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.
Source: http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/tem ... 9&zoneid=2
