UFC 137 discussion thread

[Princess Erica]

So Nick Diaz has been pulled from the title fight vs. GSP due to no-showing at 2 press conferences and not returning phone calls, and Carlos Condit has been named as his replacement. It sounded like Dana White had straight up fired Diaz, but now apparently he is taking Condit's fight versus BJ Penn on the same card.

Is this a suitable punishment, being bumped out of the title fight/main event to a lower card fight (obviously taking a substantial pay cut as well)?

Diaz always seemed like kind of a flake but just straight up not showing up for scheduled appearances is pretty weak. I'm surprised Dana didn't give him the boot straight out, there's plenty of guys who'd kill for a chance to fight GSP.

Here's the rest of the card as it stands. The PPV card looks pretty damn good, though I'm surprised to see Crocop fighting again. I thought for sure after 2 KOs in his last 2 fights, he was done. And I hope to sweet Jesus that Kongo smacks the crap outta Mitrione.

Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Carlos Condit
Welterweight bout: B.J. Penn vs. Nick Diaz
Heavyweight bout: Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione
Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipović vs. Roy Nelson
Featherweight bout: Hatsu Hioki vs. George Roop

Preliminary card (Spike TV)

Lightweight bout: Dennis Siver vs. Donald Cerrone
Featherweight bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Bart Palaszewski

Preliminary card

Middleweight bout: Brandon Vera vs. Eliot Marshall
Middleweight bout: Brad Tavares vs. Tim Credeur
Bantamweight bout: Scott Jorgensen vs. Jeff Curran
Middleweight bout: Ramsey Nijem vs. Danny Downes

[gutterhippo]

I think Nick Diaz deserves a hell of a lot worse, not because of missing one obligation, but because of years of acting like a thug asshole and giving the sport a bad name. If it were anyone else ambushing another fight camp after a fight, they'd be done. But instead, it's "Oh those Diaz boys! Gosh, they're so rambunctious!"

That said, my main problem with this is that Nick is already talking about how this is the UFC's attempt at protecting GSP. He'll probably beat Penn, and think that this proves that he can take the title from GSP. In reality, all the UFC did was save Nick Diaz from an epic ass-beating.

In any case, top to bottom, prelims included, I agree that this card looks incredibly strong at this point.

[Princess Erica]

Not sure if I agree that Diaz will beat Penn but it'll be a hell of a fight. BJ isn't the same BJ he used to be, and despite saying before every fight that he's in better shape than ever, etc, he tends to crap out if the fight lasts more than a round. We'll see. I do agree that Dana should have straight up fired Diaz, I'm not sure why he ever re-hired him in the first place given all their history. He was never a serious contender for the welterweight title, and for him to say otherwise is pretty ridiculous. GSP is a whole other level of intensity. I don't know who can beat him but it ain't gonna be Nick Diaz.

[RatedRSuperstar]

I think Condit stands a better chance against GSP than Diaz anyways...that being said, Condit doesn't stand much of a chance at beating GSP, but at least he won't act like a prick throughout the whole thing. Diaz was given a golden opprotunity he didn't deserve, and then proved he didn't deserve it by blowing the whole thing anyways.

[Princess Erica]

I saw today that Diaz was out over $1mil by fighting Penn instead of GSP. If that doesn't knock him down a couple notches on the entitled prick ladder, I don't know what will.

[RatedRSuperstar]

Hopefully that knocks a bit of sense, if not some humility, into him.

[gutterhippo]

Well, it looks like GTS has been MIA for a while now, so we're out of a predictions game for now. I'll try to get it going at the start of next year, sorry folks, and thanks to all those who played.

As for UFC 137, I lost 80% of my interest in this card when GSP had to bow out due to a knee injury. Not that I think Condit would have posed major problems for GSP, but I wish they would've given us something more if they're going to take away the main event. Obviously, they couldn't put Condit in another fight, for one, because it was short notice to switch opponents again, and two, they're still pegging him for a title fight and it wouldn't be fair for him to risk his title shot on such short notice. But I know if I plopped down $200 for a ticket, I'd feel totally screwed right now. And, it just sucks for the company as they've been hit by a long, long string of bad luck (i.e., injuries and card shuffles) that haven't really helped the UFC's already waning popularity. I predict one of two things will happen soon: either they'll downsize the amount of shows they do per year, or with the move to Fox, they'll keep putting on many lackluster cards (on paper) with the logic that fans have no room to complain seeing as how it's on free TV.

As for Penn/Diaz, given how many times Penn has burned us in the past, I simply can't go with him. If it goes past the first round, Diaz by pitter-patter shots leading to a unanimous decision. As for the rest, I'm predicting Cro Cop/Roy Nelson will get fight of the night honors.