Report: GSP-Diaz, Condit-MacDonald II Targeted For UFC’s Return to Montreal
By Chris Leslie on December 12, 2012
A pair of welterweight bouts are being targeted for the UFC’s scheduled March return to Montreal, Quebec, with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre taking on Nick Diaz and Rory MacDonald facing Carlos Condit. UFC President Dana White reports that the deals are not quite done yet but are imminent.
MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani first broke the news.
St-Pierre recently defeated Condit at UFC 154 in his first bout after an eighteen month layoff due to injury. St-Pierre and Diaz were originally set to meet at UFC 143 before St-Pierre re-injured his knee training for the bout. Diaz would face Condit that night, losing a contentious decision and being suspended for a year after testing positive for marijuana metabolites. After St-Pierre defeated Condit at 154, Diaz would take to twitter to insist he was not impressed by St-Pierre. The two fighters will now look to settle things in the Octagon.
The second bout reported for the Montreal card will be a rematch between Carlos Condit and Rory MacDonald. MacDonald lobbied for the bout following his UFC on Fox 5 victory over B.J. Penn. In their first bout, MacDonald was clearly in control of the bout before Condit rallied in the third round and finished the promising fighter. The bout will likely co-headline the card alongside St-Pierre vs. Diaz.
The Montreal card – most likely UFC 158 – is currently scheduled for March 18 and will likely take place at the Bell Centre.
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That’s fucked up that Bigg Rigg Johny Hendrix got over looked after a KO finish & the winner would be next in line for the title shot….
You know Dana White doesn’t like beards right? Ask Roy Nelson… I agree though. I like Diaz, but Hendricks deserves it more.
Entertainment trumps reason. Majority will be happy. Unfortunate for Johny now, but he’ll get his day.
GSP mops the floor with diaz, then Hendricks takes his belt.
just my prediction.
Hendricks is the man.
Luke I have to disagree. I see Mr. 4 2 0 rollin his a$$ as if it was grass & suhhmokin it!
Even if that did happen, I put the odds ate better than 50-50 of a vacant belt after Diaz is once again suspended for not providing medical documentation for his weed scrip or for not getting a TUE.
Small consolation but Hendricks should get to fight diaz in July or August, for the belt of course.
The 2 Canadian WW are gone put the hurt real bad on Diaz and Condit….. It will be great!
Who kos gonna fight now. supposed to be diaz. he better fight a top guy is all
I’m with you Mr. Magoo, GSP is definitely gonna beat the h3ll out of Diaz, and I can’t wait. Condit vs MacDonald will be a little closer.
Anyone else find it a little funny that Gsp is fighting in Montreal AGAIN!!!!!!
WTF??? Oh another “home” game for Georgie.
I was thinking the same thing, when the heck is GSP going to defend his title on “even grounds” again?
Does he really NEED the advantage time and time again? This will be his 4th fight in a row with that huge ‘home field’ advantage. Odd, if you ask me. A fight with Diaz would basically sell out anywhere in North America, let alone Georges home town.
Heck, why not have it in Sacramento? Being that Georges fought (then) WW Champion Matt Serra in Montreal when GSP was the challenger. Anderson Silva also fought Franklin in Cincinnati when Sliva was defending his title. /shrugs
This is why I learned to read. I think this should be brought to more light. GSP will go down as one of the most dominant WW champions of all times, but there will not be an asterisk next to it stating how many times he defended the belt with “home field” advantage.
Also, I have to agree on Sacramento. The WEC put on several events there, toss them a bone and give them Diaz vs GSP.
@will There are a few reasons they won’t go to Sacramento anytime soon
1) ARCO arena is owned by the same people who own the Palms, and Dana isn’t going anywhere near the Palms
2) Bell Centre seats about 4-5,000 more people
3) They’re already heading to Cali in February
It’s for the very same reason anything in the UFC is done, money. Has nothing to do with GSP’s choice but the demographics surrounding his PPV buys and ticket sales. He sells more PPVs and tickets in Canada than anywhere else.
Also the Montreal date is also essentially a makeup date for canceling last year’s March card, aka the card they deemed “unacceptable” for Montreal but fine for Atlanta.
@ Chris:
Pretty sure GSP has has some stellar PPV buy numbers with his fights in Vegas (Penn, Alves, Hughes), all well over 700,000 buys.
I also find it odd that you assume GSP and his team had nothing to do with the decision to have this particular fight in Montreal (*they were the ones who asked for this fight, now, not Zuffa). The UFC could have easily returned to Montreal later in 2013 in order to get their Canadian quota.
@learntoread you’re missing my point about the PPV buys, the buy total sells the same however the concentration of sales with each fight is in Canada. UFC uses this intel to decide were to send fights.
As for GSP’s management, they may have a preference, however the UFC already had tentatively scheduled a card in Montreal before this was announced. Given the usual amount of time between GSP fights, no way to guarantee he’d headline the card.
D@mn it, Chris. Why do you gotta get so smart on us?
Hey Newfie…The OHL just announced that the Kingston Frontenacs will now play all of their games at home. There really is no point for an overrated team to leave their barn. Especially since The team is sooo bad and people are just flocking to the k-roc centre. Its all about respect for Doug Gilmour who really has done nothing more than draft his own kids to the team.
The New York Yankees now will only play at home
The Dallas Cowboys will now only play at home
Gsp will now only fight in Montreal
Guys… Hendricks landed a great punch but Diaz (when not distracted) is the better fighter. I’d rather see GSP fight in Montreal that crowd goes bananas… I’m from ohio
When are they going to give Rory a high caliber wrestler to fight, the best wrestler he has ever fought was Mike Pyle who got takedowns on him before losing, also BJ Penn got a couple of takedowns on him and he isn’t a wrestler or a welterweight. He has won 5 out of 6 fights in the UFC but his wins are over Mike Guymon, Che Mills, Nate Diaz (LW), BJ Penn(LW),and Mike Pyle who I think is his best win by far but Pyle is like 37 yrs. old.
There are so many great wrestlers in that div. Fitch, Kos, Hendricks, Mike Pierce, or Aaron Simpson.
Its all hear say…..Diaz don’t deserve it as most agree Hendrix does and condit MacDonald is reasonable and kos vs elenberger then as well the sooner gsp takes out Diaz the closer we get to Silva vs gsp it blows cuz hendrixs deserves the shot before any one …
Simple math, GSP + Diaz=more money than GSP + Hendricks. Regardless of who the number 1 contender is, money always wins. The UFC/Zuffa is a for-profit business. Does Hendricks deserve the shot, I would say yes but Diaz/GSP will bring in more revenue. Besides, Zuffa needs to cash in on Diaz before he goes awol like Ricky Williams did.
Well I guess I would rather see GSP fight Diaz then get owned by Silva.
Im really stoked to see GSP vs Diaz finally but damnit Hendricks EARNED his shot, with a vicious KO. Frickin Diaz is coming offa lose and a suspension and he gets a title shot? I feel like Im watching late 90s WCW or some $h!t…very disappointing and embarrassing moment for UFC just because they marketed so much that the winner of Kampmann vs Hendricks would get a title shot depending on GSP possibly fighting Anderson Silva. Ive lost alot of respect for GSP for not fighting Silva. So what he is a little bigger, like GSP and Penn where the same size for their superfight at UFC 94?? Oh that’s right I remember now…Penn has a pair lol. GSP is a professional decision winner now
@Kobe great post.
Rory is such a soft ass. First he loses to Condit in his own back yard, then he grabs the Mic from Joe and calls out Condit for a rematch specifically AGAIN in his own back yard. Lol. And then the UFC gives it to him before the mmafrenzy staff’s ink dries. The baby ing of the baby Rory is so disgusting. And its getting to his head too. Would love nothing more than for him to be 0-2 against Condit lol.
He looks very tough to beat, he’s the real deal and at 23 who knows his upside. Why such hatred? I enjoy talented fighters.
I love his talent..he may be the best 170 on the planet. I’m disgusted with him because he wants to come off hard but yet begs for another shot at Condit, and again in his own back yard. I’m all for someone being confident and even cocky when it comes to pro sports and they can back it up, but when you’ve got babied like he has and you’re a young ass kid and have never beaten a top wrestler but just think you can start asking for rematches, thats, week. Just be humble and hope for Condit and take whatever. Don’t try to act like Sonnen.
And I’m disgusted with the UFC four giving the fight to him, baby ing him, and not making him fight a wrestler.
He does need some maturing for sure. i live in Kelowna and guess i get carried away for a home boy…maybe GSP will teach him some class.
Well i can’t knock you for that. I sure hope GSP does…
WOW! I understand the whole marketing aspect, but at the same time Dana you are shi*ing all over your own fighters/workers. Unbelievable. Not to mention why GSP once again gets favorites and gets yet another fight in Montreal??? For those that say it does not play into the fight you must be crazy….40k+ fans cheering & leading you on is a big plus in motivation in a fight as well as a intimidation factor to the opposing fighter