Nick Diaz Loves K.J. Noons

Ben Fowlkes scores an interview with Nick Diaz, the elusive Strikeforce welterweight champ:

"This is my life," he says once the workout finally winds down. "It's everything I do, train eight-hour days every day. I train hard. This is...yeah, this is my life."

That, he says, is the source of his ill feelings toward Noons. Losing a fight that way, because of cuts, is not something he can just live with. A knockout loss would be easier. At least it would be a clear-cut defeat. But the stoppage on cuts, it robbed him of his chance to find out how the fight would have ended. Noons' subsequent efforts to avoid a rematch, in Diaz's eyes, only made it worse.

"The thing is, I'm not mad," Diaz says. "I never was. I was only mad that he was running and not going to fight me. That makes me angry. Like, you little b-tch. You're running around saying all this? I mean, do that all you want, but take the fight when they offer it. But now he's going to take the fight, so hey, I love that guy now."
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"Just let me take my a--whipping, if that's what it's going to be," he says. "You know? I can handle that. I just want a chance to go in there and see."

Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons 2 coverage