Finally, some nastiness from Nick Diaz.
His polite and contrite behaviour, exhibited so professionally when he and Georges St-Pierre attended a media conference together on Jan. 23 to hype their main event fight for UFC 158, came across as just a little too nice, a little too programmed, almost as if he had been brainwashed or medicated to make him feel comfortable in what should have been a truly uncomfortable moment.
Nice, proper and professional is what you expect from St-Pierre, who is the Richie Cunningham of mixed martial arts and the poster boy for the UFC.
Naughty is what you expect from Diaz.
So he arrived late on the media conference call on Thursday to promote their fight eight days from now in Montreal and stunned or surprised some people by reverting back to his old self.
Big deal.
So he constantly interrupted St-Pierre every time he tried to say something and came across as dumb and dimwitted.
Big deal.
What do want from this guy? His history in and outside of the cage is known. He is exactly the same uncouth, uncultured individual that has done everything possible to peeve St-Pierre and UFC president Dana White. And yet they have been drawn to him and will take him any way they can.
St-Pierre has wanted Diaz since he dared to accuse him of faking an injury to avoid their scheduled fight in the main event of UFC 137 in October 2011. Now the time has finally come.
And because it is drawing nearer to the fight, this is the time for Diaz to drop all pretences of professionalism. This is time for him to draw into that confusing world that seems so confounding to everyone else except him and his camp and the people who truly understand his weird psyche.
Ask Ronda Rousey, the diva of the women’s division, whom she will be cheering for in the fight? She has spent time training with Diaz and his brother, UFC lightweight contender Nate Diaz, at Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu to improve her striking game, which she employed a bit of in her recent win over Liz Carmouche. She couldn’t care less about Nick Diaz’s attitude.
He has said he doesn’t like these media gatherings, and even though it’s part of the job, particularly when you are in the main event, he’d just as soon spend the time training, something he does slavishly and manically.
If his behaviour was really, truly a problem, White would have ditched him by now to avoid the headaches and uncertainty that comes with dealing with someone so undependable. White could easily boot him out of the company, which he’s been doing a lot of lately, to trim his overcrowded roster. Some of the fighters have been more deserving of employment than a guy who consistently gets away with disrespect.
But, this is good for business. Don’t kid yourself.
Look, if Diaz hadn’t done what he has in his history with St-Pierre, the champion would have continued to be exactly what he had been before the injury that sidelined him for more than 18 months — a decorated winner who routinely drew criticism for failing to finish fights. His style of going the full 25 minutes with a mastery of every aspect of MMA had become just a little too routine. For all he had done with his precise skills, perhaps better than anyone else active in the sport today, his fights didn’t make you jump out of your seat.
He needed something to provide an added spark at this point of his career, and Diaz has done that. He triggered a switch that no else would or could and that’s why St-Pierre is so keen on fighting him.
The time away from the cage, while he recovered from knee surgery, gave St-Pierre a new purpose, realizing he is only one serious injury away from possibly having his career ended or put on indefinite hold. He used everything within himself to fight through those agonizing moments when his reconstructed knee forced him to train even harder than he normally did.
But it was Diaz who has really been his biggest motivation. This is what St-Pierre calls unfinished business. He needs Diaz for the chance to shut him up and beat him down, if only to prove there is a price for freedom of speech.
If Diaz had come into this fight a reformed individual, it would have done nothing to satisfy St-Pierre or his legion of fans or, for that matter, the many people who wondered who the hell was that at that media conference six weeks ago? Gone was the angry, bitter and discouraged individual who had been slapped with a one-year suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for testing positive for marijuana metabolites following his loss to Carlos Condit in February 2012 for the interim UFC welterweight belt. It almost seemed as if Diaz had turned a corner in his life to reform and redemption.
But now we know that’s not true. Now we can see he is still unpolished, the perfect foil for the smooth St-Pierre. These are two opposites who have been attracted for perhaps one of the biggest and most anticipated fights in recent UFC history. If, as White points out, St-Pierre is the UFC’s top attraction because of the business he brings in for pay-per-views, then give credit to Diaz for making this fight must-see viewing.
We saw St-Pierre return to the cage in November at UFC 54 and beat Condit, a good guy who gave the champion a decent test; certainly one of the best in some time. That fight drew attention because it was St-Pierre’s first since his injury-imposed layoff. But that was merely an appetizer to serve until the main course of Diaz and St-Pierre.
Condit beat Diaz with a brilliant tactical game plan that consisted of striking his opponent, but keeping himself just far enough out of reach from allowing himself to be trapped into a brawl. Diaz baited him and Condit didn’t bite.
So now we wonder what strategy St-Pierre will employ against Diaz. Will he be scientific or will he shed that aspect of his game and engage in a good-old fashioned brawl, the kind we saw last Saturday between Wanderlei Silva and Brian Stann? You know St-Pierre wants to make a statement in a way that words simply can’t, and only a bloodied and bowed Diaz will satisfy his soul; only a destruction of Diaz will suffice.
And if St. Pierre decides to employ this win-at-all-costs attitude, Diaz will have exactly what he wants – the straight-ahead street fight that he prefers.
Who really cares anymore how Diaz acts or what he says? This isn’t a contest for best behaviour. This is a fight that he initiated beginning with those timeless words, “Where you at, Georges?” He made this match happen and as the fight nears he is making it even more compelling by continuing to punk St-Pierre.
When White talks about super fights, he really doesn’t have to look any further than this one. It may not bring the kind of mainstream audience that will help the company to expand, but for the true fans of MMA and the UFC in particular, this is as good as it gets. This is raw and purity blending as one.
Let’s hope it continues all the way leading up to the fight and Diaz moves closer to the person who is truly hard to understand than the one who seemed as if he transformed into a common man. Diaz has a legion of fans who like him for who he is or what he represents, which is MMA, no more and no less. St-Pierre has his fans for what he represents, which is exactly the same thing, but with more class and sophistication. It’s like one has been trained at finishing school and the other hasn’t and doesn’t care.
If Diaz had morphed into anything close to St-Pierre’s pristine image, this fight wouldn’t have nearly the same appeal.
St-Pierre wanted it, now he’s got it.
Maybe Diaz will recant another famous line he uttered after making weight for the Condit fight. “I’m here to represent Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. I’m ready to take my ass-whooping. It’s whatever.”
With Nick Diaz, you just don’t know. It is whatever.