ESPN Mixed Martial Arts

At the age of 31, UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has accomplished so much that rumors of a two-fight retirement plan shouldn't come as a shock.

St-Pierre (24-2) holds the record for total UFC wins (along with Matt Hughes) at 18 and is second in title defenses with eight. He ranks No. 1 in the UFC in career takedowns, takedown accuracy and total strikes.

From August 2007 to April 2011, St-Pierre won a record 33 consecutive rounds.

Prior to his recent title defense over Nick Diaz at UFC 158, St-Pierre's former manager Stephane Patry penned a column for a Canadian website that outlined St-Pierre's plan of two more fights -- a title defense against Johny Hendricks and a "super fight" against Anderson Silva -- and then retirement.

Whether or not that comes to fruition, ESPN.com decided to speak with some of the brightest minds in the sport on what has fueled St-Pierre's historic career, what it will take to disrupt his success and whether or not he's still at his peak.

"We kind of always knew he would eventually become a champion ... "

Pat Miletich, former UFC champion, longtime trainer, analyst: I used to go up to Tristar Gym years and years ago because my wife is from Montreal. I would teach a bit here and there when those guys were younger. Georges was always very respectful. He actually came into one of my seminars and sat in and watched when I was teaching up there at different spots in Montreal. We kind of always knew he would eventually become a champion. It was just something you could tell. Before Matt [Hughes] even fought him the first time, Matt and I both publicly said in interviews, "Georges is going to be the world champ. Just not yet."

Matt Hume, trainer, matchmaker, ambassador: The moment I recognized he was a very special martial artist was when he did Abu Dhabi (Submission Wrestling championships). He went against a guy named Otto Olsen. Otto Olsen, the first time he did Abu Dhabi, he went all the way to the finals against Marcelo Garcia with only six months training. Otto was great. He got really good at head control and started destroying people. The next Abu Dhabi, his first match was against Georges St-Pierre, who wasn't known as a great grappler, and he beat Otto that day. He shot a double on him, which is something he's very well known for now and escaped what a lot of people call the D'Arce now. Georges' posture on his shots was perfect and his explosiveness and awareness of where his head was when he got to the ground. That was the moment that told me this guy really gets out of his element. He really learns.

Matt Hughes, former UFC champion, went 1-2 in three fights against St-Pierre: Usually when I tie up with somebody, I feel I'm stronger than the other person and with Georges, I can't say I was stronger than him. I'm a big welterweight. I probably cut more weight than Georges does, which you think would give me a strength advantage but I didn't feel I had that advantage against Georges.

Miletich: After the first time Matt fought him and beat him, I asked Matt, "He's pretty strong isn't he?" We were walking through the tunnel back to the locker room and he looked at me and said, "You're damn right he's strong."

Hughes: I don't think he's a great wrestler. I think if you put him on a wrestling mat against Josh Koscheck, Josh would beat him up. What Georges does so well is mixes everything up and camouflages his takedowns with his striking. When you're out there against Georges, you don't know if he's going to kick, punch, close the distance and gets his hands on you or take a shot. He's pretty one-dimensional on the ground. You don't see him going for many submissions. He is really there to keep people down. But he's effective at his striking. He likes to stand up in people's guard and that gives him power in his punches. But his No. 1 thing is to keep people down.

Marc Laimon, grappling coach, trains Hendricks: One of my black belts and I were talking about this and he was saying St-Pierre kind of reminds him of a guy who pushes to half-guard, does enough to get the advantage to win and stalls the rest of the match. Against Nick Diaz, for somebody to talk so much trash, I didn't see that killer instinct. I saw a guy win and stay busy and active and do enough to win, but not a scary, killer, bloodthirsty guy wanting to kill you. I see a pro athlete doing his job very well.

Mark Munoz, UFC middleweight, NCAA wrestling champion: Pure wrestling is a totally different sport than MMA wrestling. In MMA wrestling, you can't shoot to your knees anymore. If you shoot to your knees, you're being stopped because there's too much distance to cover when you change levels. You've just got to explode and run through them in a power double and that's what Georges St-Pierre does. He is such a gifted athlete at first-step explosion and he's got long arms.

Hughes: He does everything pretty well. His lead strike, I believe, is his left leg. Usually, it's people's rear leg but I figured out real quick his left leg in the front of his stance is what he has all his power with.

Hume (on St-Pierre's intimidation factor): It's not the same extent as [an Anderson Silva.] Anderson put Rich Franklin's nose on the other side of his face and what he did to Forrest Griffin, making him miss the punches and dropping him with the jab -- it's the striking aspects, getting the bones broke in your face from an unprotected knee bone, those things scare people. I think with Georges, people don't look at him the same way as Anderson. They see it more as, "I don't know how to beat this guy." Not so much, "This guy is really going to hurt me bad."

Laimon: He still does things very well. The timing on his double leg is impeccable. He's still very fun to watch but when he was going for the title and he murdered [Frank] Trigg and murdered Hughes -- oh man. That guy is a killer and I don't see that guy anymore.

"What's going to beat Georges, is a hit ... "

Hume: You don't make a game plan for Georges St-Pierre. You make a game plan to be the best you can be. You have to try to be better than him at every aspect of the game, which includes the mental aspect, conditioning and technical aspects. If you're better than him at every aspect, then you can beat him.

Munoz: The guy that beats St-Pierre is the guy that is able to counter the jab. Able to circle, have good footwork, and counter while moving his feet. Not countering in front of him, because that's where GSP is able to capitalize -- when he jabs or throws punches, the other guy counter punches and then he drops down and shoots.

Miletich: You have to take him out of his comfort zone. It's not like there are a lot of guys out there who are going to take him down and submit him, but a guy who can actually take Georges down and make him nervous on his back a little bit is certainly going to help. In terms of striking, guys that use feints and fakes very well and they've got to be able to do that better than him. When somebody is throwing feints and fakes at you, they're trying to make you guess on what's real and what's not. When you're not able to do that (as good as St-Pierre), he is sticking you with the jab. Then he's able to progressively chips away at you because he feints the jab and throws the cross. Then feints the cross and throws the hook. It goes a lot deeper than that, but a guy who can do that better than Georges and throw it back in his face and has the power to hurt him standing, plus the technique to take him down, is pretty much what it's going to take.

Hughes: That's a very easy question for me to answer. What's going to beat Georges is a hit. You can tell it in the way he fights. He does not want to get hit. You see what happens when he gets hit. Any big hit is going to hurt Georges. My speculation would be that Georges has been hit in practice and he don't like it. This is all my speculation -- that he's been hit, knows his body doesn't like it and he's not going to get hit anymore.

"Johny is a different breed of cat ..."

Miletich: Hendricks is just a mean guy. His mentality is he's just a rough cat. Very good wrestling, very powerful and his left hand can kill a bull. After I saw him slide Martin Kampmann across the canvas like a sheet of ice, you realize how hard he hits. That's a guy I think to a certain extent just says, "I don't give a s--- what you're doing. I'm just going to hit you." Those guys can be tough to fight because they don't bite a lot on your feints and fakes. They don't necessarily move the way they're supposed to. What we're going to see is when Georges starts putting feints and fakes on him, we may see a totally different Johny Hendricks who gets confused. That's very possible.

Munoz: St-Pierre is not going to want it to be a brawl. He's going to want to execute that jab, circle around him, stop shots, drag behind him and take his back. I don't think he's going to be able to hold Johny down. Everybody who wrestled him [in college] had trouble holding him down. What you're going to see Johny do is knee slide -- which is, shoot his knee forward and stand up to his feet. He's not going to stay turtled up. He's going to hand fight, look for wrist control and get up.

Hughes: Being the best wrestler doesn't mean that Georges can't take him down. He disguises things so well that he can get in on somebody by throwing punches, but Georges is going to have to work for it. He's going to have to spend more energy and that's a good thing in a fight -- to make somebody spend energy and take punishment along the way. I think if you look at who Georges has fought, Johny is a bad matchup compared to everybody else.

Laimon: I really think I've got a guy who matches up very well with him and is going to present problems. Johny is a different breed of cat. He operates on a different frequency. He's hungry and I think Georges is ripe for the picking. I think Johny Hendricks is coming into his prime and I see St-Pierre as an unbelievable LaDainian Tomlinson-type guy who is kind of at the [New York] Jets now. He was so dominant, the premiere guy, but if you look recently ... how many guys defend his takedowns? How many guys have been able to get back to his feet? Every time I see Georges, his face is busted up. These guys are putting their hands on him. Georges is hittable and being hittable against a guy like Johny Hendricks isn't good.

"I actually think the [Silva] fight will be pretty close ..."

Hughes: I actually think the fight will be pretty close because of Georges' takedowns. He's going to take him down and control him on the ground. It might not be the most exciting fight because it's going to be a lot of ground game. I don't think Anderson can beat him on the ground, especially with Georges on top. If I had to pick a winner, I might say Georges gets his hand raised.

Hume: Anybody who stands with Anderson is risking what he does to everybody. Anderson has been taken down. He's been mounted. He has been armbarred, but he has survived those things. He has a great ground game, too. Georges has great takedowns. He knows how to put people at their weakness. If you're going to try and fight Anderson at his weakness, it's going to have to be on his back.

Munoz: I think it's a bad matchup for Georges. Anderson is a big 185-pounder. I wouldn't say St-Pierre is a big welterweight. I've seen Anderson upwards of 215 pounds. At the same time, St-Pierre has double leg takedowns, which Anderson has trouble defending at times. I would give Anderson the nod because of his movement on his feet, elusiveness and precise punching.

Miletich: Georges is not going to win that standup fight at all. Anderson will shut down his feints. The victory is going to lie in Georges' ability to take down Anderson, which I think he certainly can. He could take him down and control him all five rounds because he's strong enough to do it. Anderson's takedown defense has gotten better over the years, but I still think Georges could take him down.

UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson and challenger Gilbert Melendez both made weight Friday for their title showdown in San Jose, Calif.

With everything set for Saturday's UFC on FOX 7 main event, promotion president Dana White tapped each guy's shoulder to signal they were free to go their separate ways for the next 24 hours.

But that doesn't mean it necessarily had been smooth sailing up until that point.

Melendez had no difficulty upholding his end of the deal, checking in at 154 pounds. For Henderson, however, there was a brief moment of suspense.

Before stepping on the scale, the defending champion began removing all of his clothing. Henderson instructed UFC officials to hold up a towel, shielding him from the peering eyes of excited fans.

Such action is indicative of a fighter unsure he would make the mandatory championship-bout weight limit. By removing every stitch of clothing before stepping on the scale, Henderson knew he was cutting it very close.

Fortunately, a completely unclothed Henderson tipped the scale at exactly 155 pounds, making the bout official. No harm, no foul.

Henderson has removed all of his clothing before stepping on the scale in the past. But this time he lacked his usual look of confidence, which offered a glimpse into Henderson’s fighting future as it's getting tougher for him to make the weight on a regular basis.

Never one to shy away from the issue, Henderson openly addressed it recently with ESPN.com when the topic of a superfight against UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre arose. As his body continues to grow and get stronger, Henderson is under the impression that size won't be an issue if a bout with St-Pierre is made.

"I'm getting older," Henderson said. "I'm 29 now, almost 30. At my age it's getting hard for me to make the weight class at 155. So, I wouldn't mind having a break and having one fight at 170 -- having a St-Pierre fight."

While he expressed interest in the fight, Henderson made it clear he has no intention of abandoning the lightweight division. His long-term goal remains the same: to be recognized as the greatest mixed martial artist ever.

But by mentioning a fight with St-Pierre at 170 pounds, it's a way for Henderson to convey he is starting to feel the effects of cutting weight and wants to avoid diminishing his high performance level in the Octagon.

"I want to maintain my integrity," Henderson said. "I don't want to be one of those guys who cut 20 pounds of water weight and I step in the cage and look sloppy or look fat and don't perform well. I want to make sure that I am fully prepared. It's not just about making weight. It's about maintaining that strict diet, that strict lifestyle. And it gets harder and harder as guys get older -- you fill out more. And I'm getting older.

“I had the metabolism of a 19-year-old when I was 25. But now that I'm 29, my metabolism is like that of a 25-year-old. I'm still ahead of the curve, but I am slowing down. I have to work that much harder, but I can still make 155 for the rest of my career. I can do it. I'm not against doing it."

Henderson isn't making an unprecedented request. UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has competed several times at 205 pounds, which allows him to remain sharp while giving his lean body a respite from cutting a significant amount of weight.

Silva hasn't competed at 205 often -- just three times during his nearly seven years with UFC. And Henderson isn't requesting anything more than an occasional 170-pound event.

"Like the way Anderson Silva does it -- have a fight at 205 every once in a while and always make 185, his weight class," Henderson said. "I'd be okay with that -- staying at 155, making weight at 155 for the rest of my career. But every once in a while, having a super fight at 170 -- St-Pierre and I squaring off. I'd be cool with that."

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cover your ears, Johny Hendricks.

UFC president Dana White told reporters on Thursday he’ll talk to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre soon. The two haven’t spoken since St-Pierre recorded his eighth consecutive title defense over Nick Diaz at UFC 158 last month.

Expectations have been that St-Pierre (24-4) would face Hendricks (15-1) later this year, but White said that bout would go on hold should St-Pierre express interest in a long-anticipated, lucrative superfight with middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

“I am literally going to call Georges St-Pierre today and see what he wants to do,” White said.

“If Georges says to me, ‘I want to fight Anderson Silva,’ you think I’m going to go, ‘No, you’re not. You’re fighting Johny Hendricks’?”

Silva (33-4) is scheduled to defend his 185-pound title against Chris Weidman at UFC 162 in July. In yet another superfight wrinkle, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title against Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 next week in Newark.

White said he’s interested in any fight that involves two of the three champions, saying if both St-Pierre and Jones wanted Silva, “that’s a good problem to have.”

Hendricks would be the clear loser if St-Pierre opts to fight Silva next. The former collegiate wrestler is on a six-fight win streak and was already leapfrogged earlier this year by Diaz, who was coming off a drug suspension.

White said St-Pierre would not vacate the 170-pound title if he took the Silva fight, meaning Hendricks would have to wait or accept another fight.

“If [St-Pierre] lost, he could still go back down and fight Hendricks for the title.”

Mitrione fined, suspended -- but forgiven

UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione has been fined an undisclosed amount and remains suspended for comments made last week regarding transgender fighter Fallon Fox.

The UFC quickly suspended Mitrione following an appearance on “The MMA Hour,” where he referred to Fox as a “freak.” Fox is scheduled for her third pro fight in May.

Mitrione (6-2), who defeated Philip De Fries via first-round knockout earlier this month, spoke with UFC president Dana White following the incident and took responsibility for his actions -- but there is no timetable for his return.

“It’s up to us,” White said regarding Mitrione’s suspension. “I’m not mad at Mitrione. He did something stupid. He knows he didn’t handle it the right way.

“I’m sure he wants to know [when he’ll fight again]. We’ll let him know when we decide. He was fined, too. Enough to make him call me three times.”

• A Brazilian fan attacked UFC light heavyweight Chael Sonnen during an event last weekend in Las Vegas, according to White.

Sonnen, who challenges Jon Jones for the 205-pound title next week at UFC 159, was in Las Vegas to attend "The Ultimate Fighter" finale at Mandalay Bay Events Center. According to White, he was involved in a minor scuffle during the show.

“I don’t know if any of you guys saw this, but he was there shaking hands with fans and one guy says, ‘Chael! Chael!” White said. “Chael goes over there and the guy started swinging at him, trying to punch him. The guy goes, ‘I’m from Brazil!'”

Sonnen (27-12-1) was involved in a heated rivalry with Brazilian middleweight champ Anderson Silva from 2010 to 2012. He went 0-2 in two fights against him.

• Whether his teammate claims the UFC lightweight title on Saturday or not, Nate Diaz says he’s moving back to 170 pounds.

Diaz (16-8) meets lightweight Josh Thomson on Saturday. His teammate, Gilbert Melendez, will look to dethrone champion Ben Henderson in the night’s main event.

Regardless of the outcome of either fight, Diaz says he intends to move back to welterweight, where he compiled a 2-2 record from 2010 to 2011.

“I already fought everybody at lightweight,” Diaz said. “I don’t think there is anything for me in the lightweight division. I already beat everybody or fought everybody. The only person who beat me was Ben. What, I’m going to sit around and fight all the same guys again? That’s boring. There’s no motivation in that.”

• Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier still wants to fight UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones -- just maybe not as soon as he once thought.

Cormier (11-1) faces arguably the biggest challenge of his career on Saturday as he takes on former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir in the night’s co-main event.

The former U.S. Olympic wrestler has been quietly shedding weight for a potential trip to the 205-pound division. Cormier’s teammate, Cain Velasquez, currently holds the UFC heavyweight title.

Cormier has publicly expressed interest in fighting Jones previously, but now says he’d probably want a test fight at 205 pounds first. The 34-year-old experienced kidney failure while cutting weight in 2008 but is confident he can make 205.

“At first, I was so emotionally tied to [fighting Jones],” Cormier said. “I’ve thought about it, and I wouldn’t be opposed to fighting one time down there just to see how my body reacts to the weight cut. It would be very difficult to fight him in my first fight, a five-round fight.

“What if I get in a fight and I can’t do anything but wrestle because my arms are tired and my body isn’t responding to the weight cut? I don’t want that guy to be Jon Jones. Seriously, can you imagine standing in with him and not feeling your best?”

There it goes, picking up steam. The Uriah Hall bandwagon, ladies and gents, is in full effect.

Dana White has touted Hall, who fights Kelvin Gastelum this Saturday in Las Vegas for "The Ultimate Fighter 17" crown, as the meanest, toughest, bestest fighter in the history of TUF. Like, ever. But he's a promoter and he's selling a TV show and a fight card, so anything he says has to be viewed through the looking glass.

That doesn't mean, though, that the rest of you get a pass.

While writing I was distracted by a tweet from a radio host in Houston who positioned Hall as the "2013 version of Mike Tyson."

How about the next Anderson Silva? People have somehow mustered the fortitude to suggest this as well.

Seriously.

Well how about a real world reality check -- people seem to need it. The top fighters Hall faced (Costas Phillipou and Chris Weidman) beat him. Phillipou wasn't remotely close to the fighter he is today. Weidman had just three fights, and finished Hall in three minutes.

So, can we hit the brakes on that out of control train? At least until Hall beats someone you've heard of, maybe a grappler.

GSP admits he was overweight

Deafening silence.

That's the Quebec Boxing Commission response to quotes from UFC welterweight Georges St-Pierre made this week to the Associated Press that, as best as he can recall, he weighed-in 170.4 pounds the Friday before defending his belt against Nick Diaz.

Credit the champion for saying what he did. I doubt taking the time to shed 0.4 pounds would have mattered on fight night. It's highly likely St-Pierre would have cut the weight and defeated Diaz. But anything is possible. If St-Pierre couldn't hit the contracted weight, history would have been rewritten in a significant way.

So the spotlight is thrust back on the Regie, whose reaction to this controversy has been less than ideal. When the story first broke a couple weeks ago, I pressed commission spokesperson Joyce Tremblay on whether or not St-Pierre was above 170 on the scale.

She confirmed, unequivocally, that St-Pierre did not stand on the scale above his contracted weight. Well, so much for that.

(Oh, right, the Regie doesn't count decimals. Even if their rules clearly state that they do. And even if the Regie, based on the leaked video featuring UFC vice president Michael Mersch, would have given the title contestants an hour to cut extra weight -- which seems in retrospect like a silly concession since decimals apparently didn't matter.)

And so there appears to be no reason to expect this bungled handling of a major championship fight will move past the bungling stage. While the Regie won't acknowledge its error(s), the UFC should be aware that this makes them look bad, too.

What else has the Regie messed up? How effective are their drug testing protocols? Their licensing procedures? Which of their other codified rules aren't they following?

I don't see why the UFC would want to be associated with a regulator like that.

The only reason the MMA world cared about Montreal on March 16 was the fact that a UFC championship fight was scheduled. A fight set at 170 pounds. Not 170.9 or 170.4. And therefore the promoter/sanctioning body/league/global leader in MMA should refuse to promote in Quebec again until the commission gets its act together.

Michigan House moves on amateur MMA legislation

A report from CBC News on Wednesday citing the St. Clair County medical examiner indicated Felix Pablo Elochukwu, a 35-year-old Nigerian-born amateur mixed martial artist who died at an unregulated event in Port Huron, Mich., April 6, found no evidence that his death was caused by trauma from the fight.

Elochukwu, living in Canada on a student visa, collapsed after three rounds in an Amateur Fighting Club event.

The name of the promotion is a misnomer. There's no such thing as "amateur MMA" in Michigan, because regulation isn't in place to make it so. State lawmakers had planned to fix that, and the timing of Elochukwu's death highlighted the urgent need for such a change.

On Wednesday, the Michigan State House passed Bill 4167, which would put in place regulations to govern the amateur side of the sport.

"For too long, the health and safety of amateur MMA fighters have been needlessly at risk because of the lack of state oversight," Joe Donofrio, a Michigan MMA promoter, said in a statement. "Sadly, during this time of unregulated combat, a fighter needlessly died. This bill rightly honors the memory of Felix Pablo Elochukwu by ensuring in the future that amateur fighters will be competing under the safest conditions possible."

The bill is headed to the State Senate.

What if: Aldo versus Curran?

Allow me a reprieve from the news.

What if UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo fought Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran?

Aldo is unanimously ranked No. 1 at the weight for a reason, and Curran has quickly shot up the rankings. In ESPN.com's estimation, he sits behind only the UFC king.

Curran is big for the weight. He's a very good athlete. He seems not to make mistakes. He strikes (offensively and countering). He can wrestle. And he can pull off dazzling submissions.

Aldo, of course, is a furious combination of speed and technique. He's a special breed, rightly residing No. 4 on this site's pound-for-pound list.

Could Curran pull off the upset? Sure. His defense is good enough to keep him safe over a five-round fight, and Aldo seems to go through spurts over 25 minutes where he fades or takes time off.

But the pick has to be Aldo. For all of Curran's attributes and success against multiple styles, including agile strikers and strong wrestlers, Aldo operates like he's on a different level.

The tournament format that Bellator uses isn’t for everyone. But it is for current featherweight champion Pat Curran, who navigated fields in two separate weight classes en route to becoming Bellator’s 145-pound division champion.

Curran is the prototype for what Bellator is after with its bracketology -- a standout fighter who survived the “toughest tournament in sports” in making a name for himself. He is, by default of the model, the king of attrition. And as he gets set to defend his 145-pound belt for the second time Thursday night against Shahbulat Shamhalaev in Atlantic City, Curran has become the face of the promotion.

“I don’t mind being the face of Bellator at all,” Curran told ESPN.com. “I’m the product of their format. I went through two tournaments, and I’m a big believer in that Bellator tournament format. It’s a great way for a fighter to jump levels in his game, become better and make it to a big stage and make a name for himself. That’s what I did, and that’s what [Michael] Chandler did, and we both capitalized on it.”

“

I consider myself to be a counter-striker, too. So it's a very interesting match-up in a way, but we're eventually going to have to engage and I feel like my technical inside game is going to outstrike his.

” -- Pat Curran on his upcoming fight with Shahbulat Shamhalaev at Bellator 95.

Chandler and Curran -- along with welterweight champion Ben Askren and former lightweight champion/free agent Eddie Alvarez -- begin to carry something more than titles for the promotion. They carry value. People begin to speculate as to how each would fare against the UFC elite. One way to compete with the UFC is to have fighters at the top who look like threats to the UFC champions. Could Askren beat Georges St-Pierre? Who knows, but it’s a talking point. Parallels are drawn.

That’s the rarefied space that the 25-year-old Curran finds himself in today. People begin to wonder how he’d stack up against not just Shamhalaev (of which we’ll soon find out), but Jose Aldo (inevitably on the other side of the ledger). Being linked to fantasy matchups against one of the game’s pound-for-pound bests can’t hurt. It means things are on the upswing.

Curran says he respects that, but he’s not hearing it.

“I’m really not thinking too much about that,” he says. “I made a dedication to Bellator, I re-signed my contract and I know I’m going to be there a while and be part of everything they’re doing. Being with Spike is a huge part of that as well. I know Bellator is doing great things where it’s still very early in the Bellator stage, and it’s going to get better from here on out.”

Curran recently renegotiated his contract to earn more money per fight, and he’s signed on to be with Bellator for the next “two or three years.” He won’t be facing Aldo or anybody under the UFC banner for a long time.

Instead the Crystal Lake, Ill., native will help grow and perpetuate the Bellator model. Only, he’ll come at it from the pinnacle of that model. After climbing toward Alvarez’s belt in the Season 2 lightweight tournament (and losing in the title fight), and then climbing anew in the 2011 Summer Series featherweight tournament (and capturing the title over Joe Warren via brutal TKO), he’s adjusting to life as the destination. From now on, he’ll be asked to beat back the survivors of tournaments specifically constructed to take his belt.

In essence, it’s Curran’s job to present himself as a dead-end street for featherweight traffic. To make whatever momentum comes charging at him from the tournament completely moot.

And that continues with Shamhalaev, the hard-hitting Dagestan fighter who knocked out Rad Martinez in February to earn his chance. It’ll be Curran’s second defense of the year after eking out a split-decision victory over Patricio Freire in January.

“You have to respect [Shamhalaev’s] power,” he says. “His last three fights have all been by knockout. You’ve got to respect his power in his right hand and his left hand. It’s a very interesting style -- he’s a counterstriker, but he waits, and he puts 100 percent of his energy into those punches, and he’s able to find those openings.”

“I consider myself to be a counterstriker, too. So it’s a very interesting matchup in a way, but we’re eventually going to have to engage and I feel like my technical inside game is going to outstrike his.”

We’ll find out Thursday, in a fight that is basically a cymbal crash for everything Bellator is about.

Georges St-Pierre's trainer, Firas Zahabi, claims a super-fight with Anderson Silva is likely to act as the final chapter in the Canadian's illustrious career. More »

On Tuesday morning, Joyce Tremblay, a spokesperson for the Quebec Boxing Commission, emailed a statement to the media that sought to explain how the regulator conducts weigh-ins for title fights.

A response was necessary after video surfaced late last week that revealed Michael Mersch, a senior vice president with the UFC, quietly informing Nick Diaz that the commission in charge of the event would allow him and UFC champion Georges St-Pierre to step on the scale as much as 0.9 pounds above their contracted limit of 170, and still have it officially listed as a UFC welterweight title contest.

"The good news is” the Quebec Boxing Commission doesn’t “count the decimal,” Mersch told Diaz, who sat in the Bell Centre with members of his team, including one operating a recording camera. “If you're 170.2, it's 170. If it's 170.9, it's 170."

The video raised questions about the commission’s credibility, and prompted the following response:

“Currently, the [Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux] does take into consideration the maximum weight determined by contract when it carries out the weight-ins [sic] before a bout,” Tremblay said in the statement. “However, our regulation on combat sports does not take decimals into account. Their consideration is a question of interpretation likely to be debated between the two parties under contract.”

“The commission’s statement that their regulation ‘does not take decimals into account’ is bizarre and untrue,” Jonathan Tweedale, a representative for Diaz, said in a statement. “Section 74 of the regulation provides that at an official weigh-in, ‘[t]he scale shall have graduated readings at each 100 g (3.6 oz) and shall be certified by Measurement Canada.’ There would be no need to have graduated readings at each 100 g if the commission ‘does not take decimals into account.’ ”

One hundred grams is equivalent to 0.22 pounds.

Previous UFC cards in Montreal featured fighters, including St-Pierre when he defended the title against Matt Serra, whose weight included 0.5-pound increments.

It's virtually unheard of for fighters competing for a belt to weigh above their contracted limit. In most jurisdictions, though ironically not Quebec, fighters participating in non-title fights get an extra pound. Championship fighters don’t enjoy that luxury. For example, Nate Diaz, Nick's younger brother, was required to shed 0.6 pounds to earn the right to fight Benson Henderson for the UFC lightweight title late last year in Seattle.

Yet not only did Mersch claim, per the commission, the March 16 championship bout in Montreal was allowed a 0.9-pound leeway, he also said if Diaz or St-Pierre missed weight, an extra hour would be available for them to sweat off the excess.

Mersch’s statement on video flies in the face of Quebec combat regulations as they’re written, which mandate that "at an official weigh-in, no time shall be granted to a contestant to enable him to increase or decrease his weight."

When Bernard Hopkins boxed Jean Pascal in Montreal for a title in May 2011, the commission violated its own rules by allowing the American to re-weigh after he was announced at 175.9 pounds. Less than two hours later, Hopkins broke 175 and was cleared to fight.

Veteran fight promoter Stephane Patry, who’s held events in Quebec since 2000, is aware that regulations outlaw second chances to make weight, and he made it a practice to provide fighters wiggle room by giving them an extra pound in bout agreements.

"If I had a lightweight fight I had to put 156 on the contract to allow that one pound for the fighters that the commission wouldn't allow," Patry said Tuesday evening.

Rather than alleviate legitimate concerns that sprang up as a result of the video -- which the UFC removed from YouTube following a copyright claim -- the commission’s statement only served to induce additional questions.

Tremblay told ESPN.com that no contestant at UFC 158 "exceeded the weight determined in their contracts." Diaz hit 169. St-Pierre was marked at 170. The commission spokeswoman reiterated that St-Pierre did not weigh more than the welterweight limit when he stood on the scale one day prior to dominating Diaz and retaining the belt.

According to comments made by Mersch in the video, so long as Diaz and St-Pierre weighed under 171 pounds, “we should be good.” Asked by a member of Diaz’s camp why this information wasn’t passed along earlier, instead of less than an hour prior to the start of weigh-ins, Mersch responded, "It's just something to keep in mind. That's kind of an 'off-the-record' type of thing.”

Mersch did not reply to an email from ESPN.com seeking comment.

The UFC, through its head of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner, deferred media questions to the Quebec commission, though queries linger about the promoter’s role.

St-Pierre's chief trainer, Firas Zahabi, told ESPN.com that the Quebec commission informed him prior to the weigh-in that a 0.9-pound allowance was in play. He said he was told St-Pierre's contract called for a fight at 170 pounds "and that the contract does not regard any decimals or ounces."

Still, it's worth wondering why the UFC would go along with a situation in which fighters in a championship bout, who signed contracts at a specific weight, were allowed to be heavy on the scale.

This runs counter to how boxers and mixed martial artists have operated leading up to championship fights, an offense -- as Tweedale pointed out, and Patry recalled based on experiences with competitors he promoted in the past -- that’s punishable in Quebec with a 20 percent purse deduction, paid to the opponent of a contestant who “fails to achieve the weight specified in the contract at the official weigh-in.”

This, Tweedale argued, is enough for UFC to provide Diaz a rematch with St-Pierre, which is what they want, even though no proof exists that the champion missed the mark.

"The Quebec commission deliberately relaxed the rule in this case and, by its own admission, allowed their hometown fighter to 'make weight' even if he weighed more than the contracted weight," he alleged.

If a similar situation was in play when St-Pierre fought Carlos Condit last year in Montreal, the unsuccessful challenger informed ESPN.com he was not told. Eduardo Alonso and Ed Soares, managers respectively for Mauricio Rua and Lyoto Machida, who headlined UFC 113 with a light heavyweight title bout in Montreal, could not recall if a weight allowance was given to the fighters at the time.

Diaz’s camp also plans to file a formal complaint with the commission regarding the handling of St-Pierre’s post-fight drug test.

“We expect the UFC to do the right thing here,” Tweedale told ESPN.com.

Patry, who promoted and managed St-Pierre at the start of the French-Canadian’s career, claimed no dog in the fight, yet he found himself incensed by the Quebec Boxing Commission’s statement.

“I would have never reacted to that story because it's none of my business, really,” Patry said. “But when I saw the response coming from the commission spokesman it p---ed me off. It's lies. It's lies. It's blatant lies and somebody has to do something about that.

“The worst part of this story is the explanation given [Tuesday] by a government agency. This is not acceptable.”

Georges St-Pierre's long-time trainer, Firas Zahabi, has cast doubt over the long-term future of the UFC welterweight champion, questioning whether he has more than another two or three fights left in him. More »

Georges St-Pierre beat Nick Diaz just about every way the rules of mixed martial arts would allow at UFC 158.

En route to arguably the most complete performance of his career, St-Pierre stalled Diaz’s vaunted boxing with sharp counters and slick movement, tortured him with relentless takedowns and rendered his black belt-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu all but nonexistent. It was yet another in a long line of blowouts from the 31-year-old welterweight champion, and it was so lopsided that it plummeted members of the Diaz camp into fits of paranoia, claiming there had to be spies in their midst.

Because, yeah, that was the problem.

The victory pushed St-Pierre to 24-2 overall, marked his 20th appearance inside the Octagon and extended his five-and-a-half-year win streak to 11 fights. It also further underscored the notion that he’s solved the grueling, complex riddle that is MMA competition as well as anyone in the sport’s short history.

The overwhelming response from the masses? At best, an indifferent shrug. At worst, well, let’s just say St-Pierre’s sixth consecutive unanimous decision win -- a stretch during which he's lost just three of 30 rounds on the official scorecards -- only provided more ammunition for critics who say he’s grown overly conservative. Tedious, even.

“GSP couldn’t submit a girl,” one reader on ESPN.com commented roughly 24 hours after UFC 158 wrapped.

“Wrestlers are ruining the marketability of this sport,” lamented another later in the week.

And another: “The Ultimate FIGHTING Championship should change its name to The Ultimate WRESTLING Championship if it is going to continue to show this garbage.”

Sound familiar? Responses like this are certainly not a new phenomenon. Seemingly every time St-Pierre makes another of the best 170-pound fighters in the world look downright helpless for 25 straight minutes and then walks out with a new notch on his championship belt, we hear the same refrain.

Bo-ring! Bo-ring!

It’s difficult to think of another figure in any sport who has been as dominant for as long as St-Pierre and still so often has his tactics lambasted in the court of public opinion. It’d be a little like basketball fans of the 1950 and '60s constantly ragging on Wilt Chamberlain for shooting so many layups. Or college football fans threatening to give up on the sport if Bear Bryant didn’t stop winning national championships running the option.

Of course, we’re all entitled to our opinions, and people who shell out $50-plus for UFC pay-per-view events ought to have their voices heard. Still, too often the bellyaching distracts us from the larger truth: We may never again see a fighter dominate the landscape of the welterweight division with the same ease, poise or grace.

Now that he’s pushing into his 30s, on the heels of major knee surgery and with a brand new crop of contenders breathing down his neck, perhaps it’s time we started showing GSP a little love. You know, lest one day we wake up and realize we didn’t know what we had until he was gone.

If you come to MMA looking for blood and guts, St-Pierre’s style may leave you unmoved, but you have no choice but to recognize its effectiveness. On the other hand, if you like skill, determination and strategy, you can’t help but feel a little awed. Contrary to what his detractors might say, it’s a style that embodies the very qualities that make this sport great: The diverse, nuanced action, the need for constant evolution and the idea that mental acuity is as important as physical force (also, that having both doesn’t hurt).

Later this year, when he defends his title for the ninth time against the dangerous Johny Hendricks, the American will likely be the fashionable pick to bring St-Pierre’s historic run to a screeching halt. Some people will no doubt cheer that, if it comes to pass. Please excuse the rest of us if we pull on our “Karate Kid” headbands and perform a few silent crane kicks to mourn the end of an era.

Until then, my advice to the haters? Get on the bandwagon. Drink the Kool-Aid. Learn to like St-Pierre while we still have him. Who knows, someday you might just miss him.

By the time the smoke cleared, and Georges St-Pierre was eating pizza off the floor in celebration of his eighth title defense, Nick Diaz became MMA’s equivalent of the “boy who cried wolf (tickets).” He told Joe Rogan after the fight that he was through. Done. Kaplooey. Giving up the racket. Just like he did after his loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143.

Nobody believed him. Just like we didn’t after his loss to Condit. The difference this time was his change of heart happened quicker. Much quicker. Half an hour after retiring, Diaz was requesting a rematch with St-Pierre (using expletives for emphasis) in the bowels of Montreal’s Bell Centre. One minute he’s done, the next he’s not. You never know with Diaz (although you always know).

There are hurdles to this fantasy rematch that will never happen. His tests need to come back clean, something Diaz himself isn’t so sure about. Those metabolites can be hostile tenants. And he needs to pay his taxes. Even unpamapered fighters who have the burden of tweeting their own tweets have to pay their taxes. Uncle Sam doesn’t care about your geography.

Beyond the usual Diaz histrionics, the three focus-point fights of UFC 158 played out more or less predictably. St-Pierre continued to dominate, Johny Hendricks defended his No. 1 contender status a third time, and Jake Ellenberger continued lighting people up like a showroom gala. "People," in this case, being Nate Marquardt.

FIVE QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Q: When Diaz gets taken down, can he get back up?
A: Turns out, no. Not really. Sometimes, but not often. And though Diaz was actively searching, he wasn’t particularly dangerous off his back, either. He was just on his back. And while there he was fending off incoming elbows, hammerfists and knees. Just the same as the noble optimistic fighters who went before him (Condit, Hardy, Alves, Penn, Shields). The thing is, once you get taken down by GSP, there is no takeup.

Q: Can St-Pierre get a finish?
A: All week the talk was “is Diaz in St-Pierre’s head?” If he was, surely he’d have needed a headlamp to find his way through the dark places. And as it turns out, St-Pierre treats people who get in his head the exact same way he treats people who have no in with his psyche. He dominates them thoroughly. (The answer to the question is: This isn’t 2006! Stop living in the past).

Q: Does Hendricks get the next title shot with a win?
A: At this point, if St-Pierre came out on record saying he’d like to fight Anderson Silva next -- even though Silva has a fight with Chris Weidman in July, meaning St-Pierre’s fight would be somewhere in the vicinity of November -- this would be the ultimate compliment to Hendricks. Problem is, it would feel like another slap across the bearded fellow’s face. Hendricks should be next. Under any meritocracy he should be. Should is a funny word, though. So is “merit,” which sometimes in the UFC means “LOL.”

Q: Can Diaz win a decision in Montreal?
A: Turns out Montreal had less to do with it than the tyranny he was facing with the wrestling skills. Remember when we were wondering if St-Pierre might be tempted into a dogfight with Diaz out of anger? Let me tell you something: Anger gets locked away in St-Pierre’s dark place come fight night. From cageside you could hear it banging and screaming to get out, but he is a strict disciplinarian. He just ignored it.

Q: What happens if Ellenberger/Marquardt goes to the second round?
A: We’ll never know because Ellenberger will be throwing them bombs, baby! Marquardt was hit with a mean combo in the first round and down he went. He surfaced a few moments later to protest the stoppage, but as Bellator’s Jimmy Smith pointed out on Twitter, “if somebody tells you ‘you were knocked out,’ you should generally take their word for it in my experience.” We were all witnesses, Nate.

FIVE NEW STORYLINES

Turns out Condit wins even in losses
Hendricks did everything he said he wanted to do. He threw his left hand early and often, and he connected plenty. He took Condit down and worked his ground and pound. He tied up, dirty boxed, and used his horsepower. And yet no matter what he did, Condit kept moving forward. Condit kept coming. Condit wouldn’t be put away. Condit is the spirit of the fight game.

Diaz and his taxes
Out of all the bizarre things that happened this week in Montreal centered on Nick Diaz (from his “wolf tickets” rant to the St-Pierre steroid allegations), his admission that he has never paid taxes in his life was startling. Does he wind up in jail? The future always looks like a minefield when talking about Diaz.

Ellenberger as a contender In the past three years, Ellenberger has lost once. And even in that one (a TKO loss to Martin Kampmann) he was dominating early but didn’t get the job done. If Hendricks’ injured left hand ends up sidelining him for a long period of time, it’s possible Ellenberger gets the call to see St-Pierre next. Nobody can question his credentials: 8-1 in his past nine fights, with five finishes.

MacDonald can still get his wish
Condit won’t be fighting for the title next, which means Rory MacDonald can still get his shot to avenge his only professional loss when he comes back from injury. That is, if the UFC still wants that. MacDonald is on a northbound surge up the welterweight rankings, and Condit has lost two in a row.

It’s Hendricks’ time
It’s either give Hendricks a title shot, or let him continue wrecking every contender coming up the ranks. In fact, if the UFC gives St-Pierre anybody other than Hendricks at this point, Hendricks should demand a fight with MacDonald to (A) take out a teammate of St-Pierre’s and (B) punish the UFC by batting back a hot prospect.

UFC 158 STOCK REPORT

Trending Up
Hendricks: The “Bigg Rigg” has been headed north for a long time now, and he’d love to finally arrive at his destination (St-Pierre). And you’ve got to love his style, too. He could have taken Condit down and kept him there for three rounds. Instead, he pursued Condit with sequences of big left hands, and absorbed more than a few head kicks in the process. When he did take Condit down, it felt like it was more for points. He wasn’t intent on keeping him there.

Ellenberger: He loves Canada. Last time he fought in Canada, it was against Sean Pierson at UFC 129. He blasted right through Ontario’s native son. This time it was veteran Marquardt who was on the wrong end of Ellenberger’s furious first-round volley. How would a fight between him and Hendricks play out? Dude.

Chris Camozzi: It was tougher than he wanted it to be, and he didn’t finish Nick Ring, but the Colorado fighter eked out his fourth consecutive victory. It might be time to test himself against a top-10 middleweight.

Darren Elkins: Somebody dubbed him the “anonymous contender.” That pretty much sums it up. He’s won five in a row at featherweight.

Trending Down
Diaz: The two losses in a row are somewhat justifiable, given that they were against Condit and St-Pierre. But the skipped open workouts, the question marks on his drug tests, his unpaid taxes, his inability to at least “play the game a little bit” ... this all adds up to something other than a feel-good story.

Marquardt: The loss to Tarec Saffiedine in his first title defense/last Strikeforce fight hurt more than this one. But the fact is that Marquardt is almost 34 years old and is riding a two-fight losing streak. Another loss in the division, and he might be out of the UFC.

Dan Miller: For as much as he’s a warrior (both in and outside of the cage), Miller has lost three of four. The loss to Jordan Mein hurts, too. He looked good from the gate, but things went south in a hurry when the armbar attempt came up empty.

MATCHMAKER

Next for St-Pierre? A showdown with the now marketable Hendricks.

Next for Ellenberger? Demian Maia. Two guys on the verge of something who would put on a great show.

Next for Condit? At last, that rematch with MacDonald.

Next for Camozzi? To paraphrase Goethe, “Be bold, and Wanderlei Silva will come to your aid.”

If we learned anything about Nick Diaz from the epic oratory performance he put on at UFC 158, it’s that he’s not going to lie to us.

Diaz can be called a lot of things, but "liar" certainly isn’t one of them. If anything, the American ambassador to the 209 was painstakingly honest last week before, during and after his lopsided loss to Georges St-Pierre on Saturday night.

As things progressed he was lobbed numerous queries -- about steroids or marijuana or whether he thought the UFC wanted him to lose -- which probably would’ve best been handled with a simple “no comment.” Diaz, the guy who theoretically hates doing media so much he sometimes doesn’t bother to show up, never once demurred. By the end, one thing was clear: Ask him a question and you will absolutely not get a straight answer, but the extended jumble-jamble of words that tumble out of his mouth won’t be sugarcoated or politically correct or -- for that matter -- filtered in any way.

So, if the question we’re asking ourselves on Monday morning is whether to believe Diaz when he tells us he’s retired from MMA, the simple answer is “yes." Yes, we can believe he was telling us the truth about that ... at the very moment the words left his lips.

Thing is, Diaz has a more complicated relationship with the truth than most people. He’s what literature buffs might call an unreliable narrator. That is, a guy who can’t be trusted to see the world the same way the rest of us do.

Keep in mind that this is a fighter who on Saturday night announced his retirement for the second time amid a fairly rambling response that also intimated he thinks the rules of MMA are set up for him to fail and stopped just barely short of blaming his loss to St-Pierre on some kind of spygate conspiracy within his own camp.

“To be honest, I don’t know if I really got it anymore," he said, during one of his more self-reflective moments. "I don’t make excuses. I think I’m done with mixed martial arts. I’m tired of getting banged up like this. ... Hopefully I made enough money to invest in something.”

At that second, it was the truth according to Nick Diaz, and we couldn’t help but notice it sounded eerily similar to a truth he voiced 13 months ago, on the heels of an only slightly less definitive loss to Carlos Condit: "I think I'm done with this MMA stuff,” Diaz said at the time. “I don't think they can pay me enough to do this again.”

We all know that particular truth changed a few months later, when rumors first circulated that Diaz would consider coming out of “retirement” for a superfight against middleweight king Anderson Silva. By November, he’d somehow talked his way into a shot at St-Pierre’s welterweight crown. Now that fight has (finally) come and gone and Diaz is retired anew, though this truth, too, had begun to morph into something different by the time he wandered into the postfight news conference some 30 minutes late.

"I just feel like I fought everybody that I set out to fight ...,” he said, taking the stage at the event only after UFC president Dana White announced Diaz wouldn’t be there at all. “But I want a rematch. I think I could beat [St-Pierre]. I think I may be a better matchup for Anderson Silva, as well, but we'll see what happens.”

So there you have it. Diaz wants to retire. Or he wants a rematch. Or he wants to fight Silva. Or something. He wants them all simultaneously and at once manages to give the impression he wants none of them at all.

If he does walk away from MMA forever, seemingly in his prime at the age of 29, it’ll be far from the strangest thing he’s done in his career. Or even last week.

For now the truth is, Diaz is retired, until he decides he’s not.

As always, the truth will continue to be whatever he wants it to be.

Georges St-Pierre is the most dominant 170-pound mixed martial artist the sport has produced.

His supreme class was on display Saturday in Montreal during yet another shutout of an experienced fighter inside the Octagon. And so it has reached the point with St-Pierre and the welterweights that clean-slate title defenses are expected, and therefore dismissed as if they aren't incredibly impressive. Thus the division itself, long residing beside light heavyweight as the UFC's money class, is perceived to be less than interesting because no one can seem to touch the man at the top.

Well, stop all that.

Welterweight has never been better, and St-Pierre is lined up to face the most difficult challenges of his career. An emerging contingent of contenders appear capable of beating the French-Canadian fighter. And not just in the maybe-he'll-win-a-round-or-make-it-competitive sort of of way. Like actually stopping St-Pierre from doing what he wants, and maybe, just maybe, stopping him outright.

There are, in my estimation, three fighters at 170 right now that can do this: Johny Hendricks, Demian Maia, and Jake Ellenberger. And others appear to be legitimate threats. Carlos Condit is young enough and dangerous enough to pull something off if he gets another shot.

Tyron Woodley looks specially built to test GSP. You’d be a fool to sleep on Tarec Saffiedine, even if wrestling isn’t in his blood.

First up, according to UFC president Dana White, comes a deserving Hendricks, whose fight of the night brawl with Condit stacks up just fine against anything 2013 has produced thus far.


Hendricks comes off like a smaller, left-handed version of Dan Henderson. He believes he's the best. He simply has no fear. He can punch with anyone. And if a fighter is going to wrestle with St-Pierre, the physical two-time national champion wrestler from Oklahoma State would be the guy.

Hendricks is so dangerous that St-Pierre could come to the conclusion it's finally time to fight Anderson Silva. Don’t be surprised if that's how it went down, presuming Silva handles Chris Weidman in July. Both bouts provide the UFC and its fans everything they could ever want, though at this stage, crazy as it sounds, I'd rather see St-Pierre against Hendricks. To me it’s the best intra-divisional fight the UFC can make.

Ellenberger's first-round destruction of Nathan Marquardt signaled that "The Juggernaut" won't go away before all the hard work he's put in over the years pays off in a title shot. Should it come against St-Pierre, the champ will have to contend with a heavy hitter who can wrestle and scramble and do so for a high pace over a long stretch. Bottom line: No one wants to be hit by Ellenberger.

Then there's Maia, the Brazilian grappling master who made it look too easy against Fitch in February. Maia's entry into the class has been a delight. If he can own Dong Hyun Kim, Rick Story and Fitch on the canvas, doesn't he at least seem like a fighter who can hang with St-Pierre? Sure does to me. At a minimum, he's not a contender the current champion will want to spend much time on the floor with, because Maia is that good at jiu-jitsu.

Since regaining the belt in 2007, St-Pierre has lost only seven of the 43 rounds he's fought in the Octagon -- that includes duplicates based on three judges scoring a contest. He's essentially been perfect. But what's done is done. There are new threats on the horizon, a beckoning group eager for a chance.

As that gets sorted out, UFC welterweights will jockey for their spot. UFC 158, which featured 12 170-pounders, offered a revealing showcase for what's to come. A warhorse like Rick Story looked great. A kid like Jordan Mein made a statement in his UFC debut. A veteran seeking new life like Patrick Cote squeezed by, while his opponent, Bobby Voelker, looked good too. Rory MacDonald, who was originally scheduled to fight on Saturday but fell off the card with an injury, has all the tools. And on and on.

The division that produced Pat Miletich and Matt Hughes has never been better, and that seems indisputable.

MONTREAL -- For everything the Georges St-Pierre-Nick Diaz bout wasn’t -- enthralling, competitive, an out-and-out war -- Georges St-Pierre versus Johny Hendricks just might be. And that’s the silver lining after UFC 158, where wolf tickets and dark places finally converged.

Hendricks was victorious over former No. 1 contender Carlos Condit on Saturday in Montreal, and made his case (yet again) for a fight with St-Pierre. Unlike when he defeated Josh Koscheck and Martin Kampmann, this time everybody -- including UFC president Dana White -- seems to be on board with the idea.

“There’s no doubt, as far as the welterweight division is concerned, Johny Hendricks is next in line,” White told ESPN.com moments after UFC 158 wrapped up. “As for a superfight with Anderson Silva, that’s up to Georges St-Pierre. If Georges came out today and said he wanted to fight Anderson Silva, I won’t be upset about it.”

With Silva booked to fight Chris Weidman in July at UFC 161, Hendricks is finally the guy. He and Condit went toe-to-toe for three back and forth rounds, with Hendricks using his All-American wrestling in spots throughout to control the action. Other times he pursued Condit across the cage winging huge left hands, some of which found their mark. Each time Condit truly pressed the action, he was dumped on his back. When they stood, the exchanges were fierce.

It was good enough for "fight of the night" honors. More important, it really pushed Hendricks (15-1) over the edge as a legitimate contender for St-Pierre.

Suddenly, Hendricks’ punching power, combined with his ability to dictate the fight, looks very interesting against the champion. It feels like a battle of strong nullifying wrestlers who can throw hands. Hendricks feels like an actual threat to the throne.

“I think [Hendricks] is fantastic, and he’s a great athlete and he deserves a shot,” said St-Pierre’s coach Firas Zahabi. “I don’t make those decisions, though -- it’s the UFC, it’s the management. I’m pretty confident it’s going to happen. I think it’s going to be a great fight.”

“He’s a great wrestler, good power,” added St-Pierre, who was eating a slice of pizza and feeling good after so many weeks of animosity toward Diaz. “We’ll see what’s going to happen. Obviously I want to fight the best.”

After his eighth title defense (50-45 on all scorecards over Diaz), St-Pierre is finding himself almost too far ahead of the competition. Carlos Condit was hoping for a rematch with St-Pierre, but it never felt like the UFC was behind the idea 100 percent, even if Condit had won. Diaz, who has been the bane of St-Pierre’s existence for the last year-and-a-half, promptly ended his retirement talk by telling MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, “I want a rematch!”

That’s also highly unlikely to happen anytime soon. If ever.

The problem is, St-Pierre has handled everybody he’s faced over the last few years to the point that no rematch is ever truly coveted. Not a rematch with Condit, not with Diaz, not with anybody. St-Pierre wins too convincingly. These days you get one shot, and you had better make the most of it.

“If you look, he’s fighting all the best welterweights in the world, and continues to win,” White said. “I think Georges had a really great game plan. He went in there, and he stood up [with Diaz]. He went to the ground. The fight went everywhere, and he won again. I don’t know what else to say. It was a great fight.”

One might say, too great. So great that it looked lopsided. Did it feel that way to St-Pierre?

“Yeah, but he was dangerous the whole time,” he said. “It was one-sided but he put me in danger sometimes. So I always had to be aware of the danger.”

It didn’t appear that way. It was the same old dominant Georges St-Pierre. It turns out he fights the same when somebody is in his head as he does when they’re not.

“It was huge because it was such an emotional thing,” Zahabi said. “I’ve never seen Georges so emotional. He really wanted this fight. He wanted to fight Diaz before anybody else does, and I think he got his fill tonight. I don’t think he’s going to want to fight Diaz again. It’s over.”

It’s over for Diaz. It’s on for Hendricks.

Georges St-Pierre swears he isn't angered by Nick Diaz, yet his body language and promoter tell a different tale.

"Georges is being weird right now," UFC president Dana White said Thursday. "Georges isn't close to being Georges.

"There's no doubt this thing has messed with his head. I just think he's pissed. He's a in a different place than he's ever been because he's mad."

“

Georges is being weird right now. Georges isn't close to being Georges. There's no doubt this thing has messed with his head. I just think he's pissed. He's a in a different place than he's ever been because he's mad.

” -- Dana White on Nick Diaz's head games before his showdown with Georges St-Pierre.

White said he visited the 31-year-old welterweight champion in the Montreal hotel hosting UFC fighters this week and the man wasn't his polite self. St-Pierre was curt. He was "different, weird." St-Pierre's sighs and eye rolls and perturbed facial expressions at the final news conference before meeting Diaz at the Bell Centre on Saturday sure were hard to miss. At a minimum he appeared frustrated with having to listen to Diaz rant again, that "uneducated fool." At most, he’s steaming mad, like White suggested, and thusly off his game.

As UFC 158 approaches, the intrigue hangs on St-Pierre’s attitude and whether it will impact what he attempts to do to Diaz in the cage. Will the estimable champion’s distaste for Diaz lead him to try to bury the challenger from California? Or will he lift off the gas and stay conservative, a recoiling reaction to what he’s feeling inside?

Control has always been the name of St-Pierre's game. Mentally. Tactically. Physically. Emotionally. He does not go off the rails because he just doesn't. Well ... hasn’t.

"As crazy as Nick Diaz seems,” White insinuated, "there's strategy in it."

Has that strategy worked on a man with just one fluke loss in 17 fights since 2004?

Asked whether St-Pierre really is upset enough with Diaz ahead of another monster fight in his hometown to do something foolish, John Danaher, the champ’s jiu-jitsu trainer and cerebral guru, demurred.

"He is a professional and a tactician,” Danaher said. “He knows that technique wedded to physical preparation guided by strategy wins fights; not emotion."

St-Pierre, to be fair, is also a man, one -- based on recent evidence -- seemingly not above wearing frustration like his tailored pinstripe suits. Even the best of us are capable of succumbing to that reality from time to time, no?

"A man who extolls high-percentage approaches to gain competitive advantage,” Danaher responded. “Emotions are for amateurs."

How is this even possible in a hot-blooded sport like MMA? To be so detached as to remove all emotion?

St-Pierre has been tagged as some sort of automaton, so if there’s a person able to live above the fray, perhaps it’s him. Yet his reactions to Diaz, the pressure that comes with fighting in the city that raised him, the expectations built into a St-Pierre fight ... none of those things come across as emotion-free.

Which thoughts will prevail in his head as he stands across from Diaz on fight night:

Anger? Hate? Self-preservation? Control?

For all of White’s selling of St-Pierre as somehow off his French-Canadian rocker, it is a difficult notion to accept. Nothing in St-Pierre’s history, at least caged history, indicates he’ll forgo tactics for a firefight. Nothing. He’ll walk into the cage having been buoyed by the preconceptions of superiority, and for good reason. St-Pierre appears stronger, more athletic, more ring-intelligent. Diaz gets hit too much in the head and St-Pierre holds speed, power and reach advantages. Diaz can’t defend low kick and St-Pierre will really turn into them when he wants to. And Diaz won’t be able to stay off his back against the best MMA wrestler in the sport. From his back Diaz is dangerous yet wide-open, and St-Pierre has always been aware and efficient.

You see, St-Pierre should be able to dictate what he wants, which is why the potential for him losing it is so interesting. Every perceived advantage is in his corner. He’s as pro as pro can be, and remember, emotions are for amateurs.

Given everything that’s transpired in the lead-up to this title fight, it’s difficult to picture, if afforded the chance, when risk is minimized and the advantage is clear, that St-Pierre wouldn’t attempt to pound Diaz into the canvas.

Out of anger. Or not.

MONTREAL -- The big news was that Nick Diaz showed up. Believe it or not, this was a concern after the challenger skipped Wednesday’s open workouts in Montreal. And after, you know, his history of sort of not showing up.

“Well it was either I miss that, or I miss this, but I was going to have to catch up on some sleep,” he explained right off the bat at the press conference to promote his title fight against Georges St-Pierre. His flight from Northern California touched down in Quebec at midnight Tuesday evening. Wednesday was no good for him, but by Thursday, he was at last refreshed and ready to talk.

And talk he did. Diaz careened off into subject matter that ranged from sweating out toxic water, to his outdated likeness on the UFC 158 promo posters, to point deductions being handed out for stalling and holding guys down (some psychology aimed at St-Pierre), to the UFC selling wolf tickets (“they’re selling you all wolf tickets and you people are eating them right up”).
Snake oil was never mentioned. But had it have been, it would have fit right in. “Diazisms” were a dime a dozen. St-Pierre, whose own distaste for press conferences and the redundancy of the questions was barely contained, fired back once in a while. But most questions were directed at Diaz and Dana White, who was looking down at him with a red, muted face as if to interject (or destroy him via telepathy).

Meanwhile, Carlos Condit, Jake Ellenberger and Nate Marquardt, all on the card and present, never said a word. Marquardt smiled and chuckled along with the media. Ellenberger might as well have had laryngitis. As for Condit, he did roll his eyes at one point when Diaz went off on yet another tangent.

Actually, hey, let me get out the way and post a couple of those tangential highlights. My thoughts follow in italics.


“I would like to put out the best image I could. To be honest with you I think a lot of times they make me out to be the evil guy. I fit the description of the evil villain. I think Georges fits the description of a good guy. I mean, look at my poster. No offense, but [the UFC] has had plenty of time to switch my poster. That picture of me is from years ago. Can I get one buttered up, photoshop picture on a poster?”

It’s true. The poster features a younger Nick Diaz, who is mean-mugging more than entirely necessary. Come to think of it, he has a legitimate beef here.

–- “Georges likes to say I remind him of the bullies that picked on him growing up. How many times did you have a gun to your head, Georges? How many times has somebody put a gun to your head? How many of your best friends have been shot through the chest with a .45? How many of your friends have been stomped and put to sleep in a coma? How many kids put gum in your hair?”

He reiterated a form of this in an ESPN interview. The guess here is GSP can count on one hand how many times he’s had gum put in his hair.

–- “Georges here is selling wolf tickets. Dana here is selling wolf tickets. The UFC is selling you some wolf tickets. You guys are eating them right up.”

Wolf tickets are now out-hashtagging GSP’s dark place on Twitter.

Meanwhile, White, who curtailed some of the “antagonism” headed Diaz’s way and had a semi-heated moment with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, did a good job of reminding everyone of why we were here.

“All the stuff that leads up to this thing, all the selling of wolf tickets, all the things that happen leads up to this fight -- there is going to be a fight Saturday night.”

Condit done with being cautious


There was a moment at UFC 154 when it looked like Condit was going to break the heart of Montreal when he rocked St-Pierre. It was only for about 90 seconds or so of a 25-minute fight, but it was enough to bring him to a realization: Should he get that rematch with St-Pierre, he’ll go for broke.

“In [the St-Pierre fight], I think I hesitated,” he told ESPN.com. “Sometimes I was a little bit gun shy. I just need to go back to letting it all hang out, leaving everything in the cage, and really just focusing on what I bring to the table as opposed to training for the other guy’s strengths.”

When asked if he can let it all hang out against a smasher like Johny Hendricks, who has an anvil for a left hand, Condit thought about it for a quick second before answering.

“I can, but I just have to be smart,” he said.

Potluck

ESPN’s Brett Okamoto asked Diaz if he changed anything in his use of medical marijuana after what happened last time (when he tested positive for metabolites in Nevada, and was suspended for a year).

“I think I tested for metabolite, or nanogram, or something,” he said. “I just did a little more than I did last time, so sorry if I don’t pass the test -- but I think it should work out. I’ve passed plenty of them before, unless they just weren’t testing me. I wonder how much they test people around here.”

Then he shot St-Pierre a strong, insinuating glance. What does it all mean? Not even remotely sure. But “it should work out” didn’t exactly come off like reassurance to the boss who was standing right next to him.

(White mentioned later in the media scrum that, should Diaz test positive for marijuana again, he would “probably” be cut).

Brotherly gloves

Diaz’s younger brother Nate, who will be in Nick’s corner on Saturday night, was at the press conference and speaking to media. Somebody brought up the incestuous matchmaking methods of the Canadian promotion MFC, which recently booked a fight between brothers Thomas and Mike Treadwell.

Since we all know Nate Diaz is a “Diaz brother” and not just Nick’s brother, he was asked about his thoughts on that.

“That kind of makes me sick, when you think about it. Guys fighting each other, and they’re brothers? They’re a bunch of idiots as far as I’m concerned. It’s ridiculous. Do they even know each other?”