Nick Diaz blew off the UFC’s open workouts for media Wednesday in Montreal and president Dana White is not too happy about it.
White said on Jim Rome’s radio show that if Diaz no-shows Thursday’s press conference it’s “not gonna be good.” Diaz is supposed to challenge UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in the main event of UFC 158 on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
“I don’t even know what to say or what I’m gonna do, but it will not be good,” White said on Rome.
Diaz is known for flaking out on things. In 2011, he was supposed to meet St-Pierre for the title, but didn’t show up for a press conference a month before the fight and White pulled him from the bout. Recently, Diaz eluded UFC film crews trying to tape his training sessions for the company’s “Countdown” preview show. White said sending the video people to Diaz’s hometown of Stockton, Calif., cost the company between $50,000 and $60,000 and they didn’t get a second of footage out of it.
“There is no shtick with this kid,” White said. “He’s just a different animal, man. He’s absolutely hard to deal with.”
The scary thing for White is that Diaz, who is coming off a year-long marijuana suspension, could be his company’s welterweight champion in three days if he knocks off St-Pierre, one of the best MMA fighters of all time. If Diaz wins, White says he’ll have to come to the UFC offices in Las Vegas for a “come to Jesus” meeting.
“If you miss anything, I will strip you of this title,” White said he’ll tell him. “I really don’t know what else to do.”
Diaz is one of the most unique characters in MMA. He’s anti-establishment and anti-social. Two years ago, White said Diaz tried to chase St-Pierre around the hotel following Diaz’s victory over BJ Penn.
“Georges thought he was gonna try to fight him at the hotel,” White told Rome. “He was waiting to see when the elevator doors open, he expected to see Nick Diaz.”
St-Pierre and Diaz got into it last week on a UFC 158 media conference call. Diaz called St-Pierre pampered and made fun of the tight shorts he wears in the Octagon. St-Pierre called Diaz an “uneducated fool.” The two could not be more different, which makes Saturday’s fight incredibly intriguing.
White said St-Pierre told him recently, “I wanna make [Diaz] retire.”
“He just has this crazy thing about bullies and he thinks Nick Diaz is a bully,” White said.
It’s probably way too close to the event to cancel the fight, regardless of whether Diaz blows off the presser. Maybe White will have him forfeit a percentage of his purse? Could he make it a non-title fight?
To quote the prez, “we’ll see what happens.”
mraimondi@nypost.com
