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Nick Diaz Challenges Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137 in October

By Rappy,
in The Sporting Arena

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Grand Master

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After a month of speculation that started after UFC 129 in Toronto, it's official: UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will defend his title against Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz.

UFC president Dana White made the news official on Wednesday afternoon through his Twitter account, saying, "U wanted it! U GOT IT!!!" White said the fight will take place on Oct. 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas for what will be UFC 137.

St-Pierre defended his title with a unanimous decision victory over Jake Shields at UFC 129 in Toronto at the end of April. After the post-fight press conference, White talked about potential interest in a GSP-Diaz bout with a small group of reporters. And fans and analysts have been calling for it ever since.

Through the last month, White has been insistent that there have been obstacles in the way of Diaz simply coming over to the UFC to fight St-Pierre. And one of those obstacles was Diaz saying he was interested in trying his hand at boxing ? even hooking up with a promoter before pulling back and deciding to stick with MMA.

White met with the Strikeforce champion, who after a TKO win over Paul Daley in April seemed to have run out of challenges in the promotion, which is now owned by the UFC. White and the UFC needed to clear the hurdle of Diaz's Strikeforce contract ? and there have apparently been enough inroads made for White to make the fight announcement.

The initial announcement leaves several questions lingering, though. White was not immediately available for comment on what Diaz's return to the UFC means for his Strikeforce welterweight belt and how the promotion will fill it, assuming he vacates the title.

One of the initial barriers, White said, in Diaz coming to the UFC was Strikeforce's deal with the Showtime premium cable channel, which broadcasts the promotion's events. White said on Saturday after UFC 130 in Las Vegas that Diaz's Strikeforce deal wasn't a "Showtime contract," per se. But he has indicated throughout the last month that the Strikeforce-Showtime deal did present a hurdle the UFC would have to cross to make the superfight with St-Pierre a reality.

St-Pierre (22-2, 16-2 UFC) had his streak of 30 straight winning rounds snapped by two of the judges in his win over Shields in Toronto. But he has remained the most dominant champion in the sport the last three years. Since winning the UFC 170-pound title back from Matt Serra at UFC 83, the Montreal native has defended it six straight times against Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, Dan Hardy and Shields. After winning the belt the first time, against Matt Hughes at UFC 65, St-Pierre lost it to Serra in his first defense in what is regarded as arguably the biggest upset in the sport's history. But since then, GSP has been unstoppable.

Diaz (25-7, 1 NC, 6-4 UFC) returns to the promotion for the first time since UFC 65 in November 2006. Since leaving, he has gone 11-1 with wins in the now-defunct EliteXC, Dream and Strikeforce. He took the promotion's welterweight title from Marius Zaromskis in January 2010 and has defended it three times with wins over KJ Noons, Evangelista Santos and Daley.

White's announcement of the Oct. 29 pay-per-view as UFC 137 sets up a busy stretch for the promotion, which has already announced a UFC Fan Expo and event in Houston on Oct. 8. And in April, MMA Fighting was first to report that the UFC was set to return to England for an Oct. 15 event. There are also plans in place for an event in Denver on Sept. 24, plus a return to New Orleans for a Spike special show on Sept. 17.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/06/01/nick-diaz-challenges-georges-st-pierre-at-ufc-137-in-october/

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Grand Master

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:woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot:

Great news to start my day.

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Colin.B

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Don't see Diaz winning but he'll be a bigger challenge to GSP than Shields and he'll force him to fight, not score points.

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  • 2 months later...
Grand Master

Bubbabyte

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Just in!

Diaz out, Carlos Condit in to challenge GSP for the title!

http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/09/07/nick-diaz-no-shows-ufc-137-presser-gsp-now-to-face-carlos-condi/

Diaz is a chump.. seen this **** coming miles away after the no show at the Toronto presser, and after hearing the stories from today, such as the UFC spending over 15k in flights alone for diaz and partners for his no shows, and the fact that he was at Caesars home and then ran out the back door. I hope he gets cut from both ufc and strikeforce and we never have to see him or his ****ty brother again. What's even worse about the situation is that i believe he's too stupid... just ridiculously dumb, that he doesn't even realize how much he ****ed up, or the opportunity he was given, and i can honestly picture him somewhere by himself right now, smoking some weed and saying to himself "man **** the ufc, i don't need them for ****, i would have beat gsp anyway, blah blah blah" in typical Diaz fashion.

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Grand Master

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It's amazing how a guy that always complained about not making enough money passing up a payday like this. It's great that Condit gets his shot and I believe he has the potential to beat GSP.

Dana still hasn't lashed out at Diaz but I'm sure that as soon as his lawyers give the OK, Diaz's contract will be worth less than the paper it was drawn upon and he will spend his days fighting for Shark Fights or Sengoku. Once Takanori Gomi beats Nate Diaz, cut him aswell. Just for spite.

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Grand Master

Bubbabyte

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It's amazing how a guy that always complained about not making enough money passing up a payday like this. It's great that Condit gets his shot and I believe he has the potential to beat GSP.

Dana still hasn't lashed out at Diaz but I'm sure that as soon as his lawyers give the OK, Diaz's contract will be worth less than the paper it was drawn upon and he will spend his days fighting for Shark Fights or Sengoku. Once Takanori Gomi beats Nate Diaz, cut him aswell. Just for spite.

Agreed.

Also, here is a video of nate talking about it in his car, doing exactly what i said in my previous post, minus the weed smoking (on camera :p)

Placing blame on anyone but himself, acting as if he doesn't know why this is happening to him.. he wants to "make money" but doesn't show up at his job? He's now acting like it's some big conspiracy because he would have beat GSP.. bitch please, enjoy shark fights..lol or BAMMA..lol

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Grand Master

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Seems like he's too popular to be fired. Condit gets a well deserved title shot and Diaz still gets to fight (I'm looking forward to the disclosed payouts for the event). If Penn shows up motivated, he can take Diaz.

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