GSP vs. Diaz- The drama after the fight
And you thought the lead up to the fight was entertaining…
Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz locked horns for the former’s UFC welterweight title on March 16th. The build up to the fight was incredibly action packed with Diaz hurling insults GSP’s way, and then going back and pretending St. Pierre started all the trash talking. The fight didn’t live up to the hype as Diaz couldn’t complete with Georges’s grappling advantage, and in turn spent most of the night defending on the ground. The after math has turned out to be a completely different story, though.
The day after the match took place Nick posted pictures to his Instagram account claiming he was being detained by police. It turned out that he was just part of a group where some folks got arrested (some of Diaz’s buddies apparently). However, no clarification has since been given to the media on any reason why it happened.
Next up was a bombshell of a video released by the Gracie camp showing Michael Mersh, the UFC‘s Senior VP of Business and Legal Affairs, explaining to Nick the suspicious weigh-in rules Quebec’s commission uses. In the conversation he said that neither Nick or GSP had to make 170.0, and that as long as they didn’t hit 171.0 they would be fine. He also went on to say “this is off the record”, and when asked by the Diaz camp why he hadn’t explained this sooner he never fully answered. The video has since been taken down, but Diaz’s lawyer (Jonathan Tweedale) has filed a complaint with the commission.
Most recently, Tweedale filed another complaint with the commission. This one was about the drug testing procedures (with an obvious emphasis on St. Pierre) for the event. No actual details have been given, but from the way the complaint reads it appears a failure to properly supervise GSP is what they are basing it on.
Opinion
What does all of this mean? Probably nothing.
Make no mistake, these are very real accUSAtions/complaints made by Diaz and his camp. The video of Mr. Mersh going over the last minute “details” with Nick, Cesar, and his team reeks of shadiness. The fight happening in Canada, and no available video for the same situation happening with St. Pierre paves the way for some suspicion about GSP’s weight on the night of the fight. That coupled with Diaz’s constant complaints about GSP over the years, and the fight happening in Georges’s home country (while also being the top draw in the UFC) can create loads of conspiracy theories that will last us for weeks.
However, in this writer’s opinion its a lot of commotion that will inevitably be forgotten about sooner rather than later. First off, there’s no evidence of St. Pierre coming in over the 170 lb mark. He was introduced as 170 at the weigh-in, although with the explanation of Mersh being that they don’t count after the decimal, it still gives no evidence to the contrary.
Also, if St. Pierre was seriously sitting at 170.8 (theoretically) and was forced to cut an extra .8 lbs over an hour (possibly less if he stripped naked), would that have made any significant difference during the fight? I am incredibly biased towards Diaz, but even I couldn’t say that would make any difference at all. GSP seemed to run out of a little bit of steam late, but Diaz was in no shape to capitalize as he dreaded the takedown too much at that point.
Lastly, you have to ask yourself a simple question: Did Georges/the UFC/AC create a huge conspiracy (that was told to Diaz) because he missed weight for the first time in his career in a match up he asked for, or did the commission tell both parties accordingly (and we just don’t have video of GSP)? I’d have to go with the latter personally, but the former isn’t impossible either.
Hugs not drugs
The drug test ordeal is probably the most entertaining to me. We’ve had rumors going around for a few weeks now that Nick might test positive again for Marijuana metabolites, and I think the Gracie camp decided to go on the offensive before the results came back.
GSP has been clean in every single test administered to him. He’s probably one of the most tested fighters in MMA history because of the amount of title fights he’s been in (commissions used to only test a select few from each event), and has never been linked to anything (outside of rumors).
Is it possible GSP was on something? You’d have to be living underneath a rock for the last 20 years to not think so, but I’ll give credence to these complaints if anything is found.
This situation isn’t doing much to help Diaz’s cause. Both complaints end with requesting a rematch/dropping the title so Nick can fight somebody else (neither of which will happen).
Diaz was so thoroughly beaten during the fight that this just seems like sour grapes, and a way to keep his name near GSP even though he knows he’ll most likely never fight him again.
It also doesn’t help that Nick’s camp kept the video under wraps until after the fight. He should have somebody whose job it is to follow up on something like the weight discrepancy when it happens. Oh, somethings sounds shady? Ask the commission at weigh-ins, ask Lorenzo, ask Dana, and make sure you have a concrete answer before continuing on. If not, hold things up until you get it.
Going on with the fight, and bringing this up after the fact looks a bit like an excuse loaded up for after the fact (rather than handling the situation when it happened).
Georges St. Pierre
Just signed on for a role in the second Captain America movie. He plays a guy who’s really strong, really agile, and French. Its incredible that in his first movie he’s taking such a leap away from himself (the character literally sounds like it was written for George).
So, I don’t think he’s paying too much attention to all the hoopla.
