MMA Access: Nick Diaz – Is He Good or Bad for the Sport?
By Christopher Jester
While many fans see this weekend’s main event at UFC 158 as another dominating win for reigning UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, it is his dancing partner Nick Diaz that is dominating the pre-fight festivities. The one thing about Nick Diaz is that you always must expect the unexpected. Because he is that kind of guy. You just can never know what to expect out of him.
Diaz’s last weeks tirade on GSP was enough to sell the fight to anyone who had not been watching this build up ever since Diaz was signed to the UFC. This has been a long time coming, and Diaz did not slow down at all in the lead up to the fight on Saturday. From calling GSP spoiled to pampered, Diaz likely won more fans from the UFC 158 media call than he will at the actual event.
But did everyone see it from his point of view? In a lot of ways, Diaz came off as an angry young man who is just as confused at his place in mixed martial arts as the way he described the evolving sport. Arguing for his position on why he deserved a title shot over other contenders, Diaz remarked that he has worked hard to get into the position that he is in currently. Regardless of how fans look at it, Diaz’s diatribe sounded like a man desperate for a bit of the “look at me!” spotlight. Not that he doesn’t deserve it, because Diaz remains one of the top fighters in the world.
The conference call became less about the merit of why they deserve to (or should) fight each other and more about lifestyle choices, and whether or not each came from rough backgrounds. It eventually got the normally calm, collected, and ultimate professional Georges St-Pierre riled up enough to call Nick Diaz an “uneducated fool”. Perhaps, this is what Diaz wanted; to get inside GSP’s head. To make it personal. He likely succeeded, and maybe this is Diaz’s biggest advantage coming into this fight.
Pre-fight trash talk is fine. It is okay, because it has been happening long before this and it will not end anytime soon. In fact, the UFC definitely used this as a promotional tool to sell the fight even further. Who isn’t more interested in the fight now after hearing about all the different things these two have said to and about one another? But the question is: where to draw the line? Who is more at fault here?
The biggest question is whether Nick Diaz is good or bad for the sport. If he would simply become the company man that the UFC wants him to be then it would be a resounding yes, but Diaz keeps finding himself at odds with his employer.
UFC President Dana White revealed on the Jim Rome Show that after Diaz defeated BJ Penn at UFC 137, he chased GSP around the hotel looking to start a brawl. White stated, “The last fight after he won his fight and was saying all those things in the ring about Georges, he was really messing with Georges bad at the fight and trying to fight him at the hotel. That really pissed Georges off.”
The UFC has a lot on their hands for continuing to do business with Nick Diaz. Yes, he is a good fighter with a tantalizing style and he definitely comes to fight. Whether he lambasts his opponent or doesn’t show up to press conferences, Nick Diaz will sell the fight. Just this Wednesday, Diaz pulled another move that likely has Dana White questioning their motives about putting on this fight. Just when Diaz is expected to show up for a UFC 158 open workout alongside Georges St-Pierre, Carlos Condit, Johnny Hendricks, Nate Marquadt and Patrick Cote – Diaz pulls another no-show.
What makes this easier for Diaz is that so many of his fans find his actions appealing. Diaz could bitch slap the Pope and people would love him for it. That is what makes it so difficult for the UFC not to find more ways to punish this guy. On the Jim Rome Show, when referencing what would happen if Diaz doesn’t show up to the press conference or weigh-ins, Dana White went on to say, “Well, let me tell you what, if he does not show up tomorrow for the press conference, it is not going to be good. I don’t know what I’ll say or what I’m going to do, but I’ll tell you what – it will not be good.”
This is the sort of comment that a president of any organization shouldn’t have to say about one of his employees. Despite, Diaz later tweeting that the UFC put him on a late flight, this sort of professionalism from Nick Diaz can really damage the sport. What if Nick Diaz wins this weekend? What if he becomes the new UFC Welterweight Champion? It wouldn’t be surprising to see Diaz win the title and then quit, ceasing all obligations of his contract to the UFC. It would basically be a big middle finger to his employer. It seems like something he would do just to prove a point.
While something along those lines would turn the MMA community upside down, it is just these sort of actions that makes him such a huge draw for the UFC and for the sport. The UFC essentially has a good and a bad egg here. How they handle Diaz (if they can) is what will determine his impairment to the sport. His rebel without a cause (or with a cause, by his statements on the media conference call), plays a huge role on why he is a fan favorite and could be great for the sport. But his no-shows and whatever attitude leads to professionalism that looks bad to the evolving sport of mixed martial arts.
UFC 158 Pre-Fight Press Conference Highlights (Diaz did show up!)
Follow Christopher “sLapDatSuCKa” Jester on Twitter @sLapDatSuCka
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