Georges St-Pierre: If The Right BJ Penn Shows Up, He'll Beat Nick Diaz

Source: SportsNet

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was forced out of the original UFC 137 main event against Carlos Condit after injuring himself in training; though his fight with Condit was only postponed and he'll likely be facing The Natural Born Killer upon his return, St-Pierre will be keeping a close eye on the bout which was promoted to the night's top spot as it may very well produce the next contender in line for his welterweight title.

UFC 137 now features a 170lbs. tilt between former UFC lightweight and welterweight champ BJ Penn and St-Pierre's originally scheduled UFC 137 opponent Nick Diaz. Having gotten to know Penn very well over the course of two fights, St-Pierre recently told SportsNet that he sees The Prodigy taking this fight based on his more complete skillset - though he left the standard caveat that Penn's victory depends on which version of the fiery Hawaiian shows up on fight night.

"I think BJ Penn will win the fight because I believe he has more skills. If he uses all his set of skills, then BJ Penn will win," predicted St-Pierre. "But, the thing with BJ Penn is sometimes you don't know what BJ Penn will show up to the fight. If he's well prepared or injured - I don't know. Sometimes, I saw him perform very well at the best of his ability he's the best guy. But when he doesn't perform at the best of his ability he can be beat. Nick Diaz is very consistent, he has a similar style of fighting all the time. But, I believe if the right BJ Penn shows up, he'll win the fight."

UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz will go down next Saturday night from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Don't forget to check back on FightLine for our live, ongoing coverage of the event.

Mark Wayne is the head writer for FightLine.com. He can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/_MarkWayne.