The UFC held their kick-off press conference for UFC 158 today at Montreal’s Bell Centre.
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has posted an impressive 10-fight win streak during his reign atop the 170-pound division. On Saturday, March 16, he will look to extend that streak by one more as he steps back into the Octagon in his hometown to face former STRIKEFORCE champion Nick Diaz at Montreal’s Bell Centre. On the heels of unifying the welterweight title in November 2012 after an 18-month absence due to injury, St-Pierre (23-2) requested the fight against his fiery rival Diaz (27-8-1, fighting out of Stockton, California), telling UFC President Dana White it was “unfinished business.” Diaz agreed.
In attendance was UFC President Dana White, UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz.
Check out the highlights below thanks to MMAmania.com.
Dana White
- Obviously, if you remember the lead-up to Georges’ last fight, you knew the fight I wanted to make. Georges has been a great champion for this company and if he wants a fight, we’re gonna make it for him. We knew Nick wanted the fight so we’re gonna make it happen.
- We do so many fights a year that it was still a great event. We’ve been here five times and we’ve been to Toronto a bunch and everywhere in Canada you can go. The day I start bumming out about 3.1 million will be a weird day.
- I’m not sure if we’ll do a Primetime. I’m fine with Nick. I’m fine with Nate. The whole Nick Diaz thing is played up a lot. In my opinion, you can ask him, I’ve always had a good relationship with Nick Diaz.
- That 50 million thing was the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard in my life.
- If Johny Hendricks looks good and wins his fight, I’d have to say he’d get the shot.
- I haven’t heard in a while that Georges and Rory wouldn’t fight each other. When two guys are in the same weight division and one’s coming up, they want what the other guy has. They want to be the best in the world. They want to be world champion. That’s something for Rory to decide whether he wants that or not.
Georges St-Pierre
- I’d been out for a long time so there’s a lot of contenders so I’ve got to make a big fight when it’s time to do it. This is the fight everyone wanted to have including me and Nick for sure so we’re doing it.
- I wanted to be in action and be back quick.
- I’m not surprised he’s here. I’m happy he’s here.
- Most of my fights, my opponents have trash talked me so I’m used to that. I’ve had less opponents who were nice so it’s a usual thing for me.
- It’s different reason why. First, Nick and I were supposed to fight before and this was the big fight that everybody wanted to see. People wanted to see this fight more than me against any other guys. My other options were Johny Hendricks and Johny Hendricks when I watched his fight against Josh Koscheck, I thought he lost that fight. I wanted to have this fight against Nick Diaz for a long time now.
- Ronda Rousey says I’m a good looking guy. That’s very flattering because she’s beautiful.
- I never duck anybody. I never run away from nobody so now it’s his chance.
- There is a story between us, but it’s more than that. I truly believe he’s the number one contender now. I believe he’s the best in my division. I don’t want to fight the number three and I believe the best guy right now is Nick Diaz. That’s truly what I believe.
- The thing I like about Nick Diaz is he’s a very exciting fighter and I know when I fight him, he’s gonna make the best out of me in the Octagon. I’m gonna have to give it all. What I don’t like is he wants what I have. We all do that because you always want to be number one. In 20 years, if I look back at this thing and I see him in the street, I’m not gonna be angry. It’s a full contact sport. We put our lives in jeopardy every time we fight. That’s why it’s a very dramatic thing right now but we want the same thing. We want to be the best. That’s what I’m here for.
Nick Diaz
- It’s not so bad once you’re here but I’d rather not do it. I’ll survive but it’s a little close to the fight to take off from home for me. It’s fine to be here.
- I don’t feel like I’ve ever been able to make it 100 percent leading up to a fight. All my fights these past few years have been back to back. I don’t feel like I’ve ever been completely healed up before I started training for a fight. I have guys in training camp preparing for fights so I’ve been their main training partner. It’s nice to heal up for a little while, take a step back and have a look and see what’s what. That’s what it’s been like for me.
- I just had to take a step back, had time to heal up. That’s all it’s been for me.
- It’s not like I had people calling me out left and right. It’s not like I could take a break and ask Dana to have a year long vacation. I’ve never known what it’s like to take pictures, have happy time, meet the fans. I always worried about my next fight, whether I’ll win it, who’s next, I’ve done all that for a cool minute.
- I didn’t think I’d be getting this fight. I figured they’d probably stick me back with some hard fights and I’d have to work my way back into the fights I wanted and the things I wanted in life. I said I needed time to seek things out but I’m a fighter. If you put the right fight, I’m gonna keep fighting. I’m just taking it one fight at a time.
- I’ve been training to fight Matt Hughes since I was 18 years old. Training to fight a wrestler is the most common opponent you can get. As far as training with wrestlers, I’ve got some of the best wrestlers. Jake Shields is always around and my wrestling coach and teammate Casey Strand always has different wrestlers in and out. He was a wrestling champion and I’ve got good coaches. I don’t think that’s the most important aspect for me. Just having a real consistent type of training. We’ve always been a jiu-jitsu school with wrestlers coming in and out. We’ve had a gi-less class since early 2001. It’s just a different type of Gracie academy. We’re kind of like the first type of Gracie academy that started with an amount of wrestlers and that’s for the most part, all the guys that fight on my team were wrestlers first other than me.
- I’m just happy to get the show on the road. If you tell me exactly what I have to do to make the fight happen. No tricks. We’ll get it done.
- If it’s straight up, it’s straight up. I didn’t make it to the last press conference. It wasn’t very professional on my part. I just was ready to fight, was ready to go to the fight and fight. I thought that was the important part and I had to learn my lesson. I’m ready to fight.
- I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it because he didn’t ever say anything. It’s time. I don’t know if there will be a Primetime but I’ve been promoting this fight since I was in EliteXC. That’s because I want to face the best there is out there. The way I see it, you have to wait for people to decide who the best guy is. I’m over here running, dropping names, running my mouth and I get no attention. It was frustrating. You have to work until you get the right fights. That was pretty much my issue before.
- I wasn’t overly impressed with either one of them. The fight I watched, I didn’t expect to see more, I just wasn’t overly impressed. I didn’t mean to criticize. It was a good fight.
- I didn’t get any texts from him. Maybe I missed it. Maybe we got our numbers switched around.
- I like my opponent. That’s why I want to fight him. He’s the guy to beat. That’s what you want. I want his spot. He’s got the spot. He’s the guy to beat. Pretty much. I like him just fine. I maybe could have got the fight a little sooner. I respond back when people talk a little shit sometimes. I wasn’t even fighting for the UFC when I was running my mouth. You can look at it like that. I had no room to run my mouth and talk. I like him just fine.
- I don’t think they test for steroids out here. It’s cold. It’s cold. I’m used to fighting in Vegas, MGM, Mandalay Bay. It’s comfortable. I’m used to doing most of my fights in Vegas or San Jose. I’d like to get up here a little earlier, It’s kind of cold out here, a little dry.
- I’m doing alright with what I’m doing. I don’t know what Georges is doing. I’ve seen his last fight and I’m not worrying about anything but me.
