BACK ON! Nick Diaz vs. Katsuya Inoue @ DREAM 3 - Fight Forum - MMA - UFC - Boxing - K1

Pitbull · 05-02-2008, 10:52 AM

Courtesy of Nick Diaz vs. Inoue Katsuya DREAM 3 fight booked

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Former UFC star and current Elite XC lightweight, Nick Diaz (15-7), will travel overseas to take on Inoue Katsuya (16-5-3) during the DREAM 3 event at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on May 11.

This latest announcement gives the fighters just about 10 days to prepare for the showdown; however there’s no telling how long both of them have known about the fight. In fact, Diaz was in talks to take on Brazilian jiu-jitsu stud Marcelo Garcia on this same card prior to this most recent news.

Inoue is a Japanese fighter who has spent most of his time competing in the Pancrase organization. In more than 20 professional bouts he has never submitted an opponent or been submitted himself. That could all change; however, if Diaz decides to leverage his strengths.

Sometimes he just doesn’t do that.

DREAM 3 will feature the second round of the 2008 Lightweight Grand Prix tournament, as well as the return of Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Should be a nice card. DREAM 3 will air LIVE on the HDNet network at 3 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 11.

T-Bone · 05-02-2008, 11:07 AM

Good find, Pitbull.

Nick in Japan fighting for DREAM May 11th.

Nick in Hawaii fighting for EliteXC June 14th.

Rumbin · 05-02-2008, 11:43 AM

**** YEAH!!!

This card is awesome and now even more awesome. I hope Manhoef is still a go but I doubt it after that whooping he took last week.

Gygax · 05-02-2008, 11:44 AM

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Originally Posted by T-Bone

Good find, Pitbull.

Nick in Japan fighting for DREAM May 11th.

Nick in Hawaii fighting for EliteXC June 14th.

Lots to think about here.

First off, good for Nick for wanting to get back into action. But as always with the Japanese promotions, I'll take a wait and see approach. Its very odd that he's now scheduled on the Dream website, yet no mention of this fight on GracieFighter.com, his team's own website that loves to break news like this. Is it true, or is this another case like Frank Trigg from a few weeks ago?

The Jake Shields-Drew Fickett fight scheduled for that June 14th show was delayed again due to an injury to Fickett. It would not surprise me at all to see Diaz, a teammate of Shields, to pull out as well. In fact, it would make sense since EliteXC is already scrambling to fill up their card for the July 26th show which will be their second on CBS. EXC's talent pool of big (or potentially big) stars is small and they are placing a bunch of them on that initial May 31st show. We could see both Shields and Diaz on that July 26th card.

Thus, it would make sense for Diaz to look for a warmup fight in Dream to shake off the ring rust before fighting on that July CBS card.

Just some thoughts.

T-Bone · 05-02-2008, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gygax

Lots to think about here.

First off, good for Nick for wanting to get back into action. But as always with the Japanese promotions, I'll take a wait and see approach. Its very odd that he's now scheduled on the Dream website, yet no mention of this fight on GracieFighter.com, his team's own website that loves to break news like this. Is it true, or is this another case like Frank Trigg from a few weeks ago?

The Jake Shields-Drew Fickett fight scheduled for that June 14th show was delayed again due to an injury to Fickett. It would not surprise me at all to see Diaz, a teammate of Shields, to pull out as well. In fact, it would make sense since EliteXC is already scrambling to fill up their card for the July 26th show which will be their second on CBS. EXC's talent pool of big (or potentially big) stars is small and they are placing a bunch of them on that initial May 31st show. We could see both Shields and Diaz on that July 26th card.

Thus, it would make sense for Diaz to look for a warmup fight in Dream to shake off the ring rust before fighting on that July CBS card.

Just some thoughts.

Maybe you should we rename the EliteXC forum "Rumor: EliteXC"

Gygax · 05-02-2008, 02:13 PM

Some of the more reputable Japanese MMA sites are saying this fight between Diaz and Inoue is an elimination fight for the Dream Welterweight title. The winner is penciled in to take on Mach Sakurai for the title in the mid to late summer.

Rumbin · 05-02-2008, 02:35 PM

Diaz Vs Mach!?!?!?!?!?!

AikaImmortal · 05-02-2008, 03:45 PM

Sakurai is around 168lbs right now, fighting in Shooto against David Baron. Shooto is already looking to plan an Aoki/Sakurai match for the title but I see it taking place in DREAM.

AikaImmortal · 05-05-2008, 01:06 AM

...and Baron beat Sakurai, so no idea if they will try to give him a title to defend in DREAM or not.

T-Bone · 05-06-2008, 10:32 AM

Here we go again...WTF is going on?

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Another fight involving Nick Diaz has reportedly been canceled.

A planned bout between Diaz and Katsuya Inoue that had been scheduled for Sunday’s DREAM.3 card has been canceled, according to a report by Josh Gross of SI.com.

News of the possible cancellation first surfaced Monday night at the website GracieFighter.com, which is owned and operated by Diaz’s trainer, Cesar Gracie.

According to Gross, EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw phoned Gracie Tuesday morning to inform him that a decision had been made to pull Diaz from DREAM’s show.

Diaz had originally been scheduled to fight for DREAM during its second show on April 29 after DREAM officials and Diaz’s camp had obstained consent from EliteXC. However, reports indicate that Diaz’s appearance was pushed back to the promotion’s May 11 card without proper consent from EliteXC.

According to Gross’ report, Shaw apparently didn’t find out Diaz was set to fight at DREAM.3 until reading an Internet report two days ago.

A contractual issue arose with DREAM’s decision to re-schedule Diaz because he’s also set to fight Muhsin Corbbrey during EliteXC’s June 14 show in Honolulu, Hawaii. The card is scheduled to be shown on premium-cable network Showtime, which reportedly has a policy that fighters cannot compete within 30 days of a fight scheduled on its network.

Gross first reported on the situation during his Monday column, with Gracie indicating that Diaz would likely be allowed to compete for DREAM, but that his scheduled fight for EliteXC in June 14 was the one that was in jeopardy.

“Gary Shaw is going to honor the agreement that one of his underlings made, even though they didn’t pass it by him,” Gross quoted Gracie as saying. “He would have never agreed to it. [That] is what he told me, because it was too close to June 14. Right now, the fight that’s in jeopardy is the June 14 Hawaii fight.”

The news of Diaz’s removal from the card could come as a complete surprise to DREAM, as FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned that a U.S.-based freelance cameraman had been hired on DREAM’s behalf to fly to San Francisco on Monday to record promotional footage of Diaz.

Five Ounces of Pain | Report: Diaz off of DREAM’s show this Sunday

Pitbull · 05-06-2008, 12:49 PM

Sucks!!!

takeAnap · 05-06-2008, 04:00 PM

Well that really sucks!

dsver1 · 05-07-2008, 04:19 PM

more drama!

Five Ounces of Pain | Report: Diaz possibly back on DREAM 3 card

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Report: Diaz possibly back on DREAM 3 card
By: Adam Morgan

Cesar Gracie called in and talked to T.J. Desantis on the Sherdog Radio Network this afternoon and said that Nick Diaz may be back on the DREAM 3 card against Katsuya Inoue. According to DeSantis, Gracie had just spoken with a representative from EliteXC who greenlit the fight to take place at DREAM 3.

Unfortunately, however, Gracie told DeSantis that Diaz has gained back a bunch of the weight that he had lost in preparation for the bout and wouldn’t be able to make the weight for the fight. DeSantis said that Gracie was going to talk to representatives from the DREAM organization as soon as possible to see if the fight could take place at a catch weight of 175 lbs.

T-Bone · 05-08-2008, 12:00 PM

what is going on here

Pitbull · 05-08-2008, 12:19 PM

I think it's back on...I think!!!

T-Bone · 05-08-2008, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pitbull

I think it's back on...I think!!!

Crazy stuff...

vbookie event...Will Diaz fight in Dream?

dsver1 · 05-08-2008, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T-Bone

Crazy stuff...

vbookie event...Will Diaz fight in Dream?

...and how much will he weigh?

Gygax · 05-08-2008, 02:46 PM

I read something pretty funny. The big issue with the fight going back on was the weight he had re-gained and whether they could fight at a catch weight. It was canceled on Tuesday morning according to Cesar Gracie, then back on as of late yesterday. Really, how much weight could he have put on? But someone wrote how a side effect of his ADD "medication" is the munchies and I cracked up.

He's fighting at 170 when his last 3 fights were at 160. His next EliteXC fight in 5 weeks will be at 160. This weight cut should not be a problem, but now you have a built in excuse if things don't go well in Japan. That sucks.

AikaImmortal · 05-08-2008, 03:07 PM

Cutting 10lbs isnt that difficult if you are a professional athlete.. its not like hes cutting down from 205 to 170, ya know?

Gygax · 05-08-2008, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AikaImmortal

Cutting 10lbs isnt that difficult if you are a professional athlete.. its not like hes cutting down from 205 to 170, ya know?

Exactly, which is why he now unfortunately has a built in excuse.