Now who’s selling wolf tickets?
For an individual who seems at odds about whether he wants to be a mixed martial artist and has talked at times about wanting to retire, it seems Nick Diaz isn’t ready to go away.
The allegations Diaz’s camp has stated about improprieties considering the bout between Diaz and UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is only the latest saga in a storyline that seems without end for these two rivals. And it’s also a clear suggestion that Diaz isn’t done with fighting — inside or outside of the cage.
Even though the fact that St-Pierre scored a unanimous decision defending his title against Diaz on March 16 in the main event of UFC 158, the controversial Californian continues to make news, in particular in regards to the champion. St-Pierre can’t seem to shake loose of the whirling dervish named Diaz.
Remember when St-Pierre feigned fright when Diaz called him out by suggesting he was using an injury to avoid fighting him in the main event of UFC back in October 2011? It seems Diaz is still using psychological tactics to get to St-Pierre.
Diaz and his camp believe the Quebec athletic commission didn’t properly conduct the weigh-in the day before the two fighters met and also botched the supervision of the drug tests after they clashed. The fact there is a video with audio that provides evidence supporting the allegation that both fighters could actually exceed the 170-pound limit by a fraction of a pound — because they “don’t count the decimal point” — has now fuelled all of this.
Or maybe it’s just more of the insanity of everything that has transpired between the two opponents.
It could be easily dismissed as utter nonsense were it not the fact Diaz has shown once before that he won’t go down without a good fight after losing a chance at a UFC title.
He proved that with the lengths he went to claim his innocence when he tested positive for marijuana following his loss to Carlos Condit for the UFC interim welterweight title at UFC 143 in February 2012. That case proved to be intriguing because it had been the assertion of Diaz’s high-profile legal representative that his client tested positive for marijuana metabolites and not the actual drug. The matter became so public that it looked as though Diaz would walk out of the Nevada State Athletic Commission without having to serve the one-year sentence issued.
Even though Diaz had a licence for the use of medicinal marijuana in California, he stated he had stopped using the drug inside two weeks of his fight against Condit. Everything that he said happened to be factually true. But the commission noted the last time Diaz stood in front of it after testing positive for marijuana following a bout almost five years before, he said he would not indulge in using marijuana again. But he testified at the second hearing that he went home following the first hearing and in fact did so later that day. So even if it was only metabolites and he had legal cause to smoke marijuana, the commission did not take kindly to lying to them.
If he can’t get a rematch with St-Pierre — and it’s already been established that Johny Hendricks is next in line for the title shot — Diaz will try a legal means to strip the strap from the man who beat him.
Whether it’s through the evidence of wrongdoing by the Quebec athletic commission for its haphazard method of calculating fighters’ weights or its inability to properly supervise post-fight drug tests, St-Pierre has not seen or heard the last of Diaz.
At the very least, Diaz’s camp could make an example out of the Quebec athletic commission and the way it conducts its business. They are clearly hoping to show that the evidence proves the terms of their fight contract were violated. Again, this is an example of the matter going from the cage to the court.
Diaz employed every possible maneuver to psychologically do damage to St-Pierre, hoping to defeat him before the fight even took place. Unlike following the weigh-in the day before his fight against Condit, when he talked about getting ready to take his butt kicking and made his walk to the cage for the bout looking sullen and dispirited, Diaz has taken on a new persona.
He opted not to attend the post-fight media conference against St-Pierre saying he’d done his job — but then he came in 25 minutes later feeling full of himself and talking about wanting a rematch against St-Pierre or possibly facing middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
It is now obvious that Diaz isn’t leaving the fight game — even if he’s reluctant about doing it, doesn’t enjoy hurting his opponents or the notion of someone laying a beating on him. He is conflicted about the state of MMA and has made some interesting points about the state of refereeing and judging.
And yet you think about to the media conference two days before the fight against St-Pierre when Diaz went into his latest stream of unconsciousness. St-Pierre wondered aloud, “Are you crazy in your head, man?”
St-Pierre must really be wondering that now.
He praised Diaz after the fight, saying he respected him as a fighter. He even applauded him for all he did to promote their historic clash.
Perhaps this is the initial stage of a rematch at some point between for the two.
And maybe it will never happen because this is not something St-Pierre wants to revisit.
What is really interesting is how Diaz has attempted to smear St-Pierre with allegations, first that he was using steroids and then suggesting some possible chicanery by the Quebec athletic commission to protect the champion from missing weight or from testing positive for something post-fight.
It all makes you wonder if at some point St-Pierre counters with his own legal offence against Diaz for his allegations and accusations. Diaz isn’t retiring just yet, that is for sure. He is still fighting.