Post subject: DIAZ VS. ZAROMSKIS FOR STRIKEFORCE 170-LBS BELT
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:05 am
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Strikeforce: Miami now has a main event.
MMAWeekly.com has learned that Nick Diaz and Marius Zaromskis have verbally agreed to a welterweight battle in the Jan. 30 event’s top slot, set for the BankAtlantic Arena in Sunrise, Fla. The two will fight for the promotion’s vacant welterweight belt.
An announcement of the match-up is expected for the Showtime telecast of Strikeforce: Evolution on Saturday evening in San Jose, Calif., according to sources close to the situation.
Diaz (20-7) has not fought for Strikeforce since June when he choked out Scott Smith at Lawler vs. Shields in June at a 180-pound catchweight. He was scheduled to fight Jay Hieron for the welterweight title at Carano vs. Cyborg, but was scratched when he failed to appear for a pre-fight drug test mandated by the California State Athletic Commission.
Zaromskis (16-3) signed a multi-fight contract with Strikeforce in October after turning heads at Dream’s Welterweight Grand Prix, where he won the Japanese promotion’s lightweight belt with two straight head kick knockouts. Days before signing, the 29-year-old took but 12 seconds to notch another head kick knockout at Dream 12.
Diaz, 26, has long been an outspoken advocate of marijuana and apathetic about a recent CSAC memo that said fighters with medical permission to use weren’t exempted from commission standards on illicit drugs.
In an interview with MMAWeekly.com last month, Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, said he hoped Diaz wouldn’t test the commission’s boundary, but shrugged at ordering him to stop.
“Obviously, I’d love to have Nick fight in California,” said Gracie. “It’s right here in my home state. It’s not Virginia or something where Nathan (Diaz) is fighting. It’d be great if Nick could quit smoking all together, if he could do that, but if he doesn’t, he doesn’t.”
The Florida State Boxing Commission, which oversees mixed martial arts in the Sunshine State, prohibits performance enhancer and narcotic use, but does not have any bylaws addressing “compassionate use,” nor does it require a pre-fight test for “drugs of abuse,” a label which marijuana often falls under with athletic commissions.
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After months of waiting for his chance to compete again, Nick Diaz will finally get that opportunity on Jan. 30. This time it will be with the Strikeforce welterweight title on the line, as he faces Dream champion Marius Zaromskis in Sunrise, Fla. To hear Diaz tell it though, it's never mattered much to him who he fights as long as he's fighting.
Speaking to the media at the Strikeforce post-fight press conference on Saturday night, Diaz commented that he was happy to get the fight and considers it an important fight at that.
"I'm just interested in fighting the better fight that's put in front of me," Diaz said. "I've got a manager and he makes a lot of decisions and I'll train up and fight whoever I'm going to fight."
Taking a shot at a major championship for the first time since his loss to K.J. Noons for the now defunct EliteXC’s lightweight title, Diaz believes that he's a smarter fighter now that he fully understands the game. He's ready to show that on Jan. 30.
"When I started fighting in the UFC I didn't really understand. I mean I understood wrestling, but I didn't really understand scoring," Diaz commented. "I was going in there trying to do more damage. It was kind of crazy really, and then I realized in two or three fights that these guys are going in there trying to win like a certain way, and I didn't realize it. I didn't have the fundamentals that I do now to try and win on scorecards."
It was those fundamentals and understanding how to go about winning a fight and not just beating up his opponent that led Diaz to his current fight strategy, and a current five-fight winning streak.
"I became a little more conscience of what not to do and try not to commit to too many punches and not get taken down and lose the whole round over something stupid," he said.
While Diaz admitted that he thought it was "weird" that a fighter he defeated in Scott Smith got a shot at Cung Le instead of him, he's still ultimately happy with the chance to face Zaromskis for the Strikeforce belt.
"I'm just happy to be fighting someone important like this, the Dream champion," Diaz stated.
Nick Diaz will face Marius Zaromskis in the main event of Strikeforce: Miami set for Jan. 30 in Sunrise, Fla.
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