Diaz vs Mayhem Jan 29th?

Cesar Gracie says that that is a possibility.

If trainer Cesar Gracie gets his way, Strikeforce welterweight champion and prized pupil Nick Diaz (23-7 MMA, 4-0 SF) finally will meet Jason "Mayhem" Miller (24-7 MMA, 1-1 SF) in early 2011.

The goal is for the fight to take place at a currently unannounced Jan. 29 Strikeforce event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

But as Gracie told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) on Monday, the champ won't move up a weight class to get the fight booked.

"I was talking to Strikeforce a little bit about it today," said Gracie, a finalist for "Trainer of the Year" in the 2010 World MMA Awards. "No opponent has been named or anything. But he's going to fight on that date, and hopefully Fedor (Emelianenko) will be part of it too. It could be a really exciting time."

What would make it even more exciting is Diaz vs. Miller. But Gracie said it's still a work in progress.

"That fight just hasn't been offered to us like in an official manner yet," he said. "I know 'Mayhem' goes on his websites and (says) Nick is ducking him and everything.

"It's kind of hard to duck someone when you haven't even been offered the fight. It's just 'Mayhem' talking about that. Until it's been offered, you can't say yes or no."

Gracie said he hadn't talked to Diaz about the fight but will in the next fight days. Besides, it hasn't even really been offered.

But Gracie said if it's a fight Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker wants, they'll take it. But it won't be in Miller's middleweight division.

"If that fight was offered, yeah, we'd probably take that fight," he said. "We'd just have to look at what weight class it's going to be in, and apparently, 'Mayhem' can't make 170. We're not going to accommodate going to 185. It doesn't really make that much sense to call someone out, and the champ has to ... go to your weight class."

Instead, Gracie prefers the fight to take place right in the middle – at 178 pounds, which is within a few pounds of where Diaz previously met Frank Shamrock and Scott Smith in Strikeforce catchweight bouts.

Currently, Diaz is training for marathons and keeping the weight off. And besides, though he's receptive to the bout, Gracie said Miller hasn't accomplished much in his recent bouts and really is in a win-win situation regardless of the outcome of a fight with Diaz, who's riding an eight-fight win streak.

"Being the champ of 'Bully Beatdown' doesn't really make you a contender," said Gracie, referring to Miller's MTV reality show. "It doesn't. If he were beating people that's important, yeah. But the champ doesn't need to move or down in weight because someone says, 'Don't be scared, homie.'"

The Diaz and Miller feud reached a boiling point back in April at the now-infamous "Strikeforce: Nashville" event. After teammate Jake Shields defeated Dan Henderson in the headliner, Miller, who picked up a win earlier in the night, entered the cage to demand a rematch with the then-middleweight champ.

The confrontation didn't go over well with Shields and his teammates, including Diaz, who soon were part of a wild in-cage melee that marred the CBS-televised event.

Diaz and Miller both have barked about a possible fight since then.

Can Mayhem even make it down to 178 without totally draining himself. I thought he had filled out to the point where he was a pretty huge MW

dont tease me

Should take place at MW

Should be a catchweight fight at 183 or 183 like Diaz's fights with Scott Smith and Shamrock imo

why the hell should it be 185? Diaz has never fought that high. Make it fair. Right in the middle - 178 or even 180. That's fair for both sides.

It should be 180 atleast

180 sounds fair imo.

Though with Diaz already having fought at 183, it's looks a little sketchy that he'd balk at that weight here.

So Gracie just wanted to say all of this just to make excuses for his boy and take a few jabs at Mayhem.

Mayhem could care less right now. He has already said he would fight for free, so I could see him agreeing to 178lbs and showing up at 200lbs and beating Nicks ass. I think it is so funny that Diaz fans think a guy should cut to 175-180lb from 200lbs instead of Diaz gaining 2-5 lbs and fighting at 185lbs. I mean Diaz fights at 170lbs and has to cut weight, so we know he is walking around at about 180lbs. Diaz, Gracie, and all of the Diaz fans need to grow some balls and stop with the nonsense.

oggy420 wrote:

why the hell should it be 185? Diaz has never fought that high. Make it fair. Right in the middle - 178 or even 180. That's fair for both sides.

Diaz has never fought THAT HIGH, LMAO Oggy! He hasn't fought THAT HIGH at 185lbs, but he did fight at 183lbs. I can see you are scared for your boy and making up excuses, but you shouldn't say such retarded statements. That is seriously laughable!

Mayhem will also receive fight bonuses...$2000 dollars for every submission in the 1st round and $5000 for Ko,TKO,ref stoppage! hahahaha

r3dman7630 wrote:

Mayhem will also receive fight bonuses...$1000 dollars for every submission in the 1st round and $5000 for Ko,TKO,ref stoppage! hahahaha

He is gonna get paid then.

i really don't think Mayhem is 200 pounds. Shields looked bigger than him. If they both want this fight than they both have to compromise. In the middle. Anywhere from 178-180 is fair for both. Mayhem has never had a hard time making weight at 185. 5 pounds won't kill him. And Nick doesn't cut a lot of weight to make 170. He's always training and doing triathlons so his weight is always down.

And look, Mayhem needs this fight more than Nick Diaz. Diaz can stay at ww and continue to beat whoever they throw at him. Mayhem on the other hand is stuck without an opponent worth a damn. The way i see it, Nick Diaz is doing Mayhem a favor by taking this fight at all. If it wasn't for the bad blood here this fight would really make no sense at all.

oggy420 wrote:

i really don't think Mayhem is 200 pounds. Shields looked bigger than him. If they both want this fight than they both have to compromise. In the middle. Anywhere from 178-180 is fair for both. Mayhem has never had a hard time making weight at 185. 5 pounds won't kill him. And Nick doesn't cut a lot of weight to make 170. He's always training and doing triathlons so his weight is always down.

And look, Mayhem needs this fight more than Nick Diaz. Diaz can stay at ww and continue to beat whoever they throw at him. Mayhem on the other hand is stuck without an opponent worth a damn. The way i see it, Nick Diaz is doing Mayhem a favor by taking this fight at all. If it wasn't for the bad blood here this fight would really make no sense at all.

FACT-Mayhem walks around at 205ish and cut from 205lbs to fight Jacare when they last fought.

Oggy, Mayhem doesn't need a fight with Nick at all. He can go fight scrubs in Japan and make a check. He isn't hurting for money anyways. He has a show that is kinda popular now that pays him more than what SF has paid Fedor to fight. Mayhem wants to fight Nick, but he doesn't need to fight him. Why don't you want to see this fight anyways after your boy has talked shit, and thrown water bottles, etc. I think you are scared for Nick. Serious!

Mayhem doesn't really need a fight with Diaz given that he's probably at most 1 fight away from a title shot

bobbitt15 wrote:

Mayhem doesn't really need a fight with Diaz given that he's probably at most 1 fight away from a title shot

Mayhem could snap his fingers and fight for the title right now. Dream or SF MW title.

oggy420 wrote:

i really don't think Mayhem is 200 pounds. Shields looked bigger than him. If they both want this fight than they both have to compromise. In the middle. Anywhere from 178-180 is fair for both. Mayhem has never had a hard time making weight at 185. 5 pounds won't kill him. And Nick doesn't cut a lot of weight to make 170. He's always training and doing triathlons so his weight is always down.

And look, Mayhem needs this fight more than Nick Diaz. Diaz can stay at ww and continue to beat whoever they throw at him. Mayhem on the other hand is stuck without an opponent worth a damn. The way i see it, Nick Diaz is doing Mayhem a favor by taking this fight at all. If it wasn't for the bad blood here this fight would really make no sense at all.

This is the biggest fight out there for both guys. Diaz could defend his belt: ie a title fight (vs some guys that are not ready, but whatever) while Mayhem could challenge Jacare, ie a title fight, but as far as a fight that brings juice to the arena and eyes to the set, Mayhem vs Diaz is where it is at.

Meeting in the middle at 178 is fair. Hopefully it happens.

Diaz should man up and fight at 183 like he has the last 2 times.


Its funny to see him cowarding out of a fight that he started.