The MMA world is patiently awaiting Georges St-Pierre’s next move. Will the UFC champion take the mega fight with Anderson Silva or defend the title? Most presume a title defense would fall to Johny Hendricks but GSP’s camp is targeting a different challenger.
[adinserter block=”1″]I hate to say I told you so but I knew this was coming. My hunch all along has been that GSP would not take the fight with Anderson Silva, instead choosing to defend the welterweight title. It was almost universally assumed that Johny Hendricks would get that shot after his quick KO over Martin Kampmann at UFC 154. The champion on the other hand has different plans.
Ironically GSP’s camp is starting to sound like Anderson Silva’s camp a few months ago when Silva’s camp starting hand picking challengers for their fighter, ignoring the obvious top contenders. St-Pierre’s trainer Firas Zahabi tells MMA Junkie.com that they still have unfinished business with an old rival.
“I think (Nick) Diaz is the guy who deserves it most,” Zahabi said. “His fight with Carlos (Condit) was so close. Who knows? People judge it both ways.”
There you have it! Exactly what I thought was going to happen once word got out about slower than expected UFC 154 ticket sales. Diaz may be coming off of a loss but there is nobody in the division that will draw the kind of money against the champion that Diaz would. GSP is a fighter and a business man. He knows that if he had a hard time selling tickets against Carlos Condit, he may have an even harder time with Hendricks. This isn’t a surprise in the least.
But how can GSP’s camp name Nick Diaz as a top contender after he lost to Condit? The record of course.
“If you want to be really fair about it, he is the guy who beat the most amount of names in the biggest fights.”
By that logic let’s give BJ Penn an immediate title shot as well.
UFC president Dana White has given mixed answers regarding Diaz’s future. White said months ago that Diaz would have to get a win before he gets a title shot. However, White changed his tune a couple of weeks ago and was less committal on Diaz’s future.
The problem of course is that Diaz is in the middle of serving a suspension. Nothing can be done with Diaz as long as he is suspended. Can the UFC holdout and wait until February to even book the fight? That would leave GSP on the shelf until April or May. Diaz is certainly a bigger draw than Hendricks, but GSP may not have a choice if the UFC wishes to move forward with a fight.
[adinserter block=”2″]It would be hard for anyone to complain at this point about Diaz getting a title shot. Quite honestly championships in the UFC have become a joke if you look at fighters who got title shots recently. Diaz is just as deserving of a title shot as Frankie Edgar, Chael Sonnen, and Vitor Belfort. I think the UFC has done such a great job of watering down the titles that fans will be more open to fighters getting title shots based on marketability rather than sport.
As a fan I’d much rather see GSP vs. Diaz than GSP vs. Hendricks or even Silva. I just don’t know if the timing will ever be right for it to happen.
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GSP has said before that he wants to shut up Nick 'loud mouth' Diaz. I do agree Hendricks is next in line, but Dana White doesn't care about things like who deserves a shot he is all about who can bring the most money.