At the UFC 137 postfight press conference, UFC President Dana White announced that Diaz will challenge GSP for the welterweight title on an as-yet-unannounced Super Bowl weekend card in February, meaning that Carlos Condit will step aside for the time being.
Diaz had originally been slated to headline UFC 137 against St. Pierre, but was pulled from the main event after missing consecutive press conferences. Condit, who was initially supposed to fight Penn on Saturday, was tapped as a replacement until St. Pierre suffered a knee injury in training and the bout was canceled.
Following his victory over Penn, Diaz called out St. Pierre, suggesting that the champion was in fact not hurt, but rather simply afraid to fight. The champion apparently took exception to the comment and, as a result, will meet Diaz and not Condit on Feb. 4.
The news comes on the heels of Diaz’s spectacular victory over B.J. Penn at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Saturday, in which the Californian battered the former two-division UFC titleholder with hundreds of punches en route to a unanimous decision win. Baiting his smaller foe into a boxing match, Diaz managed to keep Penn at the end of his range, a bad spot for the Hawaiian to stay.
“I wanted [Penn] to throw at my face,” Diaz told UFC.com after his victory. “I knew he wouldn’t [land] a lot of punches and I would be able to counter.”
Though Diaz would eventually take over, round one belonged to Penn, who grounded the former Strikeforce champion and secured back control. In round two, however, Diaz did not accept the takedown, stuffing Penn’s attempt and making him pay by landing more punches.
“I had a lot of size on him. After that one takedown, he went for another one, and I think it took a lot out of him. I sprawled on him and he wasn’t going to do that anymore,” Diaz said. “I think I could have gotten him out of there in the second round. That’s what I was going for. He started going on defense in the third round so that he wouldn’t get finished. I think he knew he wasn’t going to win at that point in time, but B.J. Penn is one of the best there is.”
Diaz has often spoken of his desire to make main-event money, citing his exciting style, tight technique and excellent endurance as unique assets which should be providing him larger paydays. Following Saturday’s announcement, the Stockton, Calif., product has now been granted a second chance at what will likely be the biggest fight and biggest check of his career.
“You ain’t gonna see nobody else go out here and put his head in there and take those punches,” said Diaz. “Look at my face. I deserve to get paid, and my trainer deserves to get paid. It’s time to come up in the world.”
via:Sherdog
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