GSP v. Diaz

[aholbert32]

According to Dana, he's going to make GSP/Diaz next. GSP wants Diaz and says he doesnt want to fight Silva next. Dana also stated that he doesnt think "Hendricks is in the position to demand anything" when asked if he Hendricks had a legit claim that he should get the next shot over Diaz.

As for Silva, I think he fights Bisping in April/May if Bisping beats Belfort in January. After that the Silva/GSP superfight probably happens. Hendricks will probably need to take a fight even though he says he doesnt want too.

Thoughts?

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

I knew it was going to happen. Nick has gotten under GSP's skin and he is highly annoyed by him. So he wants to get this out of the way. Besides GSP is the champ, paid his dues and has the right to choose who he wants to fight next, same way Anderson Silva has the right.

Sure I would have loved to see Hendricks, but he still isn't a big name draw yet and at the end of the day it comes down to selling tickets. Everybody knows who Nick Diaz is. Should be a good fight. But it also has a high chance it will turn out to be like the GSP vs Condit fight, with GSP just taking Nick down and keeping him down for most of the fight doing ground & pound.

Kind of funny though when Anderson Silva did it, people were saying Anderson was ducking fights. When GSP does it, he is a smart business man. Fans are fickle that way.

[The Chef]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

Annoying, another fighter getting a title shot based more on his mouth then his recent fights. Kendricks has looked great and is coming off a win, Diaz is coming off a loss and a suspension for marijuana yet somehow Diaz jumps the line while Kendricks has to prove himself again? Diaz doesnt even have to prove himself following a loss and a suspension? I really dislike the way the UFC is match making these days, if everything is going to be based on who sells tickets then we might as well do away with rankings altogether and just turn the UFC into the WWE and force everyone to promote themselves like Brock Lesnar and Chael Sonnen have.

[aholbert32]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

Annoying, another fighter getting a title shot based more on his mouth then his recent fights. Kendricks has looked great and is coming off a win, Diaz is coming off a loss and a suspension for marijuana yet somehow Diaz jumps the line while Kendricks has to prove himself again? Diaz doesnt even have to prove himself following a loss and a suspension? I really dislike the way the UFC is match making these days, if everything is going to be based on who sells tickets then we might as well do away with rankings altogether and just turn the UFC into the WWE and force everyone to promote themselves like Brock Lesnar and Chael Sonnen have.

I see this completely different than Sonnen. 1) Many ppl feel Diaz won the Condit fight (I dont but many including Dana do). 2) If it wasnt for a GSP injury, Diaz would have gotten the title shot. 3) The fans and GSP want the Diaz fight. Only the hardcores are screaming for a Hendricks fight, I'm one of them but I recognize I'm one of the few who wants that fight over Diaz.

I could understand ppl getting pissed about Sonnen but I cant understand this. If anything Hendricks was #2a and Diaz #2b so its not a crime that he leap frogs Hendricks. Its not like they took someone without Diaz's pedigree and gave them a shot.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

I'm not pissed at all, because I'm a huge Diaz fan, but I don't think he deserves a damn thing. He lost fair and square to Condit, but with that being said: this doesn't even compare to Sonnen what so ever. I would have liked to see Diaz take on someone like Koscheck or Fitch first. I think that would have been most fair. I love the UFC because for the most part, they don't B.S. matchups. Lately It's been getting questionable but this fight is one that many want to see, more so than Sonnen/Jones IMO.

This will be awesome though, I'm not going to shed a single tear that GSP won't fight Anderson. Maybe Anderson can target Jones now like he's been with GSP, but I doubt it :wink:

[Pappy Knuckles]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

"Where you at Georges?! Where you at mother****er?!"

Nice! I'm a big Diaz fan who can admit that he lost to Condit and probably doesn't deserve a title shot now, but I don't care because I want to see this fight. GSP seems to have a genuine dislike for the guy and that really gives this contest some extra intrigue for me.

Hendricks can sit on the back burner for a little bit while this one plays out. I feel bad for the guy that he's getting passed over, but he'll have his time. Even though he has wins over Kos, Kampmann and Fitch, I still don't feel like he's a household name yet. I think he said something about waiting it out until he got a title shot, but I'm not sure if that's gonna work out for him or not. I think if he could put together another win around the time Diaz and GSP fight, it would really help build him up some more going into his title shot. I'm sure he probably doesn't want to risk losing between now and then, but I guess we'll just see how it plays out.

But yeah, loving this GSP/Diaz fight. Hopefully Diaz doesn't screw it up again.

[redsrule]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

Bleh. Never been a fan of Nick Diaz, although he is a great fighter. It just sucks that it looks like the UFC is going the way of who can talk more to earn a title shot instead of actually earning it.

[IowaAJ]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

Yes Can't wait for this fight if it's not going to be Silva and GSP this is the next best thing.

[goh]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

I'm not pissed at all, because I'm a huge Diaz fan, but I don't think he deserves a damn thing.

Sure he does. He deserves to get his face smashed in by GSP.

[TheShizNo1]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

I agree w/ Chef but to an extent. I'm a Diaz fan so I love that this fight is happening. But I agree w/ Chef in that it's starting to appear that you can talk your way into a match now. I don't necessarily like it, but understand it if what's going on is;


UFC is finally starting to really explode on the scene and starting to gather a big casual following while the hardcore guys are still there. The hardcore guys aren't going anywhere, but there's more casuals to get. So they make fights that they can sell. You can't sell a casual fan on a some what average wrestler against maybe the best p4p fighter of all time. But you can sell a fight that features a gangster from Oregon that promises to do what has never been done, against the best p4p fighter that also happens to be highly pissed off. UFC can sell Jones and Sonnen. Sonnen will be why the tune in, Bones Jones will be why they stay. GSP and Diaz is your old fashioned good guy versus bad guy. Your odd couple. They're going to appeal to a lot of different demographics. I feel like Dana is trying to keep the momentum going and isn't just sitting back and waiting for things to happen. He's taking advantage of opportunities and turning lemons into lemonade.

[aholbert32]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

Great post Shiz. As a pure fan, I hate Jones/Sonnen. Its a mismatch and a title shot for someone who doesnt deserve one. But I understand why its being done. FX doesnt move TUF to Tuesday if Dana comes to them with Jones/Henderson or Pettis/Cerrone as the two coaches. Sonnen was the key. With that said, I still think Griffin/Sonnen wouldve been fine on TUF and FX wouldve been happy with it.

Regarding Diaz, he didnt talk his way into a shot. He ****talked GSP BEFORE he lost to Condit. Also it isnt like Dana thought Condit won and changed his mind recently. He's always said Diaz won that fight. Same with the Fertitas. So in their eyes he's still the #1 contender.

Finally bringing up the weed suspension is BS. NSAC railroaded Diaz. They gave him a longer suspension than Overeem when 1) They have no evidence that Diaz smoked around competition 2) They only found Marijuana Metabolites which technically couldve been around before the fight was announced and 3) Diaz has a prescription for weed. While Overeem tested positive while training and his only excuse was that doctor gave it to him. But Diaz got 5 more months?

Anyway, if people wanted to see Hendricks fight GSP, Dana would be hearing the backlash but he's not. He's not even hearing backlash on the level of Jones/Sonnen right now. People want GSP/Diaz and you should give them what they want.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

Diaz did talk though, I think that's the bottom line. He talked and got under GSP's skin, which in turn made GSP hate Diaz. That resulted in people "wanting to see this fight". So no matter when Diaz talked trash, he still did and that's the overriding reason why we have this fight now.

Hendricks:

"The way I feel right now, if it wasn't for my fans, I could almost feel like, done," he told MMAjunkie.com Radio. "That's how sickened I feel to my stomach that somebody stepped in there because he talked a little more trash than I did and stole it from me."

"I'm not disappointed in the UFC, because they want to keep their champion happy," Hendricks said. "I get that. It's GSP who I'm mad at, because there's no reason anybody should bypass me. For him to sit there and say, 'We have this or this,' who cares? You're the champion. I get to say I want to fight you, and it's supposed to happen because I'm the No. 1 contender."

"That's what's killing boxing ... the fact that you can run your mouth a little bit, and then you get something," he said. "It's about how good you fight. That's what this sport was built on. "I don't want to have to be a jerk to get something."

[aholbert32]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

Diaz did talk though, I think that's the bottom line. He talked and got under GSP's skin, which in turn made GSP hate Diaz. That resulted in people "wanting to see this fight". So no matter when Diaz talked trash, he still did and that's the overriding reason why we have this fight now.

Hendricks:

Thats not true though. I remember after the Shields fight, Lorenzo Fertitta tweeted asking people if they wanted a Silva/GSP or Diaz/GSP fight and they OVERWHELMINGLY wanted a Diaz/GSP fight. Thats the reason they made the fight in the first place back in 2011. That was before the Penn fight when he called out GSP. That was before he even talked trash. He was the SF champ and people wanted to see him fight GSP. The trash talk is just the icing on the cake. This was a big fight before the trash talk.

Hendricks has made a decent case that he deserves a shot but it doesnt mean that he gets the next shot...just a shot. He can wait like he said he was gonna do when everyone thought it was gonna be Silva/GSP. He's gonna get his shot just not when he wants to get it. Also, Dana is notorious for this but I dont ever remember him guaranteeing that the winner of Hendricks/Kampmann gets the next shot.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

Regardless of when the trash talking took place, and regardless of what the plans were in the past, the fact still remains: the overriding factor in Diaz/GSP is not because Diaz deserves it but because GSP disdains him and it will sell more than GSP/Hendricks. The reason GSP disdains Diaz is because Diaz disrespected him, plain and simple.

Hendricks has way more than a decent case to be the #1 contender, come on man. Don't do that. Like I initially said, I'm really not mad at this like I was with what they did at 205, but let's be honest with ourselves here.

[aholbert32]

Re: GSP v. Diaz

Regardless of when the trash talking took place, and regardless of what the plans were in the past, the fact still remains: the overriding factor in Diaz/GSP is not because Diaz deserves it but because GSP disdains him and it will sell more than GSP/Hendricks. The reason GSP disdains Diaz is because Diaz disrespected him, plain and simple.

Hendricks has way more than a decent case to be the #1 contender, come on man. Don't do that. Like I initially said, I'm really not mad at this like I was with what they did at 205, but let's be honest with ourselves here.

You cant make the argument that Diaz got the fight because of trashtalking and then disregard when the trashtalking took place. Diaz gets the fight because 1) he will sell more PPVs than Hendricks (with or without the trashtalking) 2) Many (including the guys who decide the fights) think that he beat Condit 3) The champ asked to fight him.

And yes Hendricks has a decent argument for a shot. He has two impressive Ko wins over Fitch and Kampmann but many (including myself) thought he lost the Koscheck fight in January. I'd also make the argument that a former Strikeforce WW champ who many considered to be the #2 WW in the world, hadnt lost since 07 and who lost a disputed decision against Condit trumps a fighter who less than two years ago was losing to the likes of Rick Story.

I personally dont have a dog in this fight because I hope GSP smashes both of them but I just dont see how this is a robbery. Hendricks should get a shot...I just dont see why it HAS to be before Diaz.