UFC 158 Review

George St-Pierre def Nick Diaz, points

Some fights are over before the first bell rings. Nothing about Diaz’s entrance or aura as he entered the ring suggested he believed in himself. Now I don’t know if maybe he was just taken aback by the crowd and/or the occasion but GSP looked like the winner straight of the bat. To Diaz credit I thought he did extremely well. I don’t think it’s fair to say GSP dominated this fight, sure he was in control but Diaz gave him more than enough to think about. At the end of R2 it looked like there was no way back for Diaz but using the boxing skills so often touted around him he caused a few tremors in GSP’s solid fight plan, considering he didn’t come close to stopping the takedowns in the first 2 rounds he managed to pull off 3 blockages in R3. Diaz got himself back into a fight where he was miles behind and I don’t think anybody predicted he would be able to do that.

I feel Diaz is getting a lot of flak from the media because of of who he is, reading various reports across the net it seems every journalist is using this defeat as a chance to have a dig at the challenger-Love him or hate him he went in there and gave GSP a fight, if you disagree take a look at GSP’s face-you don’t get that from a ‘comfortable victory’.

The other big talking point coming from this fight was Diaz’s retirement. I think he genuinely wants out but he’s still young and sooner rather later he will find himself dragged back into the ring, probably not in the UFC though, his dummy punch attempt after the bell in R3 all but secured a P45 for him, I get the feeling his retirement was his version of ‘jump before getting pushed’. GSP summed it up after the fight when he praised Diaz’s promotion work, regardless how much you hate Diaz there is no denying he made this fight interesting, his mouth got you interested, And what’s next for GSP? 2 words-Johny Hendricks.

Johny Hendricks def Carlos Condit, points

I thought this fight was straight out awesome, both men bought it and tore the house down. I really like both fighters so it was a great pleasure to see both of them go at it like this, it was such a good spirited contest that nobody wanted to see end. Hendricks has the most beautiful looking punches in UFC today, that left hand of his is just a bomb exploding in people faces and he keeps finding his shots.

Truth is Hendricks had a raw deal last night-it should have been his title shot, he knew it, GSP knew it, Dana knew everyone did. By beating such a serious fighter as Condit he has now secured himself as #1 contender and based on his current form you got to fancy him having half a chance.

Ronda Rousey and winner of Tate v Zingano announced as the coaches on next seasons Ultimate Fighter

The fans have been asking for this on Twitter and now Dana has answerd the call. One thing we all know is that Rousey is a natural at talking to the camera, she is so watchable when being interviewed it seems being a coach on TUF is a natural transition. Her already heated history with Tate would make it a great season to watch if Tate wins her bout, exciting time ahead in the UFC womens division.