An injury to his ACL has forced Georges St. Pierre out of his welterweight title fight against Nick Diaz at UFC 143.
Georges St. Pierre was set to defend his welterweight belt against Nick Diaz at UFC 137 before Diaz missed a media obligation. He was then scheduled to face Carlos Condit on the same card in a title defense. Then the news broke that he suffered an injury to his knee in practice and would defend his belt against Diaz at UFC 143. It appears that the injury was much worse than originally suspected as St. Pierre will be out for more than 10 months. The UFC is now scheduling Condit vs Diaz for the interim welterweight title.
This is terrible news for the UFC as St. Pierre is one of the few fighters on the roster that can carry a card at the box office on his own. The recovery time also suggests that he’ll need a ton of rehab which could mean that when he returns, he could be with out some of that explosive movement. The Condit vs Diaz fight should be an early Fight of the Year candidate.
Bloody Elbow will have more analysis as news comes in about the extent injury in the coming days.