KJ Noons/Nick Diaz rematch announced!

[Buffalo Dave]

Source Sherdog

Welterweight champion Nick Diaz will have the opportunity to avenge his only loss in three years when he face K.J. Noons at Strikeforce “Diaz vs. Noons” on Oct. 9 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

Diaz went to blows with Noons, then EliteXC’s 160-pound champion, in November 2007, but the bout was stopped after the first round after Diaz’s face was sliced open with multiple cuts. Diaz has gone on a seven-fight victory spree since then, winning all but two of his bouts via strikes. In May, Diaz submitted Japanese legend Hayato Sakurai with an armbar at Dream 14 in Saitama, Japan.

Diaz is currently serving a three-month disciplinary suspension for his involvement in a post-fight, in-cage brawl that broke out following his teammate Jake Shields’ victory over Dan Henderson at Strikeforce “Nashville” on April 17 in Nashville, Tenn. That suspension will be completed in September.

Noons earned a commanding second-round technical knockout against Jorge Gurgel in a lightweight bout last week in Houston. The 27-year-old Noons, also an accomplished pro boxer, earned a split decision against Conor Heun in his promotional debut for Strikeforce on June 16 in Los Angeles.

Strikeforce “Diaz vs. Noons” will air live on Showtime.

These two have hatred towards each other. I can't wait for October to see this go down. Ever since the first fight Diaz has been on a tear crushing everything in his path. Noons hasn't fought as much as Diaz but has been taking care of business as well. I just hope this fight doesn't end by a doctor stoppage. I expect both fighters camp to be forewarned that nothing better happen after the fight, I read somewhere that their camps almost went at it at an event in Hawaii after Diaz confronted Noons. Plus Diaz well just be coming off suspension from the brawl with Miller after the Shields/Hendo fight.

For anyone like me who didn't see the first fight here is the video from it.


Man did Noons control that fight, He stuffed every takedown attempt by Diaz except for one, and the one right after the bell rung. Noons landed some hard shots to Diaz one that actually hurt him a little bit, but it didn't look like Diaz was in that much trouble. Nate did get off a couple little shots of his own. After watching that I'm really pumped for the rematch now. Like I said hopefully we see a better finish then a doctor stoppage. I would love to see a few rounds of this time around.

I was gonna put this in the news/tidbits thread, but decided this is a big enough match up to get it's own thread. So what are your thoughts on this?

 

[INDYjon22]

YEAH BOI!!!!!!!! This fight is way to long overdue. The first fight, while good, had far to much controversy surrounding it. This fight needed to happen back then, but it is good to see it finally happening. I really don't know why it hasn't happened sooner, and I know the whole "KJ Noons has been ducking Diaz" argument may come into play, but I don't think that's it. It ultimately doesn't matter cause it is going to happen now, of course as long as neither man get hurts before now and then. As for the fight itself, Nick Diaz should win this fight. Noons has great striking but Diaz has a knack for beating great strikers. Honestly, I see Diaz KO'ing Noons, which is hard for me considering I am a Noons fan. Oh well, it should be a great fight and hopefully after this fight Diaz will fight Mayhem, but that is another topic for another thread.

 

[Tha Wolfpac]

Well about time. As much as i don't like Diaz, he has been on quite a role. He has been ploughing through guys, and anybody that Strikeforce puts in his way, if Noons wins consider it an upset. This guys have a legit feud and i get the feeling Diaz wants it way more and just wants to pummel KJ. SO either way Diaz i expect you to win. i expect a slugfest for sure.

 

[INDYjon22]

Well about time. As much as i don't like Diaz, he has been on quite a role. He has been ploughing through guys, and anybody that Strikeforce puts in his way, if Noons wins consider it an upset. This guys have a legit feud and i get the feeling Diaz wants it way more and just wants to pummel KJ. SO either way Diaz i expect you to win. i expect a slugfest for sure.

Well, I don't know if I would go as far as calling it an upset seeing as KJ has already defeated Diaz once, but it would certainly be a huge win for Noons and his career from this point out. It will be curious to see if this fight will be for the Welterweight belt or not. Noons has been talking about moving up to 170 and I think it should be for the belt seeing as their last fight was over a belt.

 

[jmt225]

Man did Noons control that fight, He stuffed every takedown attempt by Diaz except for one, and the one right after the bell rung.

Yeah, but that takedown at the end of the round has always been proof to me that Diaz was about to take over the fight. He was figuring Noons out, and I would have bet everything I owned that Diaz would have dominated the fight from the 2nd Round on had the doctor didn't stop it.

Anyway, Diaz is going to kick Noons' ass. The last fight was at Lightweight, whereas this is at Welterweight, where Diaz is in much better shape to fight. Diaz is much slower and just drained at Lightweight, but at 170 he's perfectly fine, so Noons will get the absolute best from Diaz this time around. I certainly cannot wait for it.

I will say though that I am a tad disappointed that Mayhem Miller isn't Diaz's next opponent. Hopefully win or lose (99.9% sure will Diaz win though) Diaz will take on Mayhem after the Noons fight.

 

[M. Winters]

Should be an interesting fight. Noons boxing looked impeccable so I'm interested to see what Diaz decides to do strategy wise in this fight. I actually expect Noons to win again, despite all the hype behind Nick right now.

 

[Fizzy]

I would have loved to see Diaz completely smash Mayhem as his next fight because I hate that prick, but I guess this fight is just as good. This rematch needed to happen a few years ago, and I don't know why it is happening now instead of then. After seeing that fight I agree with JMT that Diaz would have came out and dominated the following rounds because he finally figured Noons out. Oh well I still think Diaz is going to beat Noons. There are a lot of different variables going into this fight than the last one.

The first different thing in this fight is it takes place at Welterweight and not at Lightweight. Diaz is such a different fighter at Welterweight than at Lightweight. He did not look healthy at Lightweight because of the weight cut. Welterweight is a much better weight class for Diaz than Lightweight. Another difference is that Diaz has fought the better competition since their last fight, and I believe he has improved more than Noons has since the fight. I believe this will be a completely different fight with Diaz coming out on top. Regardless though it will be an excellent fight.

 

[Goliath Uterus]

I love me some Diaz brothers, and this fight shouldn't dissapoint. While I do think Noons has a punchers chance, I'm pretty sure Nate can take that sucker down with ease. Like has been said, Nate is a much different (better) fighter as a welterweight. I predict Nate takes him down, and taps him out rather easily. After that I'm pretty sure it'll be Mayhem/Nate with Nate knocking the shit out of him. Sucks that this show is on Showtime though.