Music: {allcanada} GSP: I'm not champ anymore

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre doesn't like Nick Diaz. But that won't stop him from cheering on the Stockton, Calif., native on Saturday at UFC 143 as the latter takes on Carlos Condit in the main event for the interim welterweight title.

GSP will be cageside for the fight and says he will feel conflicted while watching Diaz and Condit compete.

"I respect Carlos Condit, but I want Diaz to win. It will be a weird feeling, sitting at the Mandalay Bay wanting Nick Diaz to win," St-Pierre told the UFC.

The Canadian was supposed to fight Diaz at UFC 137 but due to Diaz missing several media events, the bout was cancelled. GSP was then scheduled to fight Condit but it was postponed because GSP had to withdraw due to injury. Diaz ended up fighting and beating BJ Penn at UFC 137 and afterwards accused GSP of faking his injury.

That upset GSP so much that he asked UFC president Dana White to set up the fight with Diaz again instead of the one with Condit. White did as GSP asked -- and it was scheduled for this weekend's UFC 143 -- but the 30-year-old suffered another knee injury in December that required surgery.

"I have never asked Dana White for anything, but I did ask to fight Nick Diaz," St-Pierre said. "I was (crushed) when I had to pull out of this weekend's fight hurt, but I am determined to get back to the Octagon as soon as possible to fight this guy. He needs to hold up his part and beat Carlos Condit on Saturday to make this fight happen."

St-Pierre -- who recently began training again and could return to action in the fall, or even as early as the summer -- believes Diaz will be in tough against Condit, the last ever World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight champ.

"I am very nervous that Carlos Condit will win on Saturday night, and that I won't be able to fight Nick Diaz this summer," St-Pierre said.

"Carlos Condit is a very good fighter, he can strike, he is aggressive and he has submissions. He has been very impressive and is the type of fighter who gets better and better the more confident he gets … I am not personal friends with him but I know him a little and he's a great person.

"I know a lot of people who know him well because we train with the same people (at Greg Jackson's gym in Albuquerque, N.M.), but I have only spoken with him a few times. He is a true mixed martial artist. I feel bad, it is weird that I want him to lose, but I have never wanted to fight anyone as much as I want to fight Diaz."

White has said in interviews that GSP "hates" Diaz and that's why he wants to fight him. GSP said that's not entirely true, but does hate certain things he does.

"I don't truly hate him as a person. I don't know that he is a bad guy, but I hate what he brings to the sport with the disrespect and the unprofessional things he says and does. It is sort of a professional hatred," St-Pierre said.

"He has been nothing but disrespectful and arrogant towards me. During UFC 137 I felt like I had to walk around Las Vegas with my fists ready because every time I came across him he wanted to fight there and then. Every time the elevator opened (in the hotel) I needed to be ready to fight in case he stepped in. I was on edge all week. This guy is crazy."

GSP believes all the trash talk will motivate him if and when he meets Diaz.

"I am used to hearing (smack) talk from opponents, Matt Serra did it, Dan Hardy did it, and Josh Koscheck did it, but with Diaz he has taken it to another level. He and his coach (Cesar Gracie) have called me a coward and tried to disrespect my accomplishments," St-Pierre said.

"All that has done though is make me determined to beat him up. He will bring out the best in me, I will be 100 per cent focused, like a bomb-expert defusing a time bomb. When my back is against the wall and I have no choice but to win … that is when I am most dangerous.

Despite the fact most people don't give much thought to interim titles, St-Pierre feels the opposite.

"The way I see it, I am not the champion anymore on Saturday night," St-Pierre said. "I have not fought since April, against my will, but I understand the champion must fight. You have to put the belt on the line in order to call yourself champion, the best in the world. Right now I am not the best in the world, I am injured.

"The winner of this fight on Saturday will be more than just the new No. 1 contender, but he won't be the new champion either. The winner of this fight will have to beat me to become the true world champion and I will have to beat the winner of this fight in order to call myself the best in the world again."