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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Nick Diaz is one of those fighters whose popularity with the fans will always provide him opportunities others don't receive. It why he could return a year after a loss to Carlos Condit for an Interim Title and get into a UFC Welterweight Title fight with Georges St-Pierre.
It's also why, after nearly two years out of the cage, Diaz will return in January against former Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, and why, with a win, he could be right back into yet another title fight.
That's at least as far as Dana White is concerned, as he told ESPN's Sportscenter while announcing the fight that a title fight could definitely come with a good performance from Diaz.
"Nick Diaz is a very popular fighter as it is," White argued (transcribed by BloodyElbow.com). "If he comes in and beats Anderson Silva, absolutely, he could fight for a title. He is right in there. It would be a huge, huge win for him."
Penick's Analysis: It's the Chael Sonnen effect essentially, and it allows those who "move the needle" - so to speak - to plug in to big fights because people are interested in watching them. Some might not be, and it leads to certainly some backlash, but if people are willing to pay for it - and they've shown time and again that they have been - then the UFC is going to continue to book those fighters.
[Nick Diaz art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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