features were announced to get fans excited, including the additions of the featherweight and bantamweight fighters (duh!), the new PRIDE Mode, which lets you use the old PRIDE FC rules (sweet!) and entrances for fighters.

But as a video game fan and more importantly, a UFC Undisputed fan, there are a few things I would like added to the game that would hopefully make it a bit more fun.

I’m going to propose five changes to make UFC Undisputed 3 the best game possible. If you have something to add, let me know in the comments section!

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