Nick Diaz vs. Georges St. Pierre – the fight we’ve been clamoring for since BJ Penn was coming off of a win (God, that was so long ago). Originally slated to go down at UFC 137 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas over Halloween weekend of 2011, one of the strangest switcheroos in recent memory was pulled and we were left with a sidelined and injured GSP out of the fight and a media-ditching Nick Diaz vs. BJ Penn slapped into the headlining spot. For any fan of Diaz or BJ, it was a rough, yet wonderful, fight to watch. Violence, pure violence.
You surely know the rest of the story, and if you don’t I will remind you. Diaz goes on to lose to Carlos Condit via a controversial unanimous decision for the interim welterweight title then gets busted for marijuana metabolites after the fight. He gets suspended for a year, GSP and Condit battle it out in a bloody brawl that leaves GSP once again the undisputed welterweight champion, and rather than, say, Johny Hendricks get the welterweight title shot…
GSP calls out Diaz.
Turns out, GSP is furious at Diaz, and has been harboring resentment for the last year plus. A mellow stand-off fills the air for the last part of 2012, with a Diaz no-show forever looming over Dana White’s media days. The fight presses on, and just when we think that we’ve seen and heard everything this feud could produce (we’ve even covered it extensively), one of the wildest conference calls in recent history goes down this very afternoon.
Boom.
Listen to every word right here, but if you can’t listen to all of it, here are a few choice snippets:
Diaz on GSP heading to the “Dark Side” for this fight “I think he should just be himself and do his thing. I don’t know why he has to go to the dark side on this one. I don’t care. I’m not told about how they’re going to portray me or him. I’m not sitting around planning how I’m going to act or come off. Oh, I better say something intimidating or talk this sh*t or that sh*t. I don’t know what he’s going through with the dark side or where he’s coming from, but I know where the f*** I’m from. I don’t have to dredge up some bulls*** to get everybody excited, but whatever. You gotta do what you gotta do.”
Diaz on GSP and media obligations: “I don’t mind [the media] when I’m ready for it. I’ve got cameras following me around, and I don’t mind that either. I don’t care if there’s a camera crew in the backseat of my car. I could give a s***—. I just don’t like when I’m not ready for it and don’t know about it. You’ve got Georges, and someone is over there powdering his nose and sending him off for a video shoot. He’s got someone making a Twitter for him. Now he doesn’t even know how to talk and act; he’s got people living his life for him in the public for him.“My life’s a mess. I’m not afraid to admit it. I work hard, regardless, but I don’t have people toweling me off and handing me water bottles left and right, paying for my training for me. I’ve got to do all that sh*t on my own, and that’s why I have to concentrate that much harder, because I don’t have people taking care of my money or tax obligations. All that stuff that’s important that people don’t want to talk about. I’m just busy fighting all of your fights. I don’t see anybody else bringing sh*t to the table.”
Diaz on MMA judging: “Everybody wants to be like GSP and overcome the technical aspect by being stronger and more explosive, and beating you to the punch in the scoring for five minutes. That’s not really what martial arts is about. This is MMA, and that’s what fans want to see. People want to see real skill level, real boxing and real jiu-jitsu mixed up. They don’t just want to see five minutes of holding.”
Diaz interrupts after media member asks St. Pierre GSP if he was pampered: “I hope so, motherf***er. If I had that much money, I’d be pampering myself up and having mother****ers pampering my sh*t left and right. Every hour, there’d be someone showing up to pamper me. That would be that.”
