Getty Georges St-Pierre
Former two-division champion Georges St-Pierre was prepared for a backstage fight with his former opponent, Nick Diaz, at UFC 266 last year.
Diaz made his MMA comeback in September when he took on former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler during the card’s five-round featured bout. It was a back-and-forth striking battle but Diaz ultimately lost the fight via third-round TKO.
“GSP” was at UFC 266 in Las Vegas, Nevada, that night, as he was working the corner of teammate Nasrat Haqparast. Before he fought, Diaz approached St-Pierre in the back and GSP wasn’t sure what Diaz’s intentions were.
They fought in 2013 at UFC 158 when St-Pierre held the 170-pound belt. St-Pierre defeated Diaz via unanimous decision. Leading into their fight, both men participated in back-and-forth banter and GSP wasn’t sure if Diaz still held any resentment.
“When it happened, he was walking towards me — and with Nick Diaz, you never know,” GSP said on “The MMA Hour” via MMA Fighting. “So I was like, I took a stance in a way, like I didn’t know if he wanted to come to fight me or he wanted to talk to me. [Laughs].”
Diaz didn’t attack GSP, however. Instead, he shook his rival’s hand and proceeded to leave the room, something St-Pierre views as an act of “peace.”
“But when I saw him physically reach out to me with his hand I went, ‘Oh, OK,’ and I reached out and I shook his hand [and thought], ‘So it’s peace, I guess,'” St-Pierre continued.
GSP Viewed Fighting as ‘Only Business,’ Holds No Animosity With Any Fighter
To GSP, promoting their UFC 158 affair was only business for him, and he doesn’t have any sort of negative feelings toward his past opponents.
“Nick is one of the guys that took fighting very personal,” St-Pierre said. “Whatever that I said, I never wanted to hurt him on a personal level. I just said things to make the fight more interesting.
“I never had any animosity with him or any of the guys once I retired. For me, it’s only business.”
Diaz Is Returning to the Octagon This Year, According to Cesar Gracie
Diaz’s longtime coach Cesar Gracie took to social media last week to announce that his fighter will compete inside the Octagon in 2022.
“Look for @nickdiaz209 to fight by the end of the year,” Gracie wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of Diaz with the Strikeforce welterweight title over his shoulder.
Diaz has done virtually no media since his loss to Lawler, but during the UFC 266 pre-fight press conference, Diaz said he’d return quickly if he got his “a** whooped” by Lawler.
“Definitely want to do this more often, especially if I get my ass whooped,” Diaz said via MMA Fighting. “If I get my a** whooped, I want to come back right away. If I get my a** whooped, I want to come right back.”
On the other end, GSP is retired from mixed martial arts. He last fought in November 2017 when he captured Michael Bisping’s middleweight belt, making the Canadian one of only a few fighters to have earned a divisional title in two different UFC weight classes.