Strikeforce’s Nick Diaz: “People Think GSP’s Better Than Me and It’s BS”

There are a lot of fighters who will take exception to many of the rankings in the world of MMA. One person who is more than happy to let his feelings be known is Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz, who keeps calling out Georges St-Pierre because everyone tries to tell him that St-Pierre is the best fighter at 170 pounds.

Well if that’s what everyone is saying, he is tired of listening to it.

Diaz, who spent several years with the UFC early in his career, has spent the last few working for different organizations including EliteXC and Strikeforce. During that time he’s established himself as one of the toughest competitors at 170 pounds, and thinks it’s high time people recognized his work.

“I think I got here and started fighting before most of them, including Georges St-Pierre in the UFC. I was really mad because they were getting fights and recognition when I was here first. I thought it was first come, first serve. I was working harder and I was here first,” Diaz commented on Thursday.

Diaz also brought up St-Pierre’s last opponent, Josh Koscheck, who he believes deserves no place among the top fighters in the welterweight division.

“Josh Koscheck, I cornered a guy to fight Josh Koscheck, he probably had two fights in his life, and this fight he was set up to fight Josh Koscheck. They made easy fights for those guys. This guy’s got like six or seven fights, all easy guys. I never fought anybody like that guy that’s fought against Josh Koscheck,” Diaz explained.

“We’ve got some guy who doesn’t even fight, he drinks at a bar, and we took him to fight Josh Koscheck one day. He didn’t even know who he was fighting. I’ve never had fights like that. So when you bring up guys like that to me and tell me they’re the best fighters in the world, it’s a (expletive) joke.”

While it’s true that Diaz is in a different promotion than St-Pierre or Koscheck, he believes that the organizations could work together to make the fights happen that the fans and critics want to see.

“Straight up, people think this guy’s better than me and it’s (expletive),” Diaz said about St-Pierre. “He just fought Josh Koscheck for (expletive) five rounds, I just told you about Josh Koscheck. Why are you saying he’s the best? What is that (expletive)? Because we fight for different companies?

“I think it’s big enough to where they can get enough money involved where they can organize that show.”

It’s obvious Diaz is more than willing to face anybody that steps in to fight him, but if there is a consolation prize it’s the fact that he believes his teammate will take the crown off of St-Pierre’s head come April 30 at UFC 129 in Toronto.

“Right now, what do you want? You guys rank that guy above me. I want to fight GSP, but I think my partner (Jake Shields) will take him out regardless,” said Diaz.

He also named UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva among his dream fights, but ultimately he wants to prove he’s the best whether it’s against St-Pierre or someone in Strikeforce. He’s ready for the test.

“It’s a joke to me. This guy may be a good fighter now, but these guys that are ranked up there, I was here first and that’s fine,” Diaz shouted. “Let’s fight then and make it happen.”

Source: mmaweekly.com

Nick Diaz Rips Mayhem Miller Rumors, Welterweight Rankings

Nick Diaz has apparently had all he can take when it comes to questions about the bout that never was against Jason "Mayhem" Miller. Nine months after a post-fight melee in Nashville ignited a bitter and ongoing rivalry between the pair, the sides are no closer to getting into a cage and settling it the old-fashioned way.

And during a conference call to hype up his upcoming Jan. 29 title defense against Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, Diaz made his feelings very clear on the matter, saying that given the weight disparity, it's not a fight he'll agree to unless the cash is right.

The conference call followed the pattern of a typical Diaz fight: jab, jab, feel out the spacing, and then, when he was properly warmed up, he let it rip.

"I'd be happy to move up," he said. "I'd just like to be paid for it, you now. I don't like how people try to say that I didn't accept the fight with Miller because I was too small. I never said anything about that. I said, If I'm going to go off-track, it's going to screw with my season, screw with my whole year, screw with my capabilities fighting at 170 pounds. So If I'm going to do that, I would like to get paid in full. I'd like to have a reason for doing that. It's not just doing it at everyone else's convenience. I would like to get paid something extra. Double, triple, something crazy for me to do that, to move up in weight and fight at that weight.

"Moving up or moving down, I'd rather move down before I moved up," he continued. "If you want me to move to a different class, let me move down if you're not going to pay me more money for it. I might as well be moving down. That's probably better. I'll move up, but can I get paid for it? People see something great. Offer me a fight at 185, offer me a big money fight and I'll make it happen. But I'm not just doing it for free when I make the same money at 170 pounds. It's more work. Twice as much work. I never would've signed for that fight with Miller. They were talking about making me move weight. I said, 'Tell his ass to get in f---ing shape and make weight like I do.' It's f---ing hard enough for me to make 170 pounds. He acts like he wouldn't be able to do it. He doesn't want to work hard like me. That's the problem. So he could work his ass off and make 170 pounds, 175 pounds. Or somebody can pay me a couple f---ing million dollars and I'll move up to 185 pounds and I'll fight him."

The Strikeforce welterweight champion made it clear it's an issue of money over bad blood, despite the fact that he recently signed a contract extension with the San Jose, California-based promotion.

"That motherf---r doesn't want to fight me," he said. "Talking about, 'he wants to fight me' every chance he gets. He's got control of the media. I'll fight at any weight. I'll fight at 185 pounds. I'd like to get paid. Pacquiao's making $40 f---ing million, GSP's making a couple millions dollars. And I'm over here driving a Honda because my s---'s breaking down?"

Diaz also took issue with world fighter rankings, telling the story of when he cornered a fighter who had only fought twice before as he took on the UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck.

The fighter, likely former Team Cesar Gracie member Chris Sanford, who was actually 4-0 at the time, was knocked out in the first round by Koscheck (who was 2-0 and making his UFC debut after appearing on the Ultimate Fighter). Diaz, though, sees that as an example of selective matchmaking that helped several UFC stars build up strong records, and helps hoodwink the media and public into believing they are better than they actually are.

"I never had fights like that," he said. "So when you bring up guys like that to me and tell me they're the best fighters in the world, it's a f---ing joke. It's a joke to me. He may be a good fighter now, but these guys that are ranked up there, I was here first. That's fine, but lets fight then, you know? Make it happen."

Diaz, who said his dream fights would be against Anderson Silva or Georges St. Pierre, was asked why he continues to call out fighters that it's unlikely he'll ever face while he's under contract to a rival promotion.

"Why wouldn't I get this fight?" he said. "Why are you saying it's unavailable? Because we fight for different companies? I think there's enough money involved that they can organize that sort of thing."

In the meantime, he'll have to settle for Santos, an 18-13 brawler who won his divisional debut by TKO over Marius Zaromskis in December.

"I think this is the best opponent for right now that I'd agree to," he said. "I want to fight GSP. But I think my partner [teammate Jake Shields] will take him out regardless."


Source: mmafighting.com

Paul Daley to Face Winner of Diaz/Cyborg, But First Headlines BAMMA Show in England

Strikeforce welterweight contender Paul Daley is getting ready to head back into action, but this time it will be in his home country of England.

Daley has been approved to headline an upcoming show for the British run MMA organization BAMMA, and is expected to be part of the the main event of their show in February.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed the news to MMAWeekly Radio on Wednesday night.

“Paul has requested to have a fight in the UK, and our deal with Paul we have to sign off on it, and we have to have an opponent approval,” Coker stated.

The opponent for Daley has not been finalized, although MMAWeekly.com has confirmed several names are on the list. Coker said much the same, and believes they could have final word about Daley’s opponent in the next few days.

“There’s a couple names and we’re going through that process with him. He wants to stay busy and he wants to fight the winner of (Nick) Diaz and Evangelista (Cyborg), and I think that makes a lot of sense,” said Coker.

Daley’s one-off fight in the UK will keep him busy to kick off 2011, but according to the Strikeforce president if he wins he will be fighting the winner of the upcoming fight between Diaz and Cyborg set to go down on Jan 29.

Coker simply said ‘yes’ when asked if he is the de facto No. 1 contender for the title, and he will be waiting in the wings when the welterweight title fight is settled next Saturday night.

Source: mmaweekly.com

Cesar Gracie on Nick Diaz-Mayhem Miller, Greg Jackson and Batista

Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz is about 10 days from his title defense against Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. If most fans had their way, Diaz would be fighting Jason "Mayhem" Miller that night.

The rivalry between Diaz and Miller exploded last April, when the two were among the participants in a post-fight brawl following Jake Shields' championship win over Dan Henderson.

On Wednesday's edition of The MMA Hour, Diaz's manager and trainer Cesar Gracie explained why the matchup has yet to happen. 

According to Gracie, Strikeforce ultimately decided that Diaz-Cyborg was the company's direction, although company president Scott Coker at one time believed that Miller-Diaz would happen.

"Part of me was disappointed because I wanted Nick to shut him up," Gracie said. "That's about it, to beat him up. But the other part, I kind of realized why that fight can't happen. You can't give a guy a fight just because he talks a lot. It sets a precedent."

Strikeforce did look into the possibility of putting the feuding duo in the cage, but the bout may have been undone by the weight differential between the pair. Gracie said Diaz is lighter than usual because he's been competing in triathlons, and would not go all the way to the middleweight division's 185-pound weight class. 

According to him, Miller only wanted to meet him at 183.

"You don't ask the champion to move up a weight class just because you want to fight him. That's stupid," he said. "If that happened in the UFC, Dana White would shut people up. It'd be the equivalent of Chris Leben calling out Georges St. Pierre and saying, 'I don't like you. You have to fight me at 185.' Dana would ridicule that. Everybody would ridicule that. I don't know how this thing got legs. It's stupid."

Diaz recently signed an extension with Strikeforce. Though Gracie could not discuss the exact terms, he said reports the contract was for a three-year deal were inaccurate.

He confirmed that the UFC was interested in Diaz but noted that the decision was ultimately made to stay with Strikeforce because Diaz's brother Nate and his main training partner Jake Shields also fight in the UFC's welterweight class.

Diaz, however, is not closing the door on a return to the UFC (he fought 10 times for the promotion between 2003-2006, going 6-4).

"There's definitely scenarios where I could see Nick back in the UFC," he said. "Right now though, we've got a very good contract with Strikeforce. They treat Nick very well. The terms of the contract are favorable, and as a manager, I'm happy with the contract."

In April, Gracie will take Shields into battle against the aforementioned St. Pierre, who is viewed by most as a Greg Jackson-trained fighter. Gracie, however, doesn't see it that way, referring to Shields and GSP as "two Gracie-trained fighters fighting each other." 

Interestingly, he disagrees with people who call the noted trainer Jackson a great coach, or who refer to him as a coach at all.

Gracie said he believes Jackson often receives too much credit for his fighters' successes. In the case of St. Pierre, he noted, technical coaches like Firas Zahabi, Phil Nurse, John Danaher and Renzo Gracie are the ones handling the details that are often the difference between winning and losing.

"He's more of a coordinator where he puts things in perspective," he said. "And he's great at what he does. Training's at this time, let's go run the mountain or something. Let's go train with this guy. He's more of a motivational speaker possibly, but as a true sense of the word 'coach,' he's not on the same page as great coaches of the world. He's not." 

Gracie said if someone were to credit him on Nick Diaz's striking progress, for example, he would have to credit Diaz's striking coach rather than accept the praise himself.

"I've got nothing against Greg Jackson in particular," he said. "It's just that we're talking about him. There's a lot of guys like that. I'm sure he's a great guy and everything. But the guys from American Top Team in Florida, it's like, you don't have Dan Lambert doing that. He doesn't get in the limelight and he's great, he does everything. He sets it all up, and he's done an incredible job. You never see him pretending he did something he didn't do. The great coaches are in the background."

Gracie, himself a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, also trains Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez.

Asked about another student, the former WWE wrestler Dave Batista, who was rumored to one day be fighting in a Strikeforce cage, Gracie said it's still a possibility.

"I really hope to see him in Strikeforce," he said. "Strikeforce said they want him. They're doing so many things at once that they're a little slow sometimes on doing stuff. But he's become a friend and that would be great.

"He's not going to beat Fedor," he continued. "Everybody has what it takes. Everybody can fight and push yourself. This is a sport, like anything else. He's not going to be world champ, probably, because he's older. But If Herschel Walker can have a shot, why can't Batista?"


Source: mmafighting.com