Post by dengdai on Nov 11, 2013 7:57:45 GMT
TORONTO -- Before stripping down to fight in a cage, how about slugging it out over the phone? Thats what UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Nick Diaz did Thursday, clashing on a media conference call ahead of their main event matchup at UFC 158 in Montreal on March 16. www.nikefreepascherfemme.com/nike-free-homme-sq-31/nike-free-run+-gf-74/ . It was an entertaining if sometimes confusing war of words as the stylish champion from Montreal jousted with the snarly California fighter with a giant-sized chip on his shoulder. "I dont understand half of the words that youre saying," St-Pierre said during the height of the debate. "I speak English better than you, man. Talk to me like a normal human being." Replied Diaz:" Youre talking (crap) and youre out of line, bro. Straight up. You understand that, right? It started with Diaz lamenting the lack of respect he gets, in part due to the way the UFC is promoting this fight. "I like to be known as someone who kept it real," he said. "I just dont like that Im made out to be this evil person that needs to be shot down ... if anything Im like the super-hero coming in with the anti-bull." He told the story of being at a stop light on home turf in Lodi, Calif., when "some soccer mom sticks her head out the window and shes like "I hope GSP beats your ass." "Im living in a small town full of people that hate me," he added. The 31-year-old St-Pierre (23-2) is anything but a trash-talker. But the UFC has built this fight up as the champion looking to teach some respect to the brash challenger. Diazs initial ire seemed to come from the UFCs video promotion, which shows UFC president Dana White speaking for St. Pierre in October 2011 when Diaz and GSP were originally slated to fight. After beating B.J. Penn at UFC 137, Diaz accused the injured St-Pierre of ducking him. St-Pierre was in the stands watching. "GSP flipped out tonight," White is seen telling the news conference that followed. "He said that Nick is the most disrespectful human being Ive ever met and Im going to put the worst beating youve ever seen on him in the UFC." In another UFC 158 promo, the champion says Diaz had made him reach into a "dark place." Adds GSP: "Nick Diaz deserves to be beat down." Said Diaz: "Im not a disrespectful human being. I dont deserve to be beat down." If he was making waves, he said he was because he wasnt getting the attention he deserved. "Im coming here to whup this guys ass and ... nobody knows who I am. I guess everybody does but as far as like your mainstream magazines and your Nike, Adidas and all your good stuff. Im left out of that," he said. Diaz also complained that if GSP calls him disrespectful, people believe it. "When you say something, everyone believes it, dude," he said. "Everybody wants to know what Georges thinks, what Georges says." The conference call turned nasty after a reporter, following on the challengers words in a rambling four-minute answer, asked the champion if he was pampered. Before St-Pierre could answer, Diaz jumped in. "I hope so," said Diaz, kicking off a 13-second interjection that contained six variations of the F-bomb. "If I had that much money, Id be pampering myself the (blank) up. Id be having (people) pamper my (stuff) left and right. Thered be (people) every hour on the hour showing up to pamper me out. Period." Said GSP: "Let me tell you something, uneducated fool, listen to me." Diaz then countered. "Im not stupid, I can tell whats what." "Yeah, you look pretty smart right now," St-Pierre replied. Then the champion said his piece. "Ive not always been like this. Ive not always been rich. I started from the bottom. I made myself, I worked very hard to be where I am now. I know you dont believe this because you didnt succeed yet. And maybe you will never succeed in your life because I dont think youre smart enough to understand (what) you should do to reach that point." St-Pierre then told Diaz about the need to have people working for him "to make the money rolling." "That sounds nice, Georges," said Diaz. "If I wore some tight shorts out there and got a haircut and I had someone buttering me up halfway through tell me this (crap), maybe it would have worked out. But I doubt it. You dont even know where I come from." "You dont know anything about me, man," said St-Pierre. By the end of the exchange, Diaz had admitted he was "a fan" of St-Pierre. "I appreciate everything he does," he added. That didnt stop him from taking a few shots at St-Pierres fighting style. St-Pierre also admitted there was nothing personal between them. But dont expect the two to exchange Christmas cards. The two fighters may come from different worlds, but neither had anything given to them on a plate. The 29-year-old Diaz (27-8-1) is a talented fighter from Stockton, Calif., who is as prickly as they come. He marches to the beat of his own drum, as shown by the one-year suspension he just served for testing positive for marijuana. He can come across as a thug-like boor, but theres more to Diaz than meets the eye. The "UFC Primetime" show before his fight with Carlos Condit showed Diaz as a loyal, single-minded athlete -- triathlons are part of his training regimen -- willing to dispense with the social niceties in search of excellence. But he doesnt play well with others and was bumped from a 2011 date with St-Pierre after failing to show up for news conferences in Toronto and Las Vegas. In contrast, St-Pierre has become an MMA corporation as champion, with blue-chip sponsors like Under Armour and Gatorade. He likes to wear Armani and dine in style. He is the anti-Diaz. "Like my lifes a mess," said Diaz. "Im not afraid to admit it. I work hard regardless through this (stuff) "But I dont have people towelling me off and handing me water bottles left and right and getting my training ready for me. Ive got to do all that (stuff) on my own." St-Pierre had little sympathy. "If you are where you are right now and I am where I am, its not my fault, its because of you, man. You did not succeed because of you." www.nikefreepascherfemme.com/ . -- The Kansas City Chiefs remained active in free agency on Wednesday, making official a wave of free-agent signings that included veteran cornerback Dunta Robinson and speedy wide receiver Donnie Avery. www.nikefreepascherfemme.com/nike-free-homme-sq-31/nike-free-run+-3-bo-93/ . You can watch Game 1 live on TSN at 8:30pm et/5:30pm pt. The young Thunder, with twin 23-year-old superstars in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, will play the bucking bronco trying to throw the Spurs when this rodeo kicks off Sunday in the Alamo City.The Calgary Flames could have paid a higher price than draft picks if the Colorado Avalanche didnt match the offer for restricted free agent forward Ryan OReilly - namely, Ryan OReilly. According to the Kontinental Hockey Leagues website, OReilly - who was unsigned until Thursday night - played for Metallurg Magnitogorsk on Jan. 21 and Jan. 23 (written in the game sheets as Rayan O Rayli). And as NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told TSN on Friday, OReilly would have had to clear waivers to join the Flames if he actually played overseas after the start of the NHL season on Jan. 19. The NHLs collective bargaining agreement prior to this season stipulated that any player who plays in Europe after start of the NHL regular season needs to clear waivers to play in the same season in the NHL. However, a different interpretation of a new CBA provision was what apparently confused the Flames organization. "Prior to tendering the offer sheet for Ryan OReilly we, as a hockey operations department, examined whether there were any impediments to our successfully securing the services of the player including, but not limited to, his having played in the KHL after the start of the current NHL season," Flames GM Jay Feaster explained in a team statement on Friday. "Our interpretation of the Article 13 transition rules governing restricted free agents and the applicability of Article 13.23 under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement to such RFAs was, and continues to be, different than the NHLs current interpretation as articulated to us this morning. Moreover, throughout our discussions, the players representative shared our interpretation and position with respect to the non-applicability of Article 13.23. While we were prepared to advance our position with the NHL, in light of Colorados having matched the offer sheet it is now an academic point. As such, we will have no further comment on the matter, the player, or the offer sheet process." The move isnt unfamiliar to NHL teams, as Evgeni Nabokov was claimed by the New York Islanders from the Detroit Red Wings under the same circumstances in 2011 and the Nashville Predators plucked Marek Svatos off waivers from St. Louis. The Avalanche matched the Flames offer sheet to OReilly just hours after Feaster announced the deal in a media statement on Thursday. Had the Avalanche not matched Calgarys offer, the club would have received the Flames first and third-round picks in this years draft. OReillys agent Pat Morris told TSN Radio 1050 that he was not aware of the waivers scenario. "I would not put any team in that kind of position," he said. "There were other teams that were speaking about offer sheets for a long time on Ryan OReilly and consulting with people at the league level on structure and format. "We still havent seen the CBA, the agreement is in place but I dont think the document is complete for anyones eyes to read so that issue is the first Ive heard of that. At the same time, one would have believed that Calgary doing what they did would have gotten the player if Colorado had made a decision not to matchh. www.nikefreepascherfemme.com/nike-free-femme-xm-82/nike-free-run+-2-lb-84/. " Morris added that he never got any indication from the Flames that they were aware of this provision in the CBA. "It wasnt discussed between the parties," he said. Two of Feasters GM colleagues joined TSN Radio 1050s The Drive with Dave Naylor and weighed in on the OReilly situation. Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland stressed that its tricky to negotiate the new CBA without teams having all the details down on paper to study. "Obviously, right now its a different time because theres a CBA in place," Holland told TSN. "We havent really got the book. Weve got the memorandum of understanding, but youd like to get the book, the CBA and read through it." Still, though, he believed Feaster and the Flames properly braced themselves for the offer-sheet. "When youre thinking of doing things, you always call the league and double-check and make sure that your interpretation is the correct interpretation. We all do the same thing and Im sure Calgary did all their due diligence." Meanwhile, the Flames division rivals from Vancouver could only speak to their own approach to acquiring young talent. "Thats somewhat of an unfair question," Canucks GM Mike Gillis remarked when asked about whether or not he knew about the possibility of OReilly having to go through waivers on The Drive. "Im not sure of what [Calgarys] considerations were. Were aware of the rules in the CBA and we didnt make an offer sheet." "We didnt consider it because we didnt think there was any hope of getting the player," Gillis added. The two-year offer carries an average annual value of $5 million. OReilly will make $1 million in base salary for this season with a signing bonus worth $2.5 million. His 2013-14 salary will be $6.5 million. According to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, the new collective bargaining agreement also allows the Avalanche to put OReilly back in their own lineup without clearing waivers. While Article 13:23 in the pre-2012-13 CBA specified that any player who plays in Europe after start of NHL regular season needs to clear waivers to play in the same season in the NHL, the recent Memorandum of Understanding between the league and Players Association says all players on a clubs reserve list and RFA list will be exempt from the application of 13:23. Therefore, teams can now sign their own restricted free agents or draft picks out of Europe in mid-season and get them into their NHL lineup without risking them being plucked off the wire. Morris added that he expects both OReilly and the Avalanche to reunite under good terms upon his return to Denver. "Business disagreements happen all the time in sports and other parts of life," he told TSN Radio 1050. "Its resolved now Im sure all sides are happy with that and Ryan gets to play hockey again. Theres no ill feeling from Ryan, I would expect given that Colorado has gotten a good young player back with their team is moving forward and what happened in the past can stay there." OReilly was medically cleared to play on Friday and will practice with the team Saturday. ' ' '