UFC 158: GSP vs. Diaz Review

UFC 158 was headlined by a Welterweight Championship fight between Georges St-Pierre and  Nick Diaz. GSP and Diaz have had many issues with one another with both bad mouthing each other through the press and social media. Most believe that Diaz wasn't worthy of the title shot as he had just lost to Condit, but due to the bad blood and GSP wanting the fight the UFC made it happen. This card also featured two other welterweight fights that featured three guys currently in the top 10 of the division. The rest of the card was rather weak as it was a very top-heavy card.


UFC 158 Review:

Main Card on PPV:

Welterweight Championship: Georges St-Pierre (24-2) (Champion) vs. Nick Diaz (26-9, 1 NC)

Georges St-Pierre defeated Carlos Condit by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45).

Watching GSP is like watching the Klitschko brothers in boxing. They aren't going to have a fight of the year candidate because they stick to using their strengths so much so that they don't really let themselves get in trouble. Instead of really laying it out there they play it safe and continue to win fights that leave people wanting more. GSP is definitely the king at 170, there's no doubting that, whether or not GSP can defeat Anderson Silva at 185 though is to be seen.

There's no doubt in my mind that GSP bettered Diaz in tonight's fight. GSP used what in my opinion is the best wrestling in MMA to never really let Diaz do enough in the fight. Whenever Diaz would land a few successful strikes GSP would get the fight back to the ground and regain control of the fight. I had it 50-45 just like all three of the judges, but it wasn't an all out domination like most 50-45 decisions look.

At this point I'm really done with watching GSP fight. He's not going to finish anybody as his seven of his last eight fights have gone the entire 25 minutes except for his fight against B.J. Penn. The fight with Penn would likely have ended in another GSP win via decision had Penn been able to come out for the fifth round.

GSP has two options right now for his next fight in my opinion. Wait to fight Anderson Silva if he is victorious after the Chris Weidman fight this summer or defend his championship against Johny Hendricks. Hendricks has proven that he is the #1 contender to GSP's belt. I have wanted to see the GSP-Anderson fight for a couple of years now and think this is the best time to do it. If the UFC decides to have GSP defend it against Hendricks and do the superfight at the end of the year or at the Super Bowl card next February I'm okay with the wait as long as the fight finally happens.

As for Diaz, he is talking about possibly going into retirement which I doubt will actually happen. He's a top 10 welterweight and should continue fighting. The fight that makes a lot of sense to me is for him to rematch Robbie Lawler, whom he fought way back at UFC 47 in which he was the victor by knockout. Lawler is a top 10 welterweight after defeating Koscheck, and with a win over Lawler could be close once again to a title shot at GSP.

Up next for St-Pierre: Anderson Silva Superfight/Hendricks
Up next for Diaz: Robbie Lawler Rematch

Welterweight: Johny Hendricks (15-1) vs. Carlos Condit (28-7)

Johny Hendricks defeated Carlos Condit via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

If Condit would have been able to stop a couple of those takedowns he would have won the fight. Condit's lack of takedown defense hurt him in the GSP fight and has now hurt him against Hendricks. Condit did a hell of a lot more damage in the fight than Hendricks, but Hendricks had control for most of it which was what won him the fight.

Condit was able to use very good kickboxing and Muay Thai on the feet and was definitely the much better striker. Hendricks' wrestling was very impressive and could be on par with that of the current champion. If Hendricks is going to beat GSP he's going to have to work on his stand-up game a lot. He won't be able to take GSP down at will so he will have to stand with him for a good amount of it where GSP currently has the advantage.

Hendricks has to be wondering when he will ever get his title shot. If it is going to happen he will likely have to fight GSP at some point over the summer as all signs are pointing to a GSP-Anderson fight within the next year. If Hendricks has to wait until after the Anderson-GSP fight then he could be looking at more than a year off in between fights which is a lot of time off before fighting for the championship against a guy that has been untouchable as of late. If Hendricks has to wait for his title shot I think he should be smart and stay active. I think a fight between him and Ellenberger makes the most sense. As for Condit, I think he should rematch Rory MacDonald. That was the fight that was originally supposed to happen tonight and I think the rematch would be good for both guys careers.

Up next for Hendricks: St-Pierre/Ellenberger
Up next for Condit: Rory MacDonald Rematch


Welterweight: Jake Ellenberger (29-6) vs. Nate Marquardt (32-12-2)

Jake Ellenberger defeated Nate Marquardt via KO (punches) at 3:00 of round 1.

From the looks of it, it appears Marquardt could be done in the UFC and might be headed towards possible retirement. He didn't look all that good and was dropped pretty easily by Ellenberger. Ellenberger landed a lot more successfully and seemed to have a lot more power than Marquardt. Ellenberger put together a good combination that led to the end of the fight, dropping Marquardt to the mat and then finishing him once he was down there with punches. It was a good stoppage by the referee and good performance by Ellenberger.

As I mentioned earlier I think Ellenberger should fight Hendricks if Hendricks doesn't get the immediate title shot. The fight could be used as a #1 contender fight even though Hendricks is currently the #1 contender. If Hendricks fights GSP right away then I would like to see Ellenberger fight Demian Maia. Both guys are top 10 welterweights that are very close to earning a title shot within the next year. Due to all of the recent cuts in the UFC I wouldn't be surprised if Marquardt was let go after losing in his return to the UFC.

Up next for Ellenberger: Demian Maia/Hendricks
Up next for Marquardt: Probably cut by UFC

UFC 158: GSP vs. Diaz Preview

UFC 158: St-Pierre vs. Diaz is live on PPV tonight coming from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Georges St-Pierre is defending the UFC Welterweight Championship against the former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion, Nick Diaz. There are also two other welterweight fights at the top of the card including Johny Hendricks vs. Carlos Condit which could end up determining the number one contender, and Jake Ellenberger vs. Nate Marquardt. The rest of the fight card is really weak with them focusing a lot of the promotion around the title fight and not much else on the prelims or even bottom two fights of the main card. The first two fights being aired on the PPV are fights that might not have even been aired on some prelim specials on FX. The Mike Ricci-Colin Fletcher fight might be the worst fight to actually air on PPV in a long time.


UFC 158 Preview:

Main Card on PPV:

Welterweight Championship: Georges St-Pierre (23-2) (Champion) vs. Nick Diaz (26-8, 1 NC)

This fight has been talked about now for over three years and it is finally happening tonight. When Diaz won the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship it looked as if he was the biggest challenge for GSP outside of the UFC and when he eventually made his arrival the two would fight for the championship to determine who was the best guy at 170.

Diaz went unbeaten while champion in Strikeforce as he successfully defended the title against K.J. Noons, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos and Paul Daley before coming over to the UFC. Diaz also defeated Hayato "Mach" Sakurai in DREAM during that time span. When Diaz first came to the UFC he was to meet GSP for the championship, but he failed to show up for media appearances and had the title fight taken away from him. When he defeated BJ Penn he was reawarded a title shot against the champion, GSP. Heading into the fight with GSP, the champion would eventually suffer an injury which led to Diaz fighting Carlos Condit for the interim title. In the interim title fight Condit came out victorious with Diaz testing positive for marijuana. Diaz was suspended for a year due to marijuana and is making his return to action tonight against the champion in a fight that he was waited so long for.

GSP has been the undisputed UFC Welterweight Champion now for almost five straight years. The champion hasn't tasted defeat since being upset by Matt Serra at UFC 69 which happened almost six years ago. As champion GSP has defeated Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, Dan Hardy, Josh Koscheck, Jake Shields and Carlos Condit, with some arguing that he may even be the pound-for-pound champion in all of MMA. In my opinion GSP is the second best fighter in all of MMA right now behind only the UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. A potential fight between GSP and Silva might come to fruition later this year if GSP is able to defeat Diaz and possibly Hendricks with Silva having to defeat Chris Weidman later this year.

I have been wanting to see this fight now for a long time now. Diaz is one of the only top welterweights left for GSP to defend his title against with Johny Hendricks being the only other guy that might be deserving of a title shot with a win tonight. I see this fight being fought all over the Octagon. On the feet Diaz will have the boxing advantage but GSP will have the all-around striking advantage as he utilizes kickboxing and Muay Thai as well. On the ground GSP will have the wrestling advantage with Diaz having the jiu-jitsu advantage. I see this fight being relatively even with the main question being, will either guy be able to finish the other? I don't think either guy will be able to knock the other one out, but I'm thinking that GSP might get too comfortable on the ground and eventually get caught with a submission in one of the later rounds. These guys will more than likely put on an absolute war because of the hatred between the two.

My Prediction: Diaz wins via submission (round 3).

Welterweight: Johny Hendricks (14-1) vs. Carlos Condit (28-6)

Hendricks is fighting for the chance to earn his title shot against the winner of GSP-Diaz. Hendricks only has one loss in his professional career to Rick Story and is currently on a five-fight win streak. Outside of that loss he has wins over Amir Sadollah, Mike Pierce, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Martin Kampmann. His current win streak has been very impressive with three knockout victories over some of the best fighters in the 170 pound division.

Condit is making his first appearance since losing the to GSP back in November when the two fought for the undisputed UFC Welterweight Championship. Even if Condit were victorious tonight I doubt he would get an immediate title shot and will likely have to win at least one or two more fights before he gets that opportunity again. The former interim UFC Champion has defeated Jake Ellenberger, Rory MacDonald, Dan Hardy, Dong-Hyun Kim and Nick Diaz since coming to the UFC from the WEC where he was also champion.

While Hendricks has proven himself to be one of the best guys at 170, I'm not sure if he's one of the top three guys in the division. I think GSP, Diaz and the guy he's fighting tonight, Condit, are all one tier ahead of him right now. The reason behind that is that I believe those three are well-rounded fighters where the rest of the division has weaknesses in their techniques. I'm expecting Condit to use his grappling game as well as his kickboxing to pull off the win tonight and move closer to a rematch with either GSP or Diaz.

My Prediction: Condit wins via TKO (round 2).

Welterweight: Jake Ellenberger (28-6) vs. Nate Marquardt (32-11-2)

The last main fight of the night is between two guys that have come so close to being at the top, with each of them falling short when getting close. Ellenberger was about to get a title shot against GSP, but was knocked out by Martin Kampmann two fights ago. Marquardt lost to Anderson Silva for the middleweight championship over five years ago and could have come over to the UFC as the Strikeforce Welterweight Champion had he not overlooked Tarec Saffiedine.

Since coming to the UFC Ellenberger has only lost twice and has beaten some very quality opponents in Jake Shields, Diego Sanchez and Jay Hieron. Marquardt has been a fighter that hasn't really put together a huge win streak in his career as he has struggled with consistency. While in the UFC he has wins over Jeremy Horn, Martin Kampmann, Demian Maia and Rousimar Palhares.

I think in tonight's fight that Marquardt might have a lot of trouble with Ellenberger. Marquardt hasn't been someone that has gotten finished often in his career with only three defeats in 45 fights coming by either knockout or submission so I'm expecting this fight to go to a decision. Ellenberger will likely be the stronger and faster fighter of the two as Marquardt is on the wrong side of 30. I'm expecting Ellenberger to use his boxing and wrestling to win while not giving Marquardt many good opportunities.

My Prediction: Ellenberger wins via unanimous decision.