Early on Wednesday, December 7, UFC President Dana White announced that reigning Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre had suffered a serious injury blowing his ACL and required surgery. This has now forced St. Pierre out of his rescheduled bout with former Strikeforce Welterweight champion Nick Diaz. The main event for UFC 143 will now pit Diaz against former/final WEC Welterweight champion Carlos Condit for the UFC Interim-Welterweight title with St. Pierre likely to be out of action for some time needing surgery. Condit was originally slated to fight in the co-main event for UFC 143 against TUF1 alumni and contender Josh Koscheck in a bout where a win would have guaranteed him a shot at the winner of St. Pierre vs Diaz. At this time it is unknown if Koscheck will still be part of the card with a new opponent or be reassigned to another card. Interesting match ups that could come Koscheck's way include the winner of Diego Sanchez vs Jake Ellenberger which takes place a week after UFC 143, or the winner of Thiago Alves vs Martin Kampmann which takes place a month after.
The fallout of St. Pierre is a continuation of problems that have plagued the UFC Welterweight title picture over the course of several months. The trouble started originally when the bout between St. Pierre and Diaz was first set to headline UFC 137 in October, but the bout was scrapped and Diaz was replaced with Condit after failing to appear for two pre-fight press conferences weeks before the scheduled event, which also removed Condit from the scheduled co-main event against former two-division champion B.J. Penn. Just a couple days following the shuffling of the card, it was announced that the new co-main event would pit Diaz against Penn. Just over a week before the event St. Pierre suffered an injury to his leg while training and was forced out of the new bout with Condit, and forced Condit off the card as well with the UFC promising that he would still get his shot at the title. With the main event falling out Diaz vs Penn was promoted to headline the card, which many believed was the real main event to begin with. When the bout finally came it followed what many felt was a dismal card to watch, and when the bout was over both fighters out on one of the greatest fights of the year and garnered a consensus among analysts that the main event saved the card from being a let down. In the cage in the post-fight interview immediately after earning the Unanimous Decision win, Diaz called out St. Pierre saying he was faking being injured, which prompted St. Pierre to ask UFC President Dana White to reschedule the original bout with Diaz instead of Condit next. Immediately at the post-fight conference White announced that the superfight between St. Pierre and Diaz was now set to headline UFC 143 for Super-Bowl weekend. Now a couple months prior to the scheduled event, St. Pierre has suffered a torn ACL that will require surgery and will keep him out of action for some time. Diaz will now fight Condit as the new main event for the division's Interim title in the new main event. This makes it the second time in a row in just his second bout being back with the promotion that Diaz was originally meant to fight for the division title and has needed to take another fight.
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