Thursday 26 May 2011

Georges St. Pierre vs Nick Diaz still possible but GSP is not fighting at UFC 140 in Montreal

Gsp-diaz_medium
Let's try, once again, to make sense of this whole thing.
Strong rumors surfaced recently that Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz were in the running to coach The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 14 in lieu of the recently scrapped pairing of Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping thanks to the considerable legal troubles of the former.
UFC President Dana White was quick to shoot that down ... emphatically. But today, after the UFC 130 pre-fight press conference, he reiterated the fact that even a fight pitting GSP vs. Diaz isn't even close to a done deal:
"I wouldn't say that Diaz is out of the picture but we just don't know yet. No (this is not one of those surprises). You guys are playing the whole GSP-Diaz thing way too much. Guys ... texting me all this stuff. It's crazy."
Fair enough. This is not uncommon for a promoter to say when a fight is still in the planning stages and, despite many published reports to the contrary, this matchmaking endeavor still appears to be in its infancy.
Nothing wrong with that. How about some odds? What are the chances this fight will eventually happen?
"You want me to make odds (on Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick Diaz)? I don't know. I don't know. If I actually, seriously, if I gave you a percenatage, I'd be speaking out of turn. I honestly don't know. Nothing has been worked out, nothing has been talked about. So it's... no. I couldn't even honestly answer your question."
Again, not much to surmise here, other than the fact that it's still unclear whether the UFC welterweight champion can take on the Strikeforce welterweight champion sometime this year.
So let's scrap that thought process altogether. What's next for St. Pierre?
"(How long would I give it to try to work out these hurdles we have before moving on to something else)? Well, it's summer. GSP... I don't think GSP is going to be fighting again until... I don't know. I honestly don't know. (laughs) I honestly don't know the answer to the question. I honestly couldn't give you an answer. If I gave you an answer, I'd be lying just to make you stop asking me the question."
White seems adamant that this is no ruse and he is not trying to string anyone along to protect a big announcement of his or throw anyone off the trail.
There simply isn't a good answer to the questions everyone wants answered.
There is, however, one question the bossman could definitively answer and that's whether or not "Rush" will be fighting at UFC 140 in Montreal this December.
"I think it is a given that (GSP) is not fighting in December in Montreal. I don't know where the hell that came from. Georges St. Pierre isn't fighting in December in Montreal."

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