UFC 158 Diaz vs St-Pierre

UFC 158 on Saturday is headlined by the on-again off-again Welterweight Championship fight between Nick Diaz and champion Georges St-Pierre. The fight, originally scheduled for UFC 137 in October of 2011 was canceled because Diaz missed several press appearances for the UFC. Carlos Condit was given the title fight (which GSP missed due to an injury) and Diaz defeated BJ Penn in what was the new main event. After the fight, Diaz called out GSP, which made the French-Canadian furious and demanded Dana White give him the next shot in February of 2012. St-Pierre's injury was worse than expected and he had to drop out of that fight as well.

Diaz and Carlos Condit fought for the Interim Welterweight belt at UFC 143 on that show instead. Diaz lost a controversial decision, and threatened to retire in his post-fight interview. It was later announced that Diaz tested positive for marijuana and would be suspended for 12 months. GSP made his comeback and beat Carlos Condit at UFC 154 in October. GSP requested that his next title defense would be against Nick Diaz, and here we are.

UFC 158 features 4 of the top 5 Welterweights in the company, and the immediate future of the division will be determined by the top 2 fights. All four of these men have a lot to gain and/or lose on Saturday.

1) Georges St-Pierre

GSP is entering this event on a ten-fight (almost six year) winning streak, since being upset by Matt Serra in 2007 (at one point he won 33 straight rounds, which is unheard of). Along with Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, you can make a case that he is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. A win against Diaz will further cement his legacy as the best ever, and possibly set up a super-fight that has been rumored for years between him and Silva. GSP has shown a more ruthless side of his personality in the build to this fight, at one point calling Diaz "an uneducated fool" and saying "he's the most disrespectful human being I've ever met and I'm going to put the worst beating on him you've ever seen in the UFC". A lot of pundits are questioning if Diaz was successful in getting into the Champ's head.

2) Nick Diaz

The person who eventually unseats GSP as Welterweight Champion will immediately have a huge mark on his resume. Diaz may pose the biggest threat out of any opponent that St-Pierre has faced. He is a dangerous striker and Jiu-Jitsu black belt. GSP will be able to take him down and out-wrestle him, but he must be aware of Diaz, who is great at getting submissions on his back. With all the fame, glory, and money to be gained if he wins, Diaz could possibly cost himself his UFC career with a loss. It's no secret that Dana White doesn't get along with the brothers from the "209", and the only reason White has put up with Diaz's antics was because he knows he can make a ton of money off of this fight. If Nick loses he will certainly have 2 strikes against him and a future slip-up could be costly.

3) Johny Hendricks

Hendricks, who was originally scheduled to face Jake Ellenberger, but after an injury to Rory MacDonald, is going to fight Carlos Condit instead. Hendricks feels like he should be the number one contender to GSP's belt after knocking out Jon Fitch and Martin Kampmann in the first round of their fights. With a win on Saturday, against the former #1 Contender will almost guarantee that Hendricks gets his wish for a date with St-Pierre. Condit is a dangerous fighter in his own right, and has one-punch knockout power as well. A loss will knock Hendricks down a couple pegs and he will have to be patient for a potential title fight.

4) Carlos Condit

"The Natural Born Killer" is looking to get back in contention after a war with St-Pierre in October. Condit is in a strange position, because the last person who had a title rematch against GSP was BJ Penn in 2009, and usually after a loss to St-Pierre, a lot of fighters never reach the top again (Koscheck, Dan Hardy, Thiago Alves, Jake Shields for example). Condit's original opponent, Rory MacDonald made more sense, since Rory doesn't want to fight his training partner GSP, thus a loss by either fighter won't hurt a potential #1 contender.

Yankees Injuries, Revis Trade Rumors, and More

MLB

The greatest closer of all-time Mariano Rivera officially announced that he will be retiring at the end of the 2013 season. Mo has done it all in his career, making the final out in 4 World Series, has a 0.70 postseason ERA, and is the all-time saves leader with 608 and counting.  As a Yankee fan it's been a reassurance that if you have a lead after 8 innings that you pretty much have the game in hand. It is going to be a rude awakening next year when "Enter Sandman" isn't going to play over the Stadium speakers with #42 running out of the bullpen and mystifying batters with his legendary cutter. Thank You Mariano.

Now though, with Opening Day 2013 approaching quickly, the Yankees have caught the injury bug. A  little less than a month into Spring Training and the Bronx Bombers will be without Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, and Michael Pineda on their Opening Day roster. Derek Jeter is recovering well from a broken ankle, and barring a set-back should be ready to play against the Red Sox on April 1. I will have a Yankees season preview in the next couple of weeks, but this team has me worried. 

NFL

Like I predicted here in October, it is looking like a trade for Darrelle Revis is imminent after the 2013 NFL league year begins later this week. As good as a player as Revis is, it's sad that he is so selfish and driven by greed. He held out as a rookie, held out again after making the AFC Championship Game in 2009, and if not for a clause in his contract would have threatened to hold out again last season. It is especially telling that while Revis is trying to squeeze every last penny out of the Jets organization, (as much as I hate to admit it) the greatest quarterback of our era, Tom Brady, is taking a pay cut to help ease his cap hit on the Patriots.

The question now is where does Greedvis go to play next season and what should the Jets asking price be? With one-year left on his contract and his past history, whatever team trades for him has to have a lot of cap space to give him Mario Williams money. You also have to factor in the fact that he sat out most of last season after suffering from a torn ACL (but like Adrian Peterson proved last year that they aren't career-enders anymore). According to Jason LaCanfora, potential suitors include the 49ers, Redskins, Bucs, and Colts. Teams know that the Jets are desperate to ship him off, so that could hurt their asking price, but I still expect us to at least get a first and third round pick for him. 

As for the 2013 Jets, they need a lot of work to begin rebuild from a terrible 2012 season. I don't expect Revis, Dustin Keller, Shonn Greene, and LaRon Landry to return to the green and white next year (and we already cut Bart Scott and Calvin Pace), which leaves us with a lot of holes and not a whole lot of cap space to maneuver. It's been reported that we asked Santonio Holmes to take a pay cut (excuse me while I laugh uproariously). John Idzik has his work cut out for him.

UFC

• Frankie Edgar lost a decision to Jose Aldo on Super Bowl weekend in a hard fought fight against one of the top pound for pound guys in the sport. Edgar has to move down the ladder a little after losing three title fights, and is rumored to fight Cub Swanson over the spring/summer. A win against Cub would put Edgar in the same shoes as Urijah Faber. They are both good popular fighters who dominate their weight class, but fans are tired of seeing them get title fights. I think Frankie is going to need to get back on a little win streak before facing the Featherweight Champion again.
• Dana White shocked everyone when he announced that Anthony Pettis wants to fight Jose Aldo next. After an impressive win against "Cowboy" Cerrone it was expected that Pettis would be next in line for a shot against Ben Henderson, but "Showtime" wants to move down and unseat Aldo. This should be a great fight.
• Ronda Rousey is a certifiable star, and is just behind GSP and Anderson Silva as the most house-hold name in MMA. I enjoy women's MMA, but Rousey faced a lot of backlash from internet MMA fans who felt like women don't belong in the Octagon. Rousey's debut against Liz Carmouche was everything her and Zuffa could have asked for, an exciting fight that saw Rousey finish Carmouche with another first-round armbar. I can't predict what will happen if/when Rousey loses the belt, but WMMA is going to be strong as long as she is still champion. 
• I will have a full preview later this week, but if you haven't heard it yet, go out of your way to listen to the GSP/Nick Diaz conference call. These guys really hate each other and it is going to be a great fight.
• The UFC lost it's second big fight of this year when Alistair Overeem had to drop out of his fight against Junior Dos Santos after an undisclosed injury. Mark Hunt, fresh off his knockout of Stephen Struve has stepped up in what is a potential #1 contender fight.
• UFC is scheduled to have a busy April, with a card every week, headlined by the Fox show with Ben Henderson v Gilbert Melendez and Frank Mir v Daniel Cormier. Than, UFC 159 in Newark is headlined by TUF Coaches/Title fight between Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones.