St-Pierre At Les Galeries De La Capitale, Quebec City
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre gestures as he speaks during a news conference at Les Galeries de la Capitale shopping centre in Quebec City, December 13, 2013. Reuters/Mathieu Belanger

The three-time welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre believes Nick Diaz made a mistake of moving up in weight and agreeing to a bout against Anderson Silva. Appearing before the Chael Sonnen podcast, "You're Welcome," the semi-retired fighter responded to questions ranging from his plans for the future, the ambiguity of his return to the Octagon and the topic of the upcoming Diaz–Silva mega-bout.

"To tell you the truth, I would maybe favor Diaz if the fight had been at a catchweight. If it is a five-round, Diaz is a very durable fighter. I have seen him in a lot of trouble and he is very, very hard to finish," Diaz told Sonnen during the interview.

The comments are well founded as St-Pierre is well-versed with the fighting style of the Diaz. He has a long standing rivalry with the fighter that was only finished when he defeated the latter in convincing fashion last March 2013. St-Pierre himself has long been in the discussions for a super fight with Silva but that never came into fruition due to some politics, schedule difficulties and injuries that derailed both of the fighters' careers.

While St-Pierre has a chance against Silva, he thinks his former opponent is way over his head. Both Diaz and Silva are better strikers and prefer a face up game that is why St-Pierre pummeled Diaz during UFC 158. The Canadian implored a wrestling heavy strategy that lent the striking power of Diaz ineffective. The take downs never got Diaz into any rhythm and eventually led to his demise. The case will not be the same in the Silva fight yet, St-Pierre is accounting for the move up in the weight class as more of a disadvantage for Diaz.

Nevertheless, he is intrigued by the prospect of UFC 183. The fighter known as Rush declared that if Diaz could survive the early barrage of the Spider, he will have a better chance as the fight wears on. He also conveyed that Diaz' trash talking techniques are effective and can put the opposing fighter into different mindset and fall into the trap of Diaz. He added that the crowding style of Diaz would be permanently effective in the latter rounds as it can make an opponent claustrophobic and expend a lot of energy in evading the lunges forward.