One day after moving back into the UFC 137 main event against BJ Penn following an injury to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Nick Diaz nearly no showed another media event on Wednesday, the same reason he was pulled from the headliner against St-Pierre in September.
This time, however, it may have been the UFC’s fault that Diaz joined the press conference call nearly 45 minutes late.
“I’m hearing UFC dropped the ball on the Nick Diaz no show today!! SUCKS,” UFC President Dana White wrote on Twitter.
“Nobody called me in the last week, or couple of days or anything, and said there was a call,” Diaz explained. After training last night, Diaz went to sleep then “woke up, my phone was dead, and then my brother’s telling me I’m supposed to be on a call. I didn’t know anything about it.”
While the UFC may not appreciate Diaz missing his media obligations, they don’t worry Penn because the former Strikeforce champion always shows up to fight.
“Nick is Nick,” Penn said. “That’s just what he does. I enjoy watching the stuff Nick Diaz does. He doesn’t change; He’s always himself. He always shows up to the fight so I don’t think we have to worry about that.”
Despite some regrets over being pulled from his fight with St-Pierre, Diaz said he remains focused on training to fight who he considers a better technical opponent in Penn.
“I’m not sitting here waiting for a call,” Diaz said. “I’m waiting for training. I’m training hard. I train harder than these guys and fight harder than these guys and that’s why. That’s what takes up all my time, training to become the best in the world.”
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B.J. says he’s willing to make it a 5 rounder as long as his paycheck increases alongside the bout duration:
http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/10/19/b-j-penn-happy-to-do-a-five-round-fight-with-nick-diaz-for/
Give BJ his $$$ and give the fans what they want to see, the first 5 round non-title Main Event in UFC history :D
Trust me Dana, it won’t disappoint!
Agreed.
a 5 round fight goes in favor of Nick. BJ doesnt have the tank that Diaz has.
a 5 round fight brings 3 rounds of disappointment. BJ hasn’t had the gas for awhile.
Save it I say.
I dnt think BJ could make it 5 rounds at we. His cardio is not something to brag about at ww
Penn is the one consenting to it so why are Dana and the fans trying to stand in the way? I say let them fight 5 rds. B.J. says yes, Nick says yes and to boot we were robbed of a main event to begin with. This is the least they can do to salvage a very disappointing incident surrounding this fight card.
I don’t understand what the problem is here, especially since they’re still running the original promo of St. Pierre vs Condit. Now take into account the number of people who were watching TUF tonight who might not have heard the news….exactly.
They’re just trying to trick the remainder of people who haven’t heard the news yet into going out and buying as many tickets as possible. That’s just unscrupulous, Dana, make it 5 rds!
btw, TUF was off the chain tonight! I like Akira!
Don’t say shit like that on a random thread, you may spoil the result for someone
Its not like the UFC doesn’t have the money, and if both fighters are fine [possibly] going 25 minutes I don’t see what the problem/s could be here.
Only Penn himself knows if he’s trained properly, so if he’s good to go then Dana White shouldn’t really have an issue with this, unless there is some sort of NSAC jam-up…
There is a big difference training for 3 rounds then 2 weeks out changing that training to attempt 5 rounds. Anyone thinks its the same thing is crazier than the guy who let all the tigers and lions go.
Personally, I think its irrelevant because this fight will be over in the 1st or 2nd.
I agree my brother and anyone who thinks Penn really wants to go five is delusional. He can say it to the press but he knows he doesn’t want to do it and Dana im sure knows this to as the two have talked about it. Nick has one advantage in this fight and it is cardio and that is it. Why in the world would Penn let Nick have his one advantage. Honestly i don’t think this will go much more than three anyway. I think Penns hands are much better than Diaz and he will light him up and if hurt, Diaz is done. This won’t be like getting hurt from Daley and Daley not knowing what to do with it. I honestly believe that Nate is a better pure boxer than Nick. Nate has great head movement and is hard to hit. Nick just breaks u down and relies on a great jaw to keep him in fights. His head movement is non existent. Anyone with good hands lights him up.
@mike
Penn’s hands are in no way ” much better” than Diaz. They both have great hands, but Diaz has a much more overwhelming jab that breaks you down over and over. Penn has a great jab as well but in no way is it utilized to the extent Diaz uses it. I’m not sure what fights you’ve ever watched of Diaz, but you said once he’s hurt it’s over. That is the farthest thing from the truth with Diaz. There is a reason in his early twenties he was already having surgery to remove scar tissue. He is built to WAR. I again am not sure who you are referencing in the “anyone with good hands lights him up” category, but I’m pretty sure that is part of Diaz’s gameplan. He wants his opponents to open up so he can capitalize on their mistakes and use his pin point percision striking to end the fight. 10 straight wins, all early losses to wrestlers, so I’m trying to find these cases where he was hurt, then finished, or lit up. Two more things I have to address. Nate is the student of his brother and has said so himself numerous times, so I don’t see how you think Nate is a better boxer than his teacher. Nate has done very well in adapting his brothers fighting style into his own submission heavy arsenal, but Nick is the polished version of the two as far as standup. I do believe if Nate does have an area where he rivals his brother, it’s def submissions and not boxing. I respect your opinion, but I’m curious to see your examples to back them up. Take care brotha.