Over the Edge * September 7 GSP/DIAZ SHOWDOWN WILL HAVE TO WAIT TheHighly Anticipated UFC Fight Between Current Welterweight Champions Has Been Cancelled PUNEET HAYER SPORTS EDITOR When defunct UFC veteran Nick Diaz stepped into the ring (not octa- gon) against MMA legend Takanori Gomi at PRIDE 33 in 2007, very few people gave him a chance. That is for good reason as Gomi was an unstop- pable force in his prime and the con- sensus top 160 lb. MMA fighter in the world. While Diaz was considered a young and exciting fighter who would fight anybody, he was still considered ‘no-match’ for Gomi. Diaz also had to carry a burden at that point that he could not defeat any top fighters as all his losses in the UFC were against top competitors (Karo Parisyan, Sean Sherk, Diego Sanchez and Joe Riggs). Well, those critiques and criticisms were put to rest in a major way at the Thomas & Mack Centre against Gomi, as Diaz upset the PRIDE champion via a spectacular gogoplata submission. Sadly, Gomi has never been the same fighter since that fight and looks a shade of his former self. On the flip side, that exciting victory launched Diaz into elite status within MMA circles and made PRIDE 33 one the most revered MMA cards in the history of the sport. Since that time Diaz has gone on a 10 fight win streak and captured the Strikeforce Welterweight title. He has also openly challenged UFC welterweight king- pin Georges St.Pierre to a possible super fight. The UFC has been pressed to find any challengers to St.Pierre as he has dominated all of his opponents for much of his career; which includes Dear Ex, To my former love, Yours Truly, a 9 fight win streak and 6 convincing title defences. However, when the UFC acquired Strikeforce and access to their roster, they immediately set up a UFC Welterweight title fight be- tween St.Pierre (champion) and Diaz (challenger) to headline UFC 137 at the Mandalay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately, the UFC pulled the plug on this fight, citing Diaz’s inabil- ity to make appearances as the reason The City of Winnipeg and the new Winnipeg Jets for re-tooling the main event. Subse- quently, Diaz will fight another MMA legend in BJ Penn in the co main event in Penn’s first fight in Nevada since 2009. This fight pits the two of the greatest jiu-jitsu practitioners in MMA history against each other and has all the makings of a historic fight in itself. GSP will have his hands full as he will take on former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit who is on a five fight win streak. This From the desk of The City of Winnipeg to the Phoenix Coyotes: * : * * * * 5 * is still an awesome card, but does not have the fight that we all want to see. There is still a possibility we will see a St.Pierre-Diaz title fight in the future, especially if they both take care of business on October.29th; but as we all know the hyped fights in MMA take time (Liddell-Silva, Ortiz-Evans II, Hughes-Serra). If this fight we ever to happen; St.Pierre would undoubtedly be favoured, con- sidering Diaz struggles against wrest- 345 Graham Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R8C 586 204-987-7825 iS ONLINE SOURCE lers and has yet to fight anybody on St.Pierre’s level. But, you can also make the argument that St.Pierre has yet to fight anyone as tough as Diaz. Maybe, no welterweight in the world can beat St.Pierre, but if there is, that guy is Nick Diaz. You can catch UFC 137 live on cam- pus at the Thirsty Moose Pub Sat- urday October 29th at 7pm (ID re- quired). OP, Hello again. I thought that you should know that I’ve found someone else. I know this may come as a shock to you but I have no real need for you anymore. Yes at first I was sad to see you leave. I know you wanted better from our relationship before. You wanted a better place to live but I couldn’t afford that. You wanted there to be better job prospects but the economy couldn’t allow for that. Despite all this we cared for each other, and when you got that opportunity in Phoenix I understood why you had to take it. Hell, pretty much everyone was moving away. I didn’t want us to be on bad terms (even after you changed your name) so] was grateful when you choose to remain friends and talk about your success, your problems, and your new life. I admit I jumped into a committed relationship after you left that didn’t begin well. And even after it stabilized I knew that it wouldn’t last. They knew it to and they understood it when Atlanta came to town. Of course there was some heartbreak involved but we both knew it was for the best. They left for St. John’s almost immediately after Atlanta came and of course I wish them well. But now I’m focused on my current relationship and I hope you understand that even though I found someone new, I'll always care about you. At the time of my writing this you’re actually set to meet each other in Glendale on October the 15th. I hope this meeting goes well and that you two are able to get along without any issues of jealousy.