Georges St. Pierre believes BJ Penn will beat Nick Diaz as long as he's prepared properly

Up until seven days ago, UFC President Dana White slept soundly thinking that his problems relating to UFC 137 were over. Oh how wrong he was..

Last week welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre was forced to pull out of a headlining title-fight with Carlos Condit because of a knee injury he sustained during a sparring session. GSP had originally been slated to fight former Strikeforce welterweight king Nick Diaz, but Diaz was pulled from the bout after missing several press conferences to pump up the event, Diaz was then place in a fight with former double-divisional champion BJ Penn.

Having already fought and beaten Penn twice, and having spent the last few months training for Diaz, GSP weighed in on their bout his comments on the clash, making his pick with a stipulation regarding Penn’s preparation.

“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,” the popular French-Canadian explained to SportsNet.

Penn Gives Look Behind the Scenes at UFC 137 Camp

GSP also delved further into the fight to assess the Hawaiian’s state of mind coming into the fight.

“The thing with Penn is sometimes you don’t know what 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 (and that’s when) he’s the best guy. But when he doesn’t perform at the best of his ability he can be beat. Diaz is very consistent, he has a similar style of fighting all the time. But, I believe if the right Penn shows up, he’ll win the fight.”

Penn and Diaz will collide next Saturday night in Las Vegas. Condit has vowed to wait for GSP to return to health and remain #1 contender. No date has been set for St. Pierre’s return.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC