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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Georges St-Pierre will fight Nick Diaz on March 16 at UFC 158, a booking made at his behest despite Johny Hendricks seemingly fighting his way to the No. 1 contender spot. But St-Pierre considered Diaz the top contender after a close fight with Carlos Condit, and given they were supposed to fight once before, that was the fight he wanted.
However, there was more to St-Pierre's thinking than that, as he revealed on Wednesday that he had another reason for choosing Diaz over Hendricks.
"Johny Hendricks, when I watched the fight with Josh Koscheck, according to me, Josh Koscheck should have won that fight, so I didn't want to fight a guy that lost to a guy I already beat," St-Pierre said at the UFC 158 pre-fight press conference (transcribed by MMAJunkie.com). "I think for me Nick Diaz is the No. 1 contender," St-Pierre said. "He's proven himself many times before. There's a story between us. It's a big fight everyone wants to see."
"Nick wanted that fight for a long time, and I wanted to have that fight for a long time. Now it's time to do it."
Despite his thoughts on Hendricks' fight with Koscheck, if he gets past Diaz and Hendricks defeats Jake Ellenberger, St-Pierre won't be avoiding that fight this time around.
"I'd have to say if Johny Hendricks looks good and wins his fight, it will probably be Hendricks [next]," UFC President Dana White said of the Welterweight Title picture after UFC 158.
Penick's Analysis: St-Pierre's basically negated the results of a couple of fights in making his request here, and the UFC obliged him. Essentially, he felt Diaz edged Condit and Koscheck edged Hendricks, so despite what was officially listed in those results, this is the fight that's going to happen. A Hendricks win over Ellenberger has to get him a shot against GSP, and anything less after UFC 158 would be a travesty.
[Georges St-Pierre art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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