Is Nick Diaz the man that can beat GSP?
It didn’t take fans long after Georges St. Pierre beat Jake Shields at UFC 129 to start clamoring for St. Pierre’s next opponent.
Despite talk of a super fight between GSP and Anderson Silva, the fans are requesting a champion vs. champion showdown between St. Pierre and Strikeforce Welterweight Champion, Nick Diaz.
Diaz’ hype man trainer, Cesar Gracie, had some very strong thoughts about the fight that he told MMAMainia.
“Nick is a superstar already. He is. Wherever we go with the guy, everybody, fan support, whether you love him or hate him, you have to respect his fighting style.”
“You got a guy like GSP and he’s fighting to just win and you’ve got a guy like Nick Diaz, who’s fighting to beat your ass. The fans, I think know the difference now and I think that’s why if you go to forums, if you wanted to talk about after this particular show, look at all the amazing things that happened: Randy Couture retiring, that’s huge. You had that great kick from Machida, you had so many things happen that were phenomenal but what most people were talking about is Nick Diaz and he didn’t even fight.”
“You want to talk about superstardom? Nick Diaz IS the superstar right now and he didn’t get there by playing any games. He’s not gonna play the game. He is who he is and I think people are finally getting sick and tired of the BS and the polished answers. These guys are great athletes but they’re not fighters and a guy like Nick captures the imagination of what MMA is truly about or was supposed to be about.”
Diaz has been impressive, but I think the level of competition for both fighters has been vastly different.
St. Pierre has defeated the likes of Shields, B.J. Penn, Thiago Alves, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, and Matt Hughes.
Diaz on the other hand holds wins over Paul Daley, Evangelista Santos, K.J. Noons, and Scott Smith.
Daley couldn’t do anything against the likes of Koscheck and Scott Smith has been beaten by Patrick Cote and Ed Herman.
Let’s not forget that Diaz had a run in the UFC before. But, losses to Sean Sherk, Joe Riggs, Diego Sanchez, and Karo Parisyan kept him from being a contender in the welterweight division.
Now, Diaz is a better fighter since that time, but in my eyes, his style doesn’t match up well with St. Pierre.
Posted in: Events, Fighters, News, Strikeforce, UFC
Tags: Georges St. Pierre, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Nick Diaz, Thiago Alves, UFC 129
