Nick Diaz Out; Carlos Condit Faces Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137

After two missed press conferences and $15,000 in missed flights, Nick Diaz has been yanked from the UFC 137 main event against Georges St-Pierre. Carlos Condit has stepped in to take his shot at the title on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas.

UFC president Dana White made the announcement on Wednesday.

“Nick Diaz has lost his opportunity at the welterweight championship, and Carlos Condit has it,” White stated.

According to White, Diaz missed a flight to Canada on Tuesday to promote the fight, and later asked to be rebooked for a later trip. Diaz then missed two more flights, and stopped returning White’s calls and messages.

At that point, White and the UFC had no options left but to pull Diaz from the fight and replace him with Carlos Condit. Diaz has apparently still not returned any calls to this point and the press conference on Wednesday was his notice that he will not be fighting for the UFC welterweight title.

“Diaz is going to find out on the news that he’s not fighting Georges St-Pierre, maybe he’ll call me back then,” White stated.

During the press conference, Diaz’s manager and trainer Cesar Gracie actually called White on the phone and apologized for the situation.

“I apologize and I agree with you 100 percent with what you’re doing,” Gracie told White over the phone.

With Diaz pulled from the fight, co-main event fighter Carlos Condit has been bumped into the title bout and will now face Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137.

“The timing was perfect for this to all come together. First I want to thank the UFC for allowing me this opportunity and also my agent Malki Kawa who saw an opening and took advantage of it. With me already fighting on that card, I will need to make some adjustments to get ready for a new opponent, but my actual training is still right on schedule,” Condit said in a statement on Wednesday.

“It’s an honor to be able to fight for the championship, especially against one of the legends of our sport in Georges St-Pierre. I’ve been fighting for nearly a decade and there has been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that has gone into that. A lot of sacrifices have been made both personally and professionally, and I’m looking forward to showing the UFC that I am deserving of this opportunity.”

Condit was slated to face B.J. Penn in the co-main event on the card, so he has already been in full training getting ready for UFC 137. Many had pegged Condit as the next contender if he was able to get past Penn, but he’ll get his shot at GSP now.

Coming into UFC 137, Condit will be riding a four-fight win streak including victories over Dan Hardy, Jake Ellenberger, and Rory MacDonald.

“This kid absolutely deserves this title shot,” White commented about Condit.

As far as Nick Diaz goes, he remains missing in action with no word from him at this stage in the game. His future with the UFC is up in the air as well, and White will re-assess his situation later.

“We’ll see what happens,” White stated about Diaz’s future with the UFC.

Georges St-Pierre, who admitted he was upset at the actions of Nick Diaz, stated that he believed Carlos Condit was ‘more dangerous’ and has already switched his attention to his new fight.

As for Condit’s original opponent, B.J. Penn, White said that he is working on something right now for him to remain on the card against a new fighter, but details are still being worked out.

UFC 137 takes place on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas with the new main event pitting Georges St-Pierre against Carlos Condit.

Follow @DamonMartin on Twitter or e-mail Damon Martin.
For more UFC News and UFC Rumors, follow MMAWeekly.com on Twitter and Facebook.