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Ryan Remiorz / AP
Georges St-Pierre, from Montreal, celebrates after defeating Josh Koscheck, from Waynesburg, Pa., with a unanimous decision to retain his welterweight title at UFC 124 on Saturday in Montreal. The mixed martial arts fight went the distance with St-Pierre winning 50-45 on all three judges’ cards.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 | 4:25 p.m.
Despite his insistence last week that a fight between Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz was nowhere close to happening, UFC President Dana White announced Wednesday the bout would headline UFC 137 in Las Vegas.
White revealed the news through a message on his twitter account. According to his tweet, UFC 137 is set for Oct. 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
It will be the first matchup to pair a UFC champion against his Strikeforce counterpart. The super fight became possible when Zuffa, the parent company of UFC, purchased Strikeforce in March.
Diaz, the Strikeforce champion who has won 10 fights in a row, appears as the only suitable 170-pound challenger to take on St. Pierre.
St. Pierre is on a nine-fight winning streak of his own after beating Diaz’s teammate, Jake Shields, at UFC 129 in Toronto. Some discussed the possibility of St. Pierre moving up to middleweight to fight pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva.
But St. Pierre never expressed interest and would rather stay at 170 pounds for now. Diaz’s first run in the UFC ended unceremoniously in 2006 after a three-fight losing streak.
Diaz went 4-4 overall in the UFC, but has looked like a different fight since then. He’s gone 14-1 with one no contest against the best competition available outside of the octagon. His most recent win came via first round knockout against Paul Daley.
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
I said it before and I'll say it again. Pierre is scared to move up. He'd try and make the Olympics and 185 but won't fight in the UFC at 185. How does that make any sense?
GSP is a small to average size welterweight. Silva is a big middleweight that should really be fighting light heavyweight. Why would he move up in weight?
Still, they should meet somewhere in the middle (at 185,) just for the novelty of it, not to put up either of their belts, if for no other reason than it would be one hell of a fight regardless of Silva's size advantage.
If I had a reign going in my weight class like GSP does, what incentive would there be for me to move around in weight?
Diaz should be a good fight. Doubtful that he'll win though.
Good thoughts all around. I don't totally disagree with any of the comments. GSP, to me, seems to be the culprit for the fight not happening. Meeting in the middle is a good idea on the surface, but Silva is a huge middleweight. I really don't think he could cut much further than 185.
I've heard multiple people say the GSP vs. Diaz booking proves that GSP vs. Silva will never happen. I disagree. If GSP dominates him, which is likely, the chatter will ramp up like it always does. I still think GSP caves and it happens sometime in the next couple years.