UFC couldn't resist St-Pierre vs. Diaz bout

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By Dann Stupp 1:53 PM Monday, October 31, 2011

The temptation was just too strong for the UFC.

Following this past weekend’s UFC 137 event in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White scratched a previously planned bout and went with the more marketable option.

Originally, UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was slated to fight Nick Diaz (who vacated his Strikeforce belt to join the UFC) at UFC 137. But when the notoriously moody fighter no-showed pre-event media commitments, Diaz was pulled from the title fight and booked against B.J. Penn instead. As a result, Carlos Condit was promised the next shot at St-Pierre’s belt.

But when Diaz easily handled Penn and called out St-Pierre this weekend — even claiming the champ was lying about his recent injury because he’s “scared” — the dollar signs were hard to ignore. White scrapped plans for St-Pierre vs. Condit, and instead, he booked St-Pierre vs. Diaz for Super Bowl weekend in Las Vegas.

According to White, the always-even-tempered St-Pierre was “livid” at Diaz’s post-fight insults.

“(St-Pierre) is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, and he’s always exactly the same no matter what the situation is, no matter who he’s fighting,” White said. “But (St-Pierre) said, and I quote — you’re going to think I’m full of (expletive), but this is the truth — I quote, ‘He’s the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met, and I’m going to put the worst beating you’ve ever seen on him in the UFC.’ ”

St-Pierre (22-2) vs. Condit (27-5) would have been a solid scrap between two top-ranked fighters. But St-Pierre vs. Diaz (26-7) is both that — and box-office and PPV gold. It’ll kick off the year the UFC makes its network-TV debut in grand fashion, and it’s already set the MMA world abuzz.

It’s a shame for Condit, but can you really blame White for playing the hot hand?

Viacom acquires Bellator stake: If Bellator Fighting Championships is going to take a run at the UFC’s top-dog status, it just got a lot more resources.

The organization announced this past week that Viacom — the parent company to Bellator TV’s broadcast partners MTV2 and Spike.com — has acquired a majority stake in the nearly three-year-old MMA organization.

Due to the UFC’s new deal with FOX, Bellator likely will take over the UFC’s existing slot on Viacom-owned Spike TV in 2013. It’s a major step up from the lowly rated and hard-to-find MTV2, which began airing Bellator events earlier this year.

Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of MMAjunkie.com, voted best media outlet in the 2008, 2009 and 2010 World MMA Awards. For the latest mixed-martial-arts news, go to MMAjunkie.com.

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