September 7, 2011 Nick Diaz is a no-show for his second consecutive UFC 137 Main Event presser opposite Georges St. Pierre. He’s quickly punished during said presser and removed from the night’s Main Event / title shot. A brand spanking new event trailer featuring St. Pierre and his new challenger, Carlos Condit, is rolled out to applause during the “beauty pageant” and Nick Diaz is later matched up in the co-main event with B.J. Penn on the very same card.

Fast forward to Present Day where Georges St. Pierre has been forced to remove himself from the UFC 137 Main Event due to a knee injury one can’t help but look at all of the different “what if” scenarios this whole Welterweight clusterfluff has caused.

In A World…

….where Nick Diaz showed up for that Press Conference on September 7th. As the hype builds and we find ourselves only 2 weeks away from Fight Night it’s brought to our attention that UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre has suffered a knee injury and will not be able to defend his strap against current #1 contender Nick Diaz. The scheduled Co-Main Event between B.J. Penn and Carlos Condit has been moved up to Main Event Status as the promotion scrambles trying to find a replacement for St. Pierre. Or maybe the Cesar Gracie fighter decides to, or is told he should wait for St. Pierre to recover so he doesn’t run the risk of losing his title shot? “Moneyweight” fighter Josh Koscheck has thrown his name into the hat via twitter and has challenged Diaz on very short notice. UFC President Dana White applauds Koscheck and Diaz accepts the UFC vet’s offer. Fans are treated to two full weeks of relentless trash talk between the top welterweights out of the 209 and 724.

Reality Check

A Co Main between Diaz and Koscheck would do nothing for Diaz. Fighting a top guy that has already lost to GSP twice could only hurt Diaz in the big picture and just wouldn’t make any sense for the kid from Stockton. Diaz is still relatively young in this sport at the age of 28. Waiting until the first quarter of 2012 for a shot at St. Pierre wouldn’t be an issue for a guy currently rocking a 10 fight win streak.

Risk vs. Reward

Waiting for a title shot against St. Pierre… Scratch that. Waiting for a title shot against anyone in the UFC could prove to be a deadly mistake. Sincerely, Rashad Evans. This is why Diaz didn’t hesitate to sign for the Penn fight. He’s still a UFC headliner and he get’s a shot at arguably a bigger legend and greater pound for pound fighter in Penn anyway.

In the End….the fans win

B.J. Penn and Nick Diaz are two of the most polarizing figures in the sport yesterday, today, and tomorrow. How often do we get a match up like this? Nick Diaz will show up for what matters. The pre fight presser, the weigh ins and ultimately the fight itself this Saturday night in Vegas. Penn will do the same. I can’t think of a bigger UFC vs. Strikeforce dream fight than the one we are being given. The strong personalities are trumped by even stronger skill sets, something you see very rarely in this game.

So “what if” Nick Diaz showed up for that press conference? UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz would’ve never happened. I think most of us will be thanking Nick Diaz after it’s all said and done regardless of the outcome.