Of all the phone calls he had to make following Nick Diaz's no-show of a press conference in support of UFC 137, Dana White wasn't thrilled about informing B.J. Penn (16-7-2 MMA, 12-6-2 UFC) that he had poached the fighter's original opponent, Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC), to headline opposite welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.
"B.J. doesn't know anything," White said today following a sudden announcement that Diaz (25-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) had been bounced from his fight with St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC). "I'm sure I'm going to have one seriously pissed off Hawaiian to deal with."
Penn will undoubtedly be asking what White's plan is, and as he today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), it might be a radical plan.
"I'm working on that now," White said. "If I told you what I want to do with that fight you guys would flip out, so we'll see what happens."
Any hints?
"Feel free to tell us," MMAjunkie.com Radio host "Gorgeous" George Garcia piped up.
Negative.
"I'll tell you if I can get it done," White said.
There are, of course, plenty of hungry welterweights dying to jump into the mix. Before Diaz's ouster, Penn vs. Condit was widely expected to face the winner of St-Pierre vs. Diaz.
Perennial contender Jon Fitch has already signaled his readiness to step into the spot, as he was scheduled to fight Penn at UFC 132 before a shoulder injury took him out of the picture. (Penn also said he was injured and sat out the event this past July.)
However, White ruled that option out today in an interview with HeavyMMA.com.
No other welterweights reside on the UFC 137 card, so the replacement would likely come from an un-booked fighter or one scheduled to fight around the same time frame as the event, which takes place Oct. 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Fitch teammate Josh Koscheck certainly isn't available. He stepped in for an injured Diego Sanchez to fight Matt Hughes at UFC 135.
Looking across the roster, many of the top welterweights are booked or coming off fights.
So who is it?
White isn't ready to reveal that one just yet.
Source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/25133/whos-go ... option.mma