The MMA world was certainly surprised when Dana White revealed the UFC was working on a fight between former welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre and Nate Diaz for UFC 227 in August.
But no one was more surprised than GSP’s coach, who was completely surprised by the news upon hearing it.
UFC analyst Kenny Florian spoke to GSP’s team, and told Submission Radio that they had no idea the UFC was working on putting a Nate Diaz fight together (MMA Mania):
“When I did bring it up to one of the coaches in that camp they seemed to be surprised and unaware about that news. The Nate Diaz fight, they weren’t really aware of it. And again, maybe they’re out of the loop, but my understanding is that they were taken by surprise and they didn’t really know that that was the fight that Georges was targeting or even wanted.”
White revealed that the UFC was indeed targeting UFC 227 for a lightweight contest between GSP and the younger Diaz brother, a blockbuster card that’s also set to feature former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold against Alexander Gustafsson in Rockhold’s first ever fight at light heavyweight.
GSP has actually already fought and defeated Nate’s brother Nick back in 2013, giving a fight with Nate an interesting sub-plot.
UFC 227 will take place in August, meaning the UFC has about three months to make this fight happen. It seems like by now, however, both Diaz and GSP’s teams would have been aware of such a fight.
Will GSP and Nate Diaz end up throwing down at UFC 227 this summer? Or does this revelation put the fight in jeopardy?
