Ask and you shall receive: UFC president Dana White announced on Thursday that UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will likely next defend his title against Nick Diaz.
White broke the news at a UFC on FOX 5 pre-event press conference in Seattle (via MMA Junkie):
"Georges St-Pierre has been a phenomenal champion, a phenomenal human being and just a great guy to work with for us. He doesn't ask for things. If he wants to fight Nick Diaz, and Nick Diaz wants to fight him, that's probably the fight we'll make."
GSP was originally slated to face the former Strikeforce champion at UFC 137 back in Oct. 2011, but the French-Canadian had to pull out due to a knee injury. Diaz defeated BJ Penn on the card instead and expected a title shot at UFC 143 in February.
Once again though, things did not go as planned as “Rush” suffered an ACL tear in December and Diaz ended up losing a controversial decision to Carlos Condit at UFC 143 to determine the division’s interim champion in the absence of St-Pierre.
Aside from the fact that Diaz is serving a suspension for testing positive for marijuana metabolites in a post-UFC 143 drug test, White indicated that the biggest snag in a Diaz vs. GSP bout is getting in touch with Diaz to formally offer him the fight.
"I haven't even talked to Nick yet," White admitted. "I was trying to track him down this week, which is always fun. So I called (Nick's brother) Nate (Diaz), and Nate told me, 'Listen, if you talk to him, tell him I'm looking for him, too.'"
White also addressed Johny Hendricks, who has surged to the top of many welterweight rankings after winning five in a row and knocking out perennial contenders in Jon Fitch and Martin Kampmann.
"When you talk about winning in spectacular fashion, this guy hits people so hard he skids across the octagon. But he's in no position to demand anything. Georges St-Pierre is the champ, has been forever, and if that's the fight he wants, then that's probably the fight we're going to give him if Diaz accepts it."
Hendricks was less than thrilled with the news, immediately voicing his frustration on Twitter:
“I don't really know what to say but please@danawhite give me a shot @GeorgesStPierre if u want a fight I will give him anything he can take”
Hendricks later updated fans by tweeting he would sit out and wait if Diaz does indeed get a title shot over him.
What fight makes more sense: Diaz vs. St-Pierre or Hendricks vs. St-Pierre?