Nick Diaz Could Be Next For St. Pierre
Even though UFC welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre, has cleaned out nearly the entire UFC welterweight division with his UFC 129 title defense against Jake Shields, he still may have at least one more welterweight fight prior to the hyped “super-fight” with Anderson Silva. Although UFC President, Dana White, has recently stated that crossover fights between the UFC and newly acquired Strikeforce are unlikely to happen in the near future, he’s recently hinted at the possibility of Strikeforce welterweight champion, Nick Diaz, fighting in the UFC.
When asked if he could bring Diaz to the UFC, White responded, “I imagine I could do anything I want.” Then asked if he would, White added, “We have a contract with Showtime....so, we’ll see...it’s interesting.”
Nick Diaz is a winner of ten straight fights and has won fifteen of his last sixteen if his fight with Takanori Gomi has not been overturned to “no contest” after a positive test for marijuana. Diaz, a dangerous jiu-jitsu practitioner, has great boxing skills and often chooses to stand and strike with other strikers. Nick Diaz’s striking is noticeably better than that of his training partner, Jake Shields, who arguably performed better against St. Pierre this past Saturday than any other competitor since his loss to Matt Serra in 2007. In addition, the fight is one Diaz would be willing to take in order to avenge Shield’s loss.
“Let me get in there with that guy,” said Diaz.“They had him in there with my partner and look what happened to him, you know what I mean? What do you think is going to happen to him if they put him in there with me? ... I’d like to get that fight or I’d like to make something happen here."
“I think I’ll put my punches in, I think (St. Pierre is) going to try to force takedowns and go for takedowns, but I saw him out there [against Shields] and he doesn’t look... he’s not much for size... I feel like I’m ready for that fight, I been ready for that fight. I just feel I’m even more ready for it now. I want to get this show on the road. Like I said, I’m not getting any younger.”
Cesar Gracie said he’d also like to see his student fight St. Pierre, so long as it didn’t conflict with Diaz’s newly planned boxing endeavors (or if the fight with St. Pierre would pay more).
“Styles make fights,” said Gracie.“It’s no secret that Nick is, I think, probably has the best hands in MMA right now. He knocks out all the guys that are supposed to knock him out. There’s no question in my mind that GSP would not stand with Paul Daley, for example, but Nick did and knocked him out. Aside from all these guys that GSP would feel extremely threatened by, Nick would stand up with beat them up so I do not believe that GSP has better stand-up than Nick Diaz. I think Nick is the superior striker and if that was a stand-up I think Nick would come out on top, but it’s an interesting match-up because Nick’s jiu-jitsu is world-class, also. He has a great guard, he submits people,he doesn’t get hurt. That might be a nightmare for GSP and the only way to know that is if these two guys fight, so we’ll see what happens.”
Though the recent hype this year has been around the previously mentioned “super-fight” with Anderson, Faris Zahabi feels that the UFC will select Nick Diaz as the next in line for his student, St. Pierre.
“We haven’t sat down to talk about (what’s next),” Zahabi told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.“I’m sure the UFC is going to want Nick Diaz. He deserves a shot. He’s put on great performances and his last fight was extremely exciting.
“If Georges went up (to 185) right now, he wouldn’t have cleaned out the division because there’s still Nick Diaz there. He’s champion, so you can’t say he doesn’t deserve a shot. I can’t confirm anything, but I see it as a possibility. They have two champions. It’s always exciting to see two champions go at it.”
mighty kid
nick diaz is just a pice of shit!