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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre was in Las Vegas on Saturday night for the Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale event, and he spoke with reporters to explain his reasoning for wanting the fight against Nick Diaz, which will come at UFC 158 in March.
St-Pierre had other options, at least one of whom was more deserving in Johny Hendricks, but he believed the Diaz fight was the one fans want to see.
"I do feel bad for Johnny Hendricks," St-Pierre said (transcribed via MMAFighting.com). "But put yourself in my shoes, it's the big fight, this fight is waiting to happen for a long time, and you know, its a big fight, that's what people want to say. Everyone wants to fight me now, it's crazy. I cannot split myself in half. If I took another fight, the others, they both would have complained, what do they want me to do, you know?"
"For me right now, this is the fight that makes the most sense. If I fight Anderson I have to go up in weight. It will take me time, I can't fight at a certain mark. Right now, the fight that makes the most logical [sense], I just came back from 19 months, you know, a long time, this is the fight that people want to see that I can give it to them fast when it's time to do it."
The last time the two were scheduled to meet, Diaz got himself booted from the main event when he skipped out on a couple of press events for the event. It led the UFC to remove him and set off a chain of events that has played out through this year. St-Pierre hopes Diaz realizes the opportunity he has this time around, and he really wants to put on a show at home in Montreal.
"I hope he's not gonna do something crazy before the fight, because I don't want to train all that time for nothing," St-Pierre said. "You know? Hope he's going to be ... it's a big-money fight, Nick Diaz is a smart guy, big money fight for him, chance of a lifetime. He's an old-timer guy. He's been there a long time, for years. I want this fight, I want this fight as well, want to put on a great show."
"I don't know what's going to happen with Diaz. It's time to make that big fight with Diaz. I believe from the bottom of my heart that Diaz deserves the fight. You know? His last fight with Condit was very close. Some people gave it to Diaz, I had it very close, personally I gave it to Condit. It's a big fight people want to see between Diaz and I, so I want to make it happen for myself, for the fans for the UFC."
Penick's Analysis: I can respect St-Pierre's reasoning behind the matchup, and his explanation for why the Anderson Silva fight doesn't work right now also makes sense. It comes down to him being in a unique position in asking and getting this fight. He's one of the UFC's winningest fighters, he's a longtime Champion, he's beaten all comers previously, and there is an argument (albeit shaky) for Diaz deserving the fight based on the closeness of the Condit fight. There are reasonable explanations behind the matchup. Not everyone's going to be happy with it, and there is a segment of the fanbase who would rather see Johny Hendricks get the fight, but Diaz is still the bigger name, and the more sellable fight for St-Pierre right at this second.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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