if Dana White, Nick Diaz, and GSP colluded for publicity reasons to sell a fight then they are on the level of Andy Kaufman. The genius of it being that during the press conference they were outright conceding to their outlandish behavior for the sake of selling "wolf tickets".
But make no mistake there is no love loss between these two, coming from worlds apart Diaz, and GSP have about as much in common as Katharine Hepburn has with Artie Lange.
Perhaps no more truer than in their fighting styles. Georges St-Pierre has held the welterweight belt since 2008, because of a calculated, thorough, workmanlike style. In preparing for his fights, the 31 year old combs through every angle to ensure that all the work has been done before the fight, and then he goes out and executes that with focus.
Nick Diaz on the other hand possesses a street hardened game, that tries to lure you out of yours. Those who take the bait tend to drown in the deep waters that the triathlete can put them in. Behind his trash talking is a skilled fighter with some of the best hands in MMA. Nick Diaz is also an accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt who wants the fight to end up on the ground.
That is where this fight gets interesting. In terms of power, GSP can control the fight, but where does he control it? Standing and he is going up against the unorthodox hands of Diaz who only will get better and more confident as the fight goes into the 4th and 5th rounds. On the ground, and he has to stay out of the traps Diaz will likely set.
However GSP has fought against all takers and has retained his belt seven times in a row. And his last two fights he defeated Carlos Condit (see below) who is a masterful technical striker, and Jake Shields who is a Brazilian Jui-Jitsu blackbelt. So with the exception of the trash talking he is not going to face anything new.
Lost in this weeks pre-fight circus was the intriguing match-up between Johhny Hendricks and Carlos Condit.
Johhny Hendricks nickname is 'Bigg Rigg' for all the right reasons. A powerfully built fighter who is a four time All American wrestler. Hendriks also happens to have serious knockout power. With heavy hands Hendricks he utilizes a short left hook to put away his opponents. The native Oklahoman has won his last five fights, two being hard fought descisions, and the other three were impressive first round KOs. The most notable was a :12 KO against Jon Fitch. His last fight against Martin Kampmann went almost three times longer, knocking him out at :46 of the first round. If Hendricks wins it will set him up for an overdue title shot.
His opponent Carlos Condit is also an accomplished striker, the 'Natural Born Killer', relies more on a diverse array of muai thai and kick boxing to catch his opponents, which has earned him 13 career KOs. Condit is also deadly on the ground, and can handle himself with the best, as witnessed in his last fight against GSP. With a brown belt in Brazilian Jui-Jitsu, Condit has 13 career submissions. A fighter out of the Greg Jackson camp, Condit is more of a tactician, who relies on technical prescison in his strikes to control a fight. Condit's game plan may be to use his seven inch reach advantage to keep the distance and set the pace of the fight. A win here would possibly set him up with a rematch against the winner of the Pierre/Diaz fight.
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