Diaz to fight Penn at UFC 137

The UFC President tweeted today that Nick Diaz would be back on UFC 137 as the co main event of the show.  Nick Diaz who had originally been scheduled to fight Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, will now take on BJ Penn.  According to mmajunkie.com

The UFC president today tweeted that Diaz (25-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) has been re-booked to meet Penn (16-7-2 MMA, 12-6-2 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC 137, which takes place on Oct. 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Nick Diaz was removed from the main event very recently as he pulled two no shows for press conferences that were set up to help promote the fight.  Diaz posted a brief video in response to the news.  According to mmajunkie.com

“I was out in San Francisco, last-minute, trying to get on an airplane to go to a press conference for the UFC,” Diaz says in the video. “They wanted me to fight for the title against Georges St-Pierre. Now they’re telling me they’re going to give the fight to Carlos Condit, which I think is ridiculous. Georges thinks it’s a great idea because Carlos Condit poses an even greater threat. So I guess that just leaves me out.”

Even with Diaz coming from a 10 fight win streak in Strikeforce, and Penn having a disappointing tie vs Jon Fitch at UFC 127 it still looks like a great match for fight fans.  Diaz with his unorthodox boxing, high level jiu jitsu, vs BJ Penn with his disciplined boxing style and high level jiu jitsu.  No matter which way it goes it appears MMA fight fans are the real winners.

References

MMAjunkie.com Staff on Sep 07, 2011, Diaz apologizes for missing UFC 137 “beauty pageant,” proclaims he’s ready to fight, Retrieved online 09/08/2011 from http://mmajunkie.com/news/25135/diaz-apologizes-for-missing-ufc-137-beauty-pageant-proclaims-hes-ready-to-fight.mma