Georges St-Pierre Says Nick Diaz Rematch Could Happen
Georges St-Pierre admitted recently he is training for a return to the UFC and has entered the United States Anti-Doping Agency drug testing program.
But, who will his opponent be? Names like welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, middleweight champion Michael Bisping and Donald Cerrone have expressed their desire to get in there with the former welterweight kingpin.
St-Pierre hasn’t announced who his opponent will be, but he keeps bringing up a previous foe.
In an interview with MMAFighting to promote his role in the movie, “Kickboxer: Vengeance”, St-Pierre expressed he’s very interested in once again fighting Nick Diaz.
“It could be very possible to happen,” GSP said to the site.
The 35-year old GSP and Diaz fought at UFC 158 in Mar. 2013, with the former champion winning by unanimous decision. St-Pierre won the fight pretty easily, but Diaz did have some moments in the bout. The trash talk between the two in the lead-up was stuff for the ages. The fight did estimated 950,000 pay-per-view buys.
Since the fight took place, Diaz has said that St-Pierre actually missed weight and the Quebec commission was covering it up. And more recently, Diaz said he was drugged by St-Pierre’s nurse before the fight took place.
“I beat him, but there was a lot of animosity,” St-Pierre said. “I didn’t feel I fought well that fight. He says I poisoned him and all that kind of stuff. Whatever. He has very good excuses. Even myself, I could make excuses, but I’m not that type of guy. Trust me when I say I didn’t fight as well as I wanted to and it would be fun to do it again.”
The Canadian hasn’t fought since he beat Johny Hendricks by split decision at UFC 168 in Nov. 2013. Shortly thereafter, St-Pierre vacated the title and took a hiatus from the sport. Where everything is at right now, it appears St-Pierre will return by the end of the year.
UFC 206 takes place on Dec. 10 from Toronto. That would be the perfect place for St-Pierre to return as he is the biggest MMA star and one of the biggest overall in Canada. But, St-Pierre told MMAFighting it is all up to the UFC and “all the stars are aligned” for him to return at that show. Diaz appears to be his number one choice for a return opponent.
“I’m not scared of this guy and it would be fun to be welcomed in the cage after a long layoff to fight a guy that has such a stature, that sort of skillset,” St-Pierre said of Diaz. “He’s a very dangerous guy, Nick Diaz. It would put me right back in the water where I left it, at the very world-class caliber level. I would welcome the challenge. I’m not a guy who would shy away from a challenge like that.”
Diaz hasn’t fought since he lost by unanimous decision to Anderson Silva at UFC 183 in Jan. 2015. He failed a post-fight drug test for marijuana even though he had passed two drug tests the night of the fight. Diaz was originally suspended for five years but the suspension was eventually reduced to 18 months. The suspension ended on July 31 and now we are waiting to see if he will be the one to fight St-Pierre.