By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Nick Diaz’s inability to comply with the UFC last week has not only cost him a title shot against Georges St-Pierre, it’s also reportedly cost him a substantial amount of money.

Dave Meltzer, in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer newsletter, reports that Diaz lost out on a pay-per-view cut that would have garnered seven figures. Additionally, Meltzer reports that Diaz may not immediately get a title shot with a win over Penn.

When he no-showed two press conferences last week and fell off the map, the UFC took him out of the UFC 137 main event and put in Carlos Condit. They then gave him an opportunity to keep a roster spot and offered him the fight with B.J. Penn that Condit was initially scheduled for.

However, Meltzer reports another interesting tidbit in regards to that matchup. Apparently Diaz had second thoughts about taking the fight over this past weekend, and was “making noises at not doing the match.” He also reportedly “got word to the Penn camp that because of his respect for Penn that neither he nor [his] brother Nate would ever fight Penn.”

He’s supposedly had his mind changed, and is expected to still go through with the fight in Las Vegas on October 29.

Link to WrestlingObserver.com (Subscription Required)

Penick’s Analysis: It’s incredible that Diaz was seriously considering not going ahead with the fight against Penn. After what happened with losing his title shot, accepting and then reneging on the fight with Penn would have been the absolute worst move he could have made. I suppose it’s not entirely surprising given the events of the last week that Diaz would go with an ill-advised course of action, but it appears he’ll continue with the Penn fight and that’s best at this point. He’s lost enough with getting taken out of the main event and losing his pay-per-view cut, and he would have lost his roster spot with the UFC had he not taken this fight when it was offered to him.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_10506.shtml

Andre Amade 

?UFC Fight Night 25: Battle on the Bayou? is officially jumping off inside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Facebook will kick off Saturday?s festivities by streaming eight preliminary bouts live at approximately 5:30PM ET/2:30PM PT. Fans simply have to ?Like? the UFC?s Facebook page in order to watch the scraps [...]

Source: http://www.5thRound.com/89256/ufc-fight-night-25-battle-on-the-bayou-live-results-and-play-by-play/

Mark The Hammer Coleman Wes Soldier Combs  Ray Cooper 

Source: http://www.mmamania.com/2011/9/17/2431450/ufc-fight-night-25-prelims-and-main-card-preview-for-battle-on-the

Phil Cardella Roan Jucao Carneiro Shane The Engineer Carwin 

Source: http://www.ufc.com/news/Jorge-Lopez-Born-to-Fight

Wesley Cabbage Correira  Patrick The Predator Côté  Randy The Natural Couture 

Based on this thread:http://www.mmaforum.com/ufc/90697-i-still-think-machida-best-lhw-3.html There is some GREAT discussion on a Jones V Machida…

Source: http://www.mmaforum.com/ufc/90738-machida-v-jon-jones.html

Andrei Arlovski 

The buzz for a title unification bout between UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz is definitely building. Outside of Osama Bin Laden, it’s all anyone seems to be talking about today in the MMA community. Not everyone is crazy about the idea, but if you ask me and lot [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmaconvert/~3/iPEXfPH5dWw/

Karen Darabedyan Viacheslav Datsik Marcus Davis 

UFC 129, as a whole, was a great event to witness all in all.
Well, that is if you caught the Pablo Garza and Yves Jabouin bout.
One of the larger featherweight fighters in the division, Garza would seem to be the obvious favorite in his bout with Yves, though size doesn’t necessarily matter—or does it? [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/04/30/ufc-129s-submission-of-the-night-pablo-garza

Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves 

Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, News

Light heavyweight prospects Lorenz Larkin and Gian Villante have agreed to fight at Strikeforce Challengers 16, sources close to the fight confirmed with MMA Fighting.

While not officially announced by the organization, the event is expected to take place on June 24 in Kent, Wash.

Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/03/lorenz-larkin-vs-gian-villante-targeted-for-strikeforce-challen/

Jai Bradney  Ebenezer Fontes Braga Chris Brennan

Hello once more fans and friends and welcome to another new edition of ?Best of the Rest?! I really enjoy taking the time to give my detailed thoughts on a show after watching it, but after the serious discussion and debate I?ll raise in topics like ?Top 5 Best Moments? and ?Best Performance of the [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/05/02/best-of-the-rest-ufc-129-st-pierre-vs-shields

Gesias JZ Calvancante  Luiz Cane  Dos Caras Jr  

After a blockbuster UFC 129, Cagewriter had to break "Three Stars" into two parts. See the undercard stars here, and read on for the stars of the main card.

No. 1 star — Lyoto Machida: With Steven Seagal improbably looking on through his shooting glasses, Machida threw nearly the same kick that Anderson Silva used to knock out Vitor Belfort. Machida threw more of a "Karate Kid" spin on the kick, as he faked with the left before quickly threw the KO kick with the right. Again, he gave credit to Seagal, which was one of the memorable parts of an unbelievable night.

No. 2 star — Mark Hominick: Yes, Hominick lost to Jose Aldo in a five-round decision. Aldo is clearly the more skilled fighter, but even in a loss, Hominick impressed. In front of 55,000 fellow Canadians, Hominick showed that smaller fighters can get crowds standing and cheering. Even with a hematoma on his head and cheek and a swollen eye, Hominick never quit. For that, he took home a $129,000 Fight of the Night bonus for his efforts, which is a nice bit of cash for a man whose wife is due this week.

No. 3 star — Vladimir Matyushenko: All of the "this guy is old and still fighting" pre-fight publicity went to Randy Couture, but "The Janitor" turned 40 in January, and took just 20 seconds to knock out Jason Brilz. Not too bad for a guy who has been fighting since 1997.

Honorable mention — Toronto: For months and months, we heard that UFC 129 was going to be the biggest UFC event in history. Toronto completely delivered, packing the Rogers Centre with loud and raucous fans who responded to the fantastic fights that were in front of them. Well played, Toronto. Take note, New York.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Three-Stars-from-UFC-129-Main-card-edition?urn=mma-wp1939

Shane The Engineer Carwin  Jason Hollywood Chambers Ryo Piranha Chonan