UFC 158: Georges St. Pierre vs Nick Diaz Preview & Results!

Ultimate Fighting Championship 158 takes place on March 16, 2013 at the Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Facebook fights start at 6:30 p.m. EST. To watch the FREE prelims on Facebook simply visit their Facebook page and “like.” Preliminary card starts at 8 p.m. EST on FX Channel and Fox Deportes for Spanish language broadcast. PPV begins at 10 p.m. EST. Watch the official weigh-ins LIVE on Friday, March 13th at 4 p.m. EST and The ‘Countdown to UFC 158’ show which is a 30 minute show that follows the fighters behind the scenes leading up to the fight can be watched here.

Georges St. Pierre vs Nick Diaz
In a fight that every fan, hardcore and mainstream, has been waiting for, we have a “good” guy versus “bad” guy match-up. Of course, in the real world, things aren’t black and white, but this is how this fight is being sold. Nick Diaz is the badboy that taunts and insults his opponents and Georges St. Pierre is the role model that is usually polite, courteous and smiling. While there was a day and age when fighters were specialists and either dabbled or ignored other areas, most fighters these days are good to great in striking and grappling in the clinch and ground. However in this fight, Nick Diaz is a specialist in two of the three areas: Submission Grappling and Striking and has poor development in standing wrestling.

Kanuckian Georges St. Pierre is well rounded in all areas, but excels at standing wrestling and this massive skill-set difference is going to be where this fight unfolds. Now, I am not in the camp that thinks GSP only does take downs  He strikes and does it well. He has perhaps the best jab in the sport. He has out-struck virtually every opponent he has fought. When an opponent strikes back, he takes them down. It is a tactic that got him the championship belt and will help him keep it for a long time.

What Nick Diaz excels at is what is called in Boxing “touching.” This is using short punches in volume at about half power to offset your opponent’s preparation to attack and disrupt his timing. His opponents are usually just trying to get space to breath, and most of the time it never happens. Diaz eventually will stun you and then turn up the power shots when you are hurt. His ability to submit opponents has seen light of day in some time, but it is there and there in spades. Nick needs to catch GSP in a submission to win this fight and the fact that GSP will take him down means, he will have several opportunities.

GSP is highly motivated to not only win this fight, but get a stoppage. All his critics and even some of his own fans mention that it has been some years since he has had a stoppage. Stoppages entertain fans and sell tickets. While GSP is the number one ticket seller, he won’t stay there forever if he doesn’t start finishing fights. He has been vocal about not only finishing Diaz, but finishing in a brutal manner.

NBG Pick: Georges St. Pierre.

Carlos Condit vs Johny Hendricks
Carlos Condit has gotten a lot of criticism lately for the way he fought Nick Diaz at UFC 143 in February of last year. His haters and Diaz fans claimed he ran away from Diaz. Condit’s fans say he used footwork and strategy instead of stupidly planting his feet in the center of the ring and going toe to toe with Diaz like it was an unskilled Toughman contest. What many of his critics have forgotten about is Condit is called “The Natural Born Killer” for a reason. Before the Diaz fight there was only one….ONE fighter that he beat that he didn’t finish and that was a monster in Jake Ellenberger. Condit is one of the best finishers in the game with one of the highest percentages of any top fighter. In the Diaz fight, he did what was needed to beat Diaz and secure the win and a payday. In an era, where the company is cutting fighters willy-nilly, this does not come as a surprise. Relaxation in sports improves performance. Being told you can be cut from the organization after a single loss, sent a signal to all fighters: just win and you have a job. Who would take a risk with that hanging over your head?

Two-time NCAA D1 and four-time All-American wrestler has ripped apart the entire division in his past few wins. Here is one of the most highly decorated wrestlers in the sport today, yet he doesn’t win his fights by wrestling. He wins them by putting opponents to sleep with strikes. Hendricks has “one punch and you are sleeping” power. You don’t crumble in the corner and cover up in a fetal position. You don’t listen to the ref telling you to defend yourself or he’ll stop it. You go directly to La-La Land. The fact that he is a southpaw and he uses his left hand to KO you as opposed to it coming from the other side has caused a problem for people. Most of their training partners and opponents are throwing bombs from the other side. The time to make the adjustment is not in the ring, but in training. Apparently it’s not an adjustment that people are making in training because he is knocking them out early in fights.

Condit showed an intelligent gameplan against the dangerous Diaz. He already showed that the gameplan is more important to him and that he can execute against a dangerous opponent. Diaz’s face took some serious damage in that fight, but he is known to have a great chin and is hard to finish outside of a cut. It remains to be seen if Hendricks has the same resolve, chin and stubborness. If he can withstand the striking and submissions of Condit and get close enough to land a bomb. He wins and perhaps by knockout. I suspect that Condit will execute his gameplan and pull of a decision or submission for the upset.

NBG Pick: Carlos Condit

Jake Ellenberger vs Nate Marquardt
Absolute monster Jake Ellenberger was piling up win after win in the Welterweight division defeating top welterweights Mike Pyle, Sean Pierson, Jake Shields, and Diego Sanchez, before being derailed by Martin Kampmann. He got back to his winning ways in October of last year at UFC on FX: Browne vs. Bigfoot by defeating veteran Jay Hieron by Unanimous Decision. Jake is typically a finisher, and it after the confidence booster after a loss, I would think he will get back to his finishing ways. However his opponent Nate Marquardt is a veteran that is on top of his game. Ellenberger is big for the weight class and Marquardt is massive for the weight class. Marquardt is also a fighter with a high rate of finishes. So we have a fight here that will likely end in a finish. While my head says that Nate will do what is needed to win this fight, I am feeling an upset may be in the making due to the style-wise matchup. Marquardt should be incredibly strong in the first few rounds and will present a real problem for Ellenberger. Marquardt has no quit in him and I believe his experience will help him finish this fight in the later rounds.

NBG Pick: Nate Marquardt

Chris Camozzi vs Nick Ring
This bout should pan out to be a striking match. An unwritten agreement to stand and trade, with Nick Ring likely mixing takedowns in. His style is reminiscent of GSP’s and being a Kanuckian, I’m sure it’s no accident. Ring is an Ex-Kickboxer (around 30 fights) and professional Boxer (4-1) and has more of a “Boxing” style and American Camozzi has more of a Muay Thai style meaning more kicks and where available he will grab and slam knees if the opportunity presents itself. Neither fighter has heavy power and will need to put together some combinations to get a referee stoppage. This fight will likely end in decision and if Ring decides to be heavy with the takedowns, a boring one.

NBG Pick is: Nick Ring.

Mike Ricci vs Colin Fletcher
Kanuckian Mike Ricci who claims to have begun his training by learning Kung-Fu from books, has really matured as a well rounded and tough fighter. Being in his hometown and with fellow TriStar fighters on the card, he will have a lot of something extra to push him to work harder, entertain the fans and get the finish. His opponent, former nightclub manager and an ex-bus driver Colin Fletcher is coming by way of Sunderland, United Kingdom. His only loss came by way of injury. Seven of his 8 wins have come by way of submission, all by choke, so it is no mystery where he will want to be in this fights. Ricci is more well rounded and less a specialist and will know exactly what to do to keep Fletcher at bay.

NBG Pick: Mike Ricci

Come back for the results, updates and animated gifs. What are your picks for the headline fight between GSP and Diaz? Will GSP return to his finishing ways like he’s promised or will he wrestle to a win ? Who wins the bonuses?