Scott Coker: Nick Diaz vs Jay Hieron Strikeforce title fight ‘before the end of the year’http://mmamania.com/2009/08/16/scott-co ... -the-year/ “We had a conversation with Cesar Gracie about the Nick Diaz situation, so I feel very comfortable Nick will be back shortly. I think he’s going to meet with the athletic commission, get that all worked out, and hopefully we’ll see Nick back here before the end of the year. Jay Hieron came here to fight Nick Diaz, so we will put that fight together.”
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker hasn’t let the drug testing fiasco deter him for moving forward with a championship bout between Nick Diaz and Jay Hieron, indicating during last night’s “Carano vs. Cyborg” post-fight press conference that he will green light the welterweight title fight just as soon as Diaz obtains his license to fight from the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC). Diaz failed to report for his mandatory pre-fight drug test the week before the Aug. 15 event and was not cleared to compete; however, his camp is currently working with the CSAC to get the controversial star a license in time to fight by year’s end. Fortunately Jay Hieron held up his end of the bargain by defeating Diaz’ replacement, Jesse “JT Money” Taylor at Saturday’s Showtime event.