UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has caught some flak for calling out Nick Diaz over Johnny Hendricks, defending his title against the Stockton bad boy at UFC 158 in March.
For “Rush,” there was never a question who the number one contender at 170-pounds was after he defeated Carlos Condit at UFC 154 in November: Nick Diaz.
GSP shared his thoughts at a press conference for UFC 158 on Wednesday, with MMA Fighting providing some of the best quotes.
"According to me, I believe Josh Koscheck should have won the fight, so I didn't want to fight a guy that lost [to] a guy that I beat," St-Pierre said regarding Hendricks’ UFC on FOX 3 bout with Koscheck in May.
St-Pierre has defeated Koscheck twice before, once at UFC 74 and another at UFC 124, the second meeting being a welterweight title fight at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The champion defends his gold at the same spot when he takes on Diaz in roughly two months. Despite the bad blood between the two, St-Pierre offered high praise for the former Strikeforce title holder.
"And I think for me, Nick Diaz, is the No. 1 contender. He's proven himself many times before. There’s a story between us. It's a big fight everybody wants to see. Nick wanted to have that fight for a long time, I wanted that fight for a long time. Now it’s time to do it. When it's time to do it, you have to take the opportunity to do it."
Diaz is no slouch, boasting victories over the likes of Chris Lytle, Paul Daley and BJ Penn, but it is a little difficult to justify his title shot given that he lost his most recent fight against Condit at UFC 143 in February of last year.
Meanwhile, Hendricks is currently riding a five-fight win streak with wins over top contenders such as Jon Fitch, Koscheck and Martin Kampmann.
Despite getting the short end of the stick here, UFC president Dana White stated that Hendricks will more than likely get his shot at the belt with a win over Jake Ellenberger on the same card.
Is GSP’s assessment of the current welterweight title picture realistic or is he just trying to hide the fact he wanted to fight the “safer” opponent?