After yet another dominant title defence, Georges St-Pierre has all but cleared out the 170lb division in the UFC. However, JOE reckons Nick Diaz might be able to handle him.
By Michael Cunningham
With injuries to both BJ Penn and John Fitch delaying a possible rematch, there really isn’t any obvious contender left for the champion. GSP has stated numerous times that if he does move up to middleweight for a super fight with Anderson Silva, he will not be coming back down to welterweight. Meanwhile, Anderson is slated to face Yushin Okami at UFC Rio so that potential super fight will have to be put on hold for now.
Enter Nick Diaz, the enigmatic Strikeforce World Welterweight Champion who now appears to be the only credible threat to St-Pierre in his weight class. However, there are a couple of obstacles to be overcome before this fight can even be considered.
Diaz, despite the buy-out of Strikeforce by UFC parent company Zuffa, has a contract with the cable network Showtime. He has been its marquee champion for some time, has headlined numerous cards and there would have to be some reluctance on Showtime’s part to allow their most marketable champion walk away from the promotion.
However, UFC President Dana White stated at the UFC 129 post fight press conference in Toronto that he could make that fight if he really wanted to, adding that Diaz was the best pound-for-pound fighter not under the UFC banner.
Diaz has been making a lot of headlines since his thrilling fight against Paul Daley at the beginning of April. He has stated, through numerous media outlets, that he feels over-worked and under-paid for the performances he has given in Strikeforce.
Diaz seems underwhelmed by the remaining competition left in Strikeforce, displaying his trademark disinterest when asked about facing up-and-coming prospect Tyron Woodley.
He has also expressed interest in swapping the cage for the squared circle and boxing names like Jeff Lacy, Fernando Vargas and even current pound-for-pound contender Sergio Martinez have been mentioned. These would most likely be substantially bigger pay days for Diaz than those in his MMA career so far. White has also said that he will meet Diaz soon to discuss his future and put all speculation to bed.
The MMA community always welcomes the rarity of a unification fight between two champions and the prospect of Diaz fighting St-Pierre should be one to really excite fans of the sport, especially in light of the extremely cautious performances given by St-Pierre in his recent fights. Diaz is a fearless opponent and out of stubbornness, at times, insists on fighting his opponent in their strongest area.
Stylistically, it would be a fascinating fight. Diaz has a unique style of pressure boxing with short, hard punches, excellent body work and a phenomenal ground game. However, it has been quite some time since Diaz will have faced an opponent with St-Pierre’s level of wrestling. Georges always has excellent top control when he takes an opponent down and it will be very interesting to see how Diaz can fight off his back.
St-Pierre is a master of making his opponent uncomfortable in the Octagon and nullifying their game plan. He stuffed all of Jake Shields’ take-downs during their fight at 129, keeping the jiu jitsu ace on his feet. Shields had some success in the striking, although this was mainly caused by an eye poke in the third round which compromised St-Pierre’s vision in one eye for the remainder of the fight.
It was far from a vintage performance from the champion but, once again, he did what he to do to win the fight – as unappealing as that may be to many fans.
St-Pierre battles against Shields during their welterweight clash at UFC 129
Diaz has only gone the distance twice since 2007 – win or lose he comes to fight. Almost all of St-Pierre’s recent opponents say that he has never faced a fighter like them and they will force the Canadian to really fight. If this unification fight can get put together, Diaz is the man who can truly back up those statements.
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