Nick Diaz Out of DREAM 5 Championship Fight

by Kid Nate on Jun 23, 2008 10:08 AM EDT in News Comment 5 comments

This news from Gracie Fighter seems to confirm previous reports that Nick Diaz will be fighting K.J. Noons for the Elite XC 160lb belt on July 26th:

Nick Diaz will not be fighting Mach Sakurai. At least not in the July Dream card, as EliteXC has decided to not let him fight due to "contractual obligations'. Apparently EliteXC has other plans for Diaz and the July date might conflict with their plans.

'I was happy to be fighting Sakurai and hoping to get back there to Japan where they have you fight in a ring and there seems to be more respect for the art of MMA. I hope they will still have me back soon to fight him (Sakurai) for the belt..'

This is exactly the sort of conflict that argues in favor of the UFC's hard-ass exclusive contract approach. Now DREAM's welterweight championship fight has been screwed twice. First by Hayato Sakurai fighting in Shooto and losing to David Baron and now by Diaz being forced to cancel due to commitments to EliteXC.

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Comments

Lame. the Sakurai fight is much more interesting than seeing Diaz try to strike with a much better striker again. Hope they get a good replacement for Sakurai to fight.

Noons by Diaz having the worst takedowns in the sport.

by SplitBreast on Jun 23, 2008 10:58 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, that’s a shame. I would much rather see Diaz fight in DREAM than EliteXC.

by AnonymousA on Jun 23, 2008 12:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I also would prefer the Dream fight, BUT, it is smart business for Diaz to be on CBS.

Is the non-exclusive contract stuff creating some problems? Yes. They need to find a way, that if a contract is signed, it is honored. This is rapidly becoming a problem and I hope they find a way to fix it before it becomes big.

Are the non-exclusive contracts the problem here? Not so much. I see the bigger problem being EXC’s lack of roster depth. If Noons doesn’t fight Diaz, who does he fight? i have been very disappointed in the EXC development of fighters. They have stopped signing guys as frequently and their ShoXC program has kind of gotten lost. They have some decent fighters at the top of their divisions, but when guys like Waterman are considered contenders, that is a huge problem.

It’s funny, that many of us bitched about how they ran the first EXCBS show, with a bunch of sluggers, and now they are actually putting some decent mma fighters on this card, and we still complain, lol.

EXC started out building a nice roster, but they have gotten sidetracked by this CBS deal, just looking to put on the quick fix ratings fights. Unfortunately, that won’t last, then where will they be? IMO, they are losing sight of the long term interest.

"They said you was hung!!"

"And they was RIGHT!"

by BJJDenver on Jun 23, 2008 3:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Seriously, can someone remind me why non-exclusive contracts are so great again?

Intentional Blog on Balls

by Richard Wade on Jun 23, 2008 3:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great concept, bad execution. I just hate that they can sign for a fight then easily back out. Damn, schedule Diaz/Noons on EXCBS 3 or something. It stinks they are fighting in Stockton anyhow.