Nick Diaz: If Georges St. Pierre would have asked to fight me, I wouldn't have had to call him out

A lot of mixed martial arts fans had a problem with the way Nick Diaz, egged on by his coach and manager Cesar Gracie, called out reigning welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.

Flashback to UFC 137 on Oct. 29, 2011, when Diaz secured a dominant three round unanimous decision win over former division champion B.J. Penn. In his post fight interview with color commentator Joe Rogan, a victorious Diaz declared, "He's scared."

Right after Gracie shouted "Call that (expletive) out!"

While the tried-and-true call-out is the quickest and easiest way to land a title shot (see Sonnen, Chael), it did nothing to help Diaz overcome the bad-boy reputation he's earned throughout his career.

But as the wily Stockton slugger explains to Fight Hype, he wouldn't have had to call St. Pierre out, if "Rush" would have simply asked for the fight.

"I had to come out and do what I had to do and fight, and come out all dramatic and act up, and next thing you know, I got a fight, so I'm sure he can't blame me for that. That fight is important anyway because that's the fight that people want to see because I beat all of these important people. I have three Strikeforce belts. If I was him, I would be asking to fight me. If he would have automatically asked for it, then we wouldn't be in this situation he's in where he's not saying nothing. He should have said, 'This is who I want to fight.' It's not about being a challenger; it's about who is champion at the weight. I'm holding three titles, you know? And I got that DREAM champion too, so you can make that four. It's just as important as anything else and I know I would want to fight another champion before I would want to fight a high contender. Even if I know that high contender is better than the champion, I would still want to fight the champion because he's considered the best guy. That's the route I would have took."

Diaz will get his shot at the 170-pound title when he locks up with St. Pierre at UFC 143 on Feb. 4, 2012 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Anyone have a problem with the way Diaz earned his crack at the crown? Was it St. Pierre's job to ask for this fight? Or Joe Silva's?

What say you?