White: Condit accepted match with Diaz, but will now wait for GSP
UFC president Dana White today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Condit will wait until champ Georges St-Pierre is completely healed from…
UFC president Dana White today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Condit will wait until champ Georges St-Pierre is completely healed from knee surgery and then face-off to unify the titles.
“We don’t know when Georges is coming back yet,” White said. “But Carlos isn’t going to fight another fight.”
“Just for the record, to clear this whole thing up, I was in Brazil filming ‘The Ultimate Fighter,'” White said. “I got up one morning, and I called Carlos. I said, ‘Listen, dude. We don’t know when Georges is coming back. I don’t know what your position is, but I think you should do a rematch.’ He said, ‘I’m in. I’ll take the rematch with him.’ I said, ‘I get back in town Friday. Come to Vegas, and let’s get this deal done.’
“I filmed ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ that day, and I’m literally driving home that night, and I get a text from one of the guys in my office: ‘He failed the drug test for marijuana.’ I called Cesar. Cesar [expletive] knows this, too. This is a [expletive] fact. Cesar Gracie knows this. I called Cesar, and I said, ‘Cesar, are you [expletive] kidding me? This kid blows this huge opportunity? Condit accepted the [expletive] fight today. He accepted the [expletive] rematch. It’s on. It’s good, and now he does this? Because it’s a second-time offense, you know what’s going to happen to this kid? He’s going to be out a year, and they’re probably going to take 40 percent of his purse.'”
A small faction of Diaz supporters have suggested Condit was afraid to take the fight and White’s recounting of the story was somehow designed for the promotion to protect the fighter’s reputation. Others have suggested Condit was making large financial demands in order to face Diaz a second time. White declined to talk about specific negotiations but made it clear Condit was ready to fight.
“Cesar knows Condit accepted that fight, and now they’re playing all these [expletive] games like Condit didn’t,” White said. “Why would I lie? What do I give a [expletive]? What, I’m out to protect Carlos Condit’s image? And Carlos Condit won that fight. If he didn’t want to [expletive] rematch Nick, he doesn’t have to rematch him.