Earlier this week Nick Diaz had failed to show up in a press conference for his fight with Georges St-Pierre. UFC's reaction was quite simple – they removed Diaz from the main event and offered the title fight to Carlos Condit. At that point it seemed as one of the biggest disappointments in the history of the mixed martial arts. Luckily for the fans of the sport and Nick Diaz himself, UFC has given him another chance. Diaz will fight B.J. Penn on the co-main event on the same UFC 137 card. UFC has once again showed that they feel very strong at the moment and that they will not let be intimidated by fighters and will not hesitate to take tough decisions. Where does Nick Diaz stand after the tough week and what do other fighters think about this straightforward UFC strategy?
Nick and his brother Nate were always wild cats. A fight in a hospital, a post- fight brawl in a cage, failing a drug test – Nick Diaz is well known to be trouble. UFC were very well aware of that, they knew another thing though – Nick Diaz is a hell of a fighter. ''He just has to play the game, just a little bit'' – Dana White explained that he wants Nick to join UFC, but he will require him to follow the rules. Dana signed Diaz for possibly one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport. UFC were about to sell the fight as ''Champion VS. Champion''.
When Diaz was gone missing, his manager and a long time coach Cesar Gracie said: ''I have stuck up for him many times before, but I really cannot this time''. He mentioned that Nick has social anxiety and hates to go to conferences and do the interviews. But that is a no excuse as half of a fighter's job, especially on such high level, is to sell the fight – talk to the media and do the interviews. The next day Diaz released a video on Youtube stating that he missed the conference but he would have never missed a fight. The day after the video was released, UFC announced that Nick Diaz will be fighting B.J. Penn. What seemed to be one of the biggest disappointments in the history of the Mixed Martial Arts, has turned out to be not that bad after all – we will still see Nick fight on the same card and if he wins and proves that he can be trusted, he might get that title shot after all. The championship belt is still very close, Nick simply has to play the game, at least a little bit.
UFC has proved again that they will not hesitate to take drastic decisions when they are needed. They have fired the former middleweight title contender Nate Marquardt just a couple of months ago. UFC's rough decisions were not unnoticed by the MMA community. That's what Srikeforce light heavyweight Muhammed Lawal had to say about UFC's decisions: "I don't give a [expletive]," he said. "I'm going to speak my mind. What are they going to do, say 'Respect the organization or you're going to be out forever?' Get the [expletive] out of here with that [expletive]. I'm just keeping it real. Make sure you put that in there."
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