It's one of the best fights of the year, but if you're a casual fan, you may not be familiar with the skills of Nick Diaz and KJ Noons. And more importantly the history between the two fighters. They're fighting under Strikeforce, which is already fighting an uphill climb. So when Diaz bails on a teleconference for next weekend's fight, it's got to eat away at Showtime and Strikeforce.
Diaz never called in, but his trainer and manager Cesar Gracie did. Then he offered up a weak excuse.
"Nick doesn't really do the conference call with the guy he's fighting thing. He just never has. It's just not in his psyche. He's too busy training to be on the phone and everything like that right now," said Gracie.
Really? He's too busy to pop on the phone for an hour to sell the fight and potentially boost Strikeforce and Showtime?
"He just doesn’t operate in that mindset of, ‘This is a sport, and we’re going to talk about it.’ It gets to the point where you’re making up some kind of rivalry, and it’s a fake thing. With Nick, it’s not a fake thing. That’s how the Diaz brothers are. Their mindset is that they’re going into battle, and you wouldn’t fight a friend. That’s what makes Nick exciting," said Gracie.
Diaz (22-7) is exciting, but his actions are also stupid and counterproductive. It's also why he's not fighting for the top promotion in the world, the UFC. Dana White admires Diaz but said last year that he can't bring him back because "Diaz won't play the game."
The Diaz no-show especially irked his opponent, KJ Noons, who fulfilled his job duties and promoted the fight with the various websites on the call.
“That’s pretty unprofessional," said Noons. "Like I said I can't stand the guy, but I like to watch the guy fight. I like to watch his brother fight. From different people, I've heard he's a really nice guy. I believe I'm a nice guy ... but when he pulls [expletive] like this, doesn't show up on a conference call, it's [expletive] hard to like a guy like that. Or he punks off. You just want to slap this [expletive] sometimes."
The matchup has a tremendous back story but for folks new to MMA, the first fight back in 2007, is like ancient history. Noons, with just five fights under his belt, pulled the upset on Diaz when they were fighting under the EliteXC banner. Then, after at fight card seven months later, Diaz rushed the cage after a Noons' win and nearly started a riot.
Since then, Diaz has won seven straight, but he's also shirked media responsibilities and blew off a California prefight drug test last August, which prompted Ken Hershman, Showtime's VP of Sports, to go off on the fighter.
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