UFC president Dana White dropped a bit of a bombshell this week by saying a matchup between superstars Georges St-Pierre and Nate Diaz is in the works.
White said he’s targeting this matchup for the upcoming UFC 227 card scheduled to take place Aug. 4 in Los Angeles. Although nothing has been finalized, betting odds have been released with the Canadian opening as a two-to-one favourite.
St-Pierre’s odds sit at –200 while Diaz is a +160 underdog, a relatively close spread considering St-Pierre’s resume and size advantage. The soon-to-be-37-year-old is regarded by most as the greatest welterweight (170-pound division) competitor in mixed martial arts history. He also recently happened to win—then quickly vacate—the middleweight title when he submitted Michael Bisping at UFC 217 this past November in his 185-pound debut.
Interestingly enough, though, White explained the plan would be for this fight to take place in the lightweight division in which fighters are required to weigh in between 146-156 pounds for non-title bouts.
Diaz made a name for himself at lightweight, earning notable wins over the likes of Donald Cerrone, Takanori Gomi and Jim Miller plus a 2012 title shot against then-champion Benson Henderson. Diaz, 33, has not fought since back-to-back welterweight bouts against former lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Diaz finished McGregor at UFC 196 in March 2016 then lost a tightly-contested unanimous decision in the rematch 5 1/2 months later at UFC 202.
White added that if St-Pierre (26-2) and Diaz (19-11) meet on the proposed August card that they would serve as the co-main event with a bantamweight championship rematch between T.J. Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt headlining.
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