Nick Diaz still gets to be in the main event but not in the fight he originally wanted to be in.
With UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St.Pierre out due to a knee injury, the Nick Diaz (25-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) vs BJ Penn (16-7-2 MMA, 12-6-2 UFC) has now been upgraded to the main event of UFC 137.
This was not the news that the UFC was expecting nor looking for.
UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St.Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) is out of next weekend's UFC 137 main event against Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC).
We are a couple of weeks away from a highly anticipated match up between Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit. GSP is commonly referred to as a safe champion and fighting to win, not finish. In this fight however GSP has declared that he will be able to finish Condit.
Ed Garcia of Fatlip Radio had the opportunity earlier this week to chat with both Gray Maynard and Matt Mitrione. Maynard is fighting tonight in a trilogy match for the UFC Lightweight Title against Frankie Edgar. While Mitrione is expected to take on a very dangerous striker in Chieck Kongo at UFC 137 at the end of the month.
It started out as a typical day for Carlos Condit until he got a certain call. "It was going a pretty normal day," said Condit. "I got up, went to the gym, was training as usual. I was having lunch, getting ready for my next training session and I got the call."
Las Vegas, Nevada – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® announced that tickets to UFC® 137 at Mandalay Bay Events Center on Oct. 29 sold out within a few hours of being made available to the public today. Headlined by a welterweight title fight between champion Georges St-Pierre and the surging Carlos Condit, UFC 137 will also feature an outstanding co-main event between former two-division champion BJ Penn and the fiery, and definitely unpredictable Nick Diaz in 170-pound action.
For 24 hours Nick Diaz was out of UFC 137.
Now, he is back on the card, but not with his original opponent.
UFC President Dana White announced via Twitter that Diaz (25-7, 1 NC) will be facing former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion BJ Penn (16-7-2) at UFC 137 in Las Vegas.
When fighters are given the opportunity to fight for a world championship, 99.9 percent of them would do everything above and beyond to maximize the chance they were given. When you say 99.9%, who would the .1% be? That would be Nick Diaz.
