Report: Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny at July 26 EliteXC-CBS

[Bubbles]

EliteXC lightweight Nick Diaz (17-7) will meet former King of the Cage champion Thomas Denny (26-16) at the next EliteXC-CBS "Saturday Night Fights" event, which takes place July 26 at Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif.

Sherdog.com is reporting that bout agreements should be signed today.

EliteXC had planned for Diaz to rematch lightweight champ KJ Noons in his next bout later this year, but with the organization heading to Diaz's hometown, plans apparently changed.

Diaz recently pulled out of a July 21 DREAM.5 welterweight title fight with Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, reportedly at the urging of EliteXC officials, who wanted Diaz a part of the Stockton card.

A month after defeating Katsuya Inoue to earn the DREAM title shot, Diaz (17-7) returned to EliteXC and defeated Muhsin Corbbrey. The victory, which took place earlier this month at "EliteXC: Return of the King," preceded an in-ring scuffle with Noons' camp when the rematch was announced.

However, instead of Noons, Diaz will meet Denny, a longtime KOTC fighter with a strong following in California. Denny has won four out of his past five fights, which included a victory (via disqualification) over Malaipet Team Diamond in the main event of a March ShoXC event.

"EliteXC: Unfinished Business" will feature a headline bout between EliteXC middleweight champ Robbie Lawler (15-4) and Scott Smith (13-4). Jake Shields (20-4-1) and Nick Thompson (36-9-1) are also expected to fight for the first-ever EliteXC welterweight title.



Report: Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny at July 26 EliteXC-CBS | MMAjunkie.com

[Healzyou]

Denny, don't be scared, homie.

[ninjastix]

Anyone have a source for why the fight was scrapped is it all "hush hush"?

What better place to have Noons vs Diaz than Stockton? Noons just got to fight a Hawaii so fair is fair...

[hunterkiller]

So it's okay for Noons to fight for the title in front of his home town but Diaz can't fight for it in his? Or does it have more to do with him not making weight in the last fight?

[Clint]

Before the last event on CBS EXC required all of the fighters to sign long term contracts. It's possible that Noons refused to sign a contract extension and they pulled the fight

[bega]

In any case pulling Diaz out of bout with Sakurai and have him fight Danny is not good move.

[thumper]

Originally Posted by Clint

Before the last event on CBS EXC required all of the fighters to sign long term contracts. It's possible that Noons refused to sign a contract extension and they pulled the fight

Wow I didn't know this. I certainly believe it coming from you though. You could easily be right about them pulling the fight due to that.

[hunterkiller]

Originally Posted by bega

In any case pulling Diaz out of bout with Sakurai and have him fight Danny is not good move.

They must have gave him some sort of incentive because the fight with Sakurai was for a title wasn't it?

[Clint]

Originally Posted by thumper

Wow I didn't know this. I certainly believe it coming from you though. You could easily be right about them pulling the fight due to that.

If I remember correctly I think they wanted noons to fight on the first show and his management said no to the contract extension (I know someone refused the extension and I think it was Noons)

My question is why refuse to sign an extension in return for fighting on fucking CBS? It will pay off in the long run.

[jhell]

That's like downgrading from a Harley to a moped, and no Drew Fickett. What a disappointment.