Nick Diaz camp calls for BJ Penn to accept a five round fight at UFC 137
Posted on October 18, 2011, 07:18 PM by Trent Reinsmith
As a result of Georges St-Pierre suffering a knee injury while training for his UFC 137 title defense against Carlos Condit, the bout between Nick Diaz and BJ Penn has been moved to main event status. The fight, according to UFC President Dana White, will remain be three rounds.
Despite the fact that the fight is less than two weeks away, Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie is not happy with the fight only being three rounds. Gracie would very much like to see Penn accept a five round fight with Diaz.
“These guys have to prove they are ready. These guys are fighters. BJ has always said he's a warrior. ... The old school days of MMA back when it was NHB, they fought forever. Don't be scared, homie. Let's make it five rounds." – for more see MMAFighting.com
Further Reading: Dana White: Knee Injury forces Georges St. Pierre out of UFC 137
Photo: BJ Penn before his fight with Kenny Florian during UFC 101 at the Wachovia Center on August 8, 2009, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Francis Specker
Comments
If BJ has no problem with that, i dont see why not
they already hav contracts signed. they'd hav to void those and redraft then sign a new one... or add some clause or something. either way it'd cost money and time to do all that.
Hey he said it was and now it is only thing to do is step up...
he always steps up plus more money now hell yeah he will
They know BJ gas after the third round, they trying to get an advantage here.
OH Yeah, they know that if it is a 5round fight, Diaz can impose a super fast pace on BJ and by the end of the 3rd round he will be gased. Could be a bad move by BJ.... Diaz is probably salavating at the mouth on this issue...
bj his stamina has a problim with that though , i think
Really?! How much does paper and ink cost?
and lawyers.
Well, they will be saving a lot of money not paying GSP and Condit, So, I'm pretty sure they have enough to pay for all of that easily.
Much more money? Nahhhh, just wait and see how the PPVs go down without gsp and his title fight.
yeah somehow I dont think its the paper that the ufc has a problem with, bj is in hawaii, nick in cali, they have to be courriered out to them wherever they are, signed and sent back, this alone is maybe 10days of transit (you cannot fax this type of document...) lets' not forget the athletic commissions themself have to approve this kind of change etc etc, it isnt just a matter of reprinting and signing.... and in 2 weeks time is not much notice, not to mention, training camp wise, preparing for 5 round fight is different... in all likelyhood this fight wouldnt get past rd 3 anyway... stop whining
Really, I'm pretty sure they could just change one line, void the original contracts and sign new ones costing most likely no money (well maybe a few hundred dollars) and taking very little time. I hope BJ accepts but that would be a bad decision on his part if he doesn't finish the fight in the first two rounds.
Also, love that Diaz is still dropping "Don't be scared homie."
For some reason i dont see it happening. im sure theres a rule in the ufc that detains fighters from simply wanting to do a 5 round fight for the hell of it other than a title fight of course.
well could of well been the case in the past, It's different now that they are introducing 5 round non title main event fight. If both parties agree then i cant see why they cant make this new rule one event early, especially an big important fight like this
i think it's very possible given that this fight has been promoted to the main event replacing a title fight, and also that dana white had said that making non-title fights 5 round fights has been something they have been discussing behind closed doors.
Don't be scared, homie.
5 rounds ! !!
The reason it won't happen is the same reason why this is the UFC and not Strikeforce. The patients don't run the asylum, Dana does. He's not going to make it five rounds 2 weeks before the fight just because Cesar Gracie said so.
Yes it sounds great but so does Chael's awesome callout which as awesome as it is was competely ridiculous and all promotion. Lets not get ahead of ourselves here people this is a legitimate sport and if you want to keep it legit you don't change a non title fight to 5 rounds 2 weeks before the fight because a manager and a fighter mentioned it.
Agreed.
Dana has spoken.
Don't be scared to show up for press conferences homie.
He shouldn't accept but he knows Nick Diaz will talk smack if he doens't.
And anyway, if BJ refuses, and wins, he'll still have to fight 5 round against GSP, so he should take two more rounds, just to warm up for the champ.
The challenge of 5 rounds from the Diaz camp is a way to seek an advantage over BJ. It came as a challenge to attempt to bypass BJ's good judgment. It is also a boast about Diaz's cardio, and a dis to BJ's cardio.
It is true that BJ's cardio has been suspect in late rounds for some fights, and that Diaz, a triathlete--has excellent cardio.
It is also true that Diaz was training for a 5 round fight with GSP, while Penn was training for a 3 rounder with Condit--until the switch.
BJ should fight the fight he trained for.
it doesnt matter anymore Dana White said its gonna be 3 rounds and Nick's camp has no say or pull in that issue
More or less its just too much red tape to cut for 10 more mins in the cage...plus if you've been training for 3 rounds your stamina is going to be completely diffrent....your gonna want to go out an be explosive for 15 mins vs 25 mins of being conservitive I agree its way too late to try and build cardio for the last two weeks your taking a chance of injury this is where you start cooling down from traning not amp it up