UFC gives Nick Diaz a fight against B.J. Penn
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Nick Diaz has avoided being cut by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and has even earned a spot on the Oct. 29 pay-per-view card, albeit a non-title shot against former two-division champion B.J. Penn, the organization announced Friday.
Stockton’s Diaz, the Strikeforce welterweight champion, was scratched from the main event versus UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre earlier this week after failing to show up for news conferences in Canada and Las Vegas.
Diaz later posted a video referring to a news conference as ‘a beauty pageant.’
UFC President Dana White said he was mulling terminating the contract of Diaz for the actions, but instead opted to give him the fight against Penn.
Penn was supposed to fight Carlos Condit, who now gets the shot at St-Pierre.
White, in a text message to The Times on Friday, described Diaz’s pay cut as ‘HUGE,’ and added, ‘Hard to keep up with the soap opera, ‘As the octagon turns.’ ‘
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-- Lance Pugmire
