This Saturday night in Las Vegas, as Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz square off for the UFC Interim Welterweight Title, Georges St. Pierre will be seated cage side intently watching the two do battle.

The Canadian recently tore his ACL while training for his title defense against Nick Diaz. He will now be on the sidelines until mid to late this year. With contenders anxiously waiting for their shot at the championship, the UFC made the decision to hold an Interim Title match between Condit and Diaz.

GSP has ruled the Welterweight division since he won his title back from Matt Serra in 2008. Since then he has defended his title a very impressive six times. Only pound for pound king Anderson Silva has more UFC title defenses.

However, this weekend, for the first time in 4 years another man will be named champion of the UFC’s Welterweight division.

Georges was recently quoted by the UFC having had this to say on the Interim Championship, “The way I see it, I am not the champion anymore on Saturday night. I have not fought since April, against my will, but I understand the champion must fight. You have to put the belt on the line in order to call yourself champion, the best in the world. Right now I am not the best in the world, I am injured.”

GSP went on to say, “The winner of this fight on Saturday will be more than just the new No.1 contender, but he won’t be the new champion either. The winner of this fight will have to beat me to become the true world champion and I will have to beat the winner of this fight in order to call myself the best in the world again.”

The Canadian fan favorite also had this to say, “I like the format where the winner of this fight will have to fight me and I have to fight the winner to truly become the UFC champion. That is what the UFC is about, that is competition. This is fair to all of us. We have to beat each other to be the undisputed champion.”

Georges St. Pierre is known as one of the utmost professional and respectful athletes in Mixed Martial Arts today. Many of his previous opponents talked a lot of trash leading up to their fight with the champ.

Time and time again Georges would brush it off and let his fighting do the talking, like a true professional should. However Nick Diaz has managed to bring out the angriest GSP we have ever seen, and quite possibly the most highly motivated.

That’s saying a lot when you’re talking about a man that already is considered one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world and everyday strides to reach perfection of his Mixed Martial Arts skills. Nick Diaz called out Georges after his momentous victory over BJ Penn at UFC 137 in November.

Diaz, a member of the Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu camp, said this in his post-fight interview, “I don’t think Georges is hurt, I think he’s scared, Where you at Georges?!”  The words from Diaz visibly irritated the champion, who then went backstage and told Dana White that he wanted to fight
Nick Diaz next.

He also stated that it was going to be the worst beating anyone has ever seen in the UFC. The rare animosity from the champion caused the UFC to give Diaz the next shot for the title. However GSP’s injury would cause him to back out of the proposed matchup, and Carlos Condit would take Georges’ spot.

When asked about Nick Diaz, St. Pierre explained the way he perceived Diaz’s trash talk by saying, “I don’t truly hate him as a person. I don’t know that he is a bad guy, but I hate what he brings to the sport with the disrespect and the unprofessional things he says and does. It is sort of a professional hatred. He has been nothing but disrespectful and arrogant towards me.”

The champ added, “During (the week of) UFC 137 I felt like I had to walk around Las Vegas with my fists ready because every time I came across him he wanted to fight there and then. Every time the elevator opened (in the hotel) I needed to be ready to fight in case he stepped in. I was on edge all week. This guy is crazy.”

Georges also said this about the smack talk, “I am used to hearing talk from opponents, Matt Serra did it, Dan Hardy did it, and Josh Koscheck did it, but with Diaz he has taken it to another level. He and his coach (Cesar Gracie) have called me a coward and tried to disrespect my accomplishments. All that has done though is make me determined to beat him up.”

GSP made a strong proclamation, “He will bring out the best in me, I will be 100% focused, like a bomb-expert defusing a time bomb. When my back is against the wall and I have no choice but to win, when I cannot lose to this person under any cost, that is when I am most dangerous.” The champ also said, “As champion, I believe Diaz deserves the fight for the title. Style-wise, he is a very tough match for me and the fans deserve to see the fight they really want to see.”

Georges is currently rehabbing a very serious injury, a torn ACL. The rehabbing is going great and he is actually ahead of schedule. Although, the man nicknamed “Rush” is not rushing to get back into the Octagon.

He had this to say on the injury, “I am ahead of schedule. I can already train and even kick but I am remaining calm and not rushing. I won’t train properly until July. It is a matter of discipline not to force my knee to go harder than it can heal. No athlete wants to sit on the sidelines, especially when you are the champion and you must watch two others fight for the Interim Championship belt. I will watch on Saturday and go home very motivated to rehab on Monday morning but I must be disciplined and I must continue to rehab at the pace I am doing.”

Whether the champion will return to top form, no one knows, but Georges believes he will come back stronger than ever. A highly motivated GSP is a dangerous opponent that can beat just about anyone inside the cage.

It could be the dangerous “Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit he faces next, or it could be the charismatic Nick Diaz, one thing for sure is that GSP will be ready to fight.

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