Diaz vs Condit for Interim Title

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Monstaville Music

Monstaville Music

Sicc OG
#1
Oct 8, 2002
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#1
A serious injury has forced Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) out of UFC 143's main event and will sideline him for 10 months.

With the titleholder shelved due to an ACL injury, officials have booked his original opponent, Nick Diaz (26-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC), to meet Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) for an interim belt in the event's new headliner.

UFC president Dana White today tweeted the news.

"GSP blown acl will be out for 10 mos.," White tweeted. "Now Condit vs Diaz for the interim welterweight title on Feb 4th in Las Vegas!!"

It's not clear if Condit's original opponent at UFC 143, Josh Koscheck (16-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC), will remain on the card.

UFC 143 takes place Feb. 4 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The event's main card airs live on pay-per-view.

Condit, of course, initially was slated to fight St-Pierre. However, after Diaz topped B.J. Penn in October at UFC 137, he called out the champ, and St-Pierre campaigned for the fight with him instead. As luck would have it, Condit gets a title shot anyway.

For more on UFC 143, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site

http://mmajunkie.com/news/26422/cha...az-vs-condit-for-interim-title-at-ufc-143.mma
 
RM211

RM211

Sicc OG
#7
Feb 10, 2006
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GSP to undergo surgery, Diaz camp says Condit tougher in certain areas at UFC 143



Firas Zahabi said his toughest job coaching Georges St-Pierre over the years has been getting the fighter to slow down.

Now, St-Pierre has no choice.

"We're disappointed, but it could have been worse," Zahabi today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) following news that St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) tore his ACL and can't fight Nick Diaz at UFC 143. "A lot of fighters have come back from that injury, so I expect Georges to make a full recovery and come back better than ever."

Zahabi declined to discuss details of how and when the injury took place, but he confirmed UFC president Dana White's tweet announcing the ACL injury, and he added that St-Pierre will soon undergo surgery.

"Fighters have come back from worse, and that's what I'm trying to keep in Georges' mind, and I think that's the most important thing to remember," he said.

It's the second time St-Pierre has injured his knee in two months. The champ sprained his knee in preparation for his seventh title defense, which was supposed to come against Carlos Condit at UFC 137, and was forced to withdraw from the fight.

"It's hard to get Georges to take time off and rest," Zahabi said. "It's a very challenging thing to do as his trainer. He's very motivated to train, and sometimes too much is too much. The mind is stronger than the body, so sometimes the body can't keep up, and I feel that that's what happened with Georges."

Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC), who had stepped into the title fight when the UFC took it away from former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz (26-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC), now faces Diaz for the interim welterweight championship. It's unknown whether Josh Koscheck, his scheduled opponent at UFC 143, will remain on the card.

Cesar Gracie, Diaz's manager, had just texted word of St-Pierre's injury when contacted by MMAjunkie.com and hadn't heard back.

"It's very disappointing," he said. "We were looking forward to the GSP fight. All of our training has been geared toward that type of fight, and things just changed around on us. It's going to be different type of fight with Condit. Either way, Nick's going to come in prepared."

Gracie said Condit's style presents a tougher challenge in certain ways.

"I believe he's better than GSP standing and not as good a wrestler, and [he doesn't have] as good of a top game," Gracie said. "I believe standing up, Condit is actually a more formidable opponent. So Nick is not known to force a takedown, so it's actually a harder fight, as far as standing."

After losing the title-fight slot at UFC 137 after skipping pre-event media commitments, Diaz was instead given a headlining fight against B.J. Penn, whom he dominated en route to a unanimous-decision victory. The triumphant performance extended his current win streak to 11 fights.

Condit most recently appeared in July at UFC 132, where he knocked out Dong Hyun Kim. The former WEC champ owns a four-fight win streak in the UFC. Attempts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.

It may be a while before the winner of the interim title fight vies for the undisputed belt against St-Pierre. White wrote that St-Pierre could be out of action for 10 months.

"I've been telling him to take it easy now and let his knee heal 100 percent, and he just always tries to find a way to work around it," Zahabi said. "But now, he's going to require surgery, so there's just no way around a surgery. You've got to do it, you've got to rest, and that's the bottom line."
 
RM211

RM211

Sicc OG
#9
Feb 10, 2006
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#9
as for me i'd rather see a gsp and diaz, so we can really see who the best ww in the world is...
 
KrazeeRDM

KrazeeRDM

Sicc OG
#12
Nov 7, 2006
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#12
NOW it's a guarantee buy for me no matter what. GSP has turned welterweight title fights into snooze fests when they should bring excitement. matt hughes was a wrestler only and his title reign was WAAAY better filled with EPIC fights. GSP is great fighter and i'm not oblivious to his skills but as a fan i want to see excitement and want to see some action. now with this fight it's pretty much guaranteed. cant fucking wait and just when we though lil diaz and cerrone is FOTY and even the hendo and shogun we have this potential. fucking great.
 
KrazeeRDM

KrazeeRDM

Sicc OG
#19
Nov 7, 2006
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#19
B-Buzz said:
damn, a lot of the writers I follow on twitter are saying word out of GSP's camp is if he doesn't regain "the fire" after rehab he might retire.
Click to expand...
this is the ultimate duck. he doesnt want none of nick or anderson so he injured himself so he can retire as a dominant force that couldnt be fucked with lol. in all seriousness that sucks and granted he has slow and boring fights, he's a great fighter that needs to be around for ufc to get where it wants to go this year. other than jones he was the only other guy who was really marketable to the average guy who doesnt know much about fighting.
 
B-Buzz

B-Buzz

lenbiasyayo
#20
Oct 21, 2002
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bhibago
last.fm
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I read UFC's going to lose $60mill+ from the million PPV buys they'll lose out on with GSP not headlining twice in the time he's going to be out.
(Average GSP PPV= 800K buys. Diaz vs. Penn= 300K buys)
 
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