https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2011/04/strikeforce-champ-nick-diaz-reworks-contract-eyes-boxing-bout-with-jeff-lacy
Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz reworks contract, eyes boxing bout with Jeff Lacy
April 14, 2011 10:30 pm ET
Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz is not retiring from MMA. But he sees a bleak future in his division, and his manager, Cesar Gracie, is angling for opportunities outside the sport if those within it are not of interest.
In fact, a trip to professional boxing is still on Gracie's radar, and he said he's working to book Diaz on a fight sometime in the fall, possibly against former IBF champion Jeff Lacy.
That could be a possibility now that Diaz has reworked his MMA contract.
"These guys get to the point in their career where they want the big fights," Gracie today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "That's what Jake Shields is wanting. That's what (Dan) Henderson wants. They don't have to prove themselves."
In a preview of a video interview released today by "Inside MMA," Gracie said the Diaz camp had "signed on the dotted line" for a boxing match with former champion Fernando Vargas, though that match very recently fell by the wayside.
"We were talking about Vargas, but the thing is, I just came under some information that Vargas apparently has some kind of medical issue where he's not able to pass the test any more, and he could be retiring," Gracie said. "Vargas was very interested, but unfortunately, if he can't pass the test, he can't pass the test."
That shifts the focus to a match with Lacy if Diaz's foray into pro boxing does materialize. Although Gracie said this past Thursday that Diaz won't sign a new contract bearing the name of Forza, the Zuffa-owned limited-liability company to which Strikeforce fighters will belong moving forward, the principle clauses of his previous contract with the California-based promotion have been worked into the new agreement.
"We didn't sign it," Gracie said of the proposed Forza deal.
But he did get Diaz's original deal amended.
"We got it changed, so we're good," Gracie said
That, Gracie said, clears the way for boxing.
This past December, Diaz signed a multi-fight agreement with Strikeforce, which Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker previously said contained a clause that allowed him a boxing fight (though the executive believed Showtime had the right to promote it).
Diaz, meanwhile, has often complained that the promotion isn't compensating him well enough and overloads his schedule. He has defended his Strikeforce title three times in the past six months.
Gracie said Diaz could be swayed back to MMA by a trip to middleweight, whether it be in Strikeforce or the UFC. He named UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva as someone for whom Diaz would drop everything to fight. He also mentioned UFC welterweight contender Thiago Alves as an interesting challenge.
Of course, Diaz long has coveted a shot at UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. But Gracie said there could be an insurmountable obstacle in the way of that challenge: his longtime training partner Shields, whom Diaz refused to fight. (St-Pierre and Diaz headline UFC 129 later this month, and Shields would get the title if victorious.)
"[Diaz] thinks Jake will probably beat GSP, so it kind of makes a moot point of him going up (to the UFC)," Gracie said. "(He's) just kind of not happy with the landscape. He's just weighing options right now."
In any event, Gracie said he's been working directly with UFC parent company Zuffa LLC on the direction of Diaz's career. He said he hasn't spoken to Coker, who sold Strikeforce to the UFC back in March, on recent developments.
"I don't even know how much in charge of things he is any more," Gracie said. "Ultimately, it's going to have to go through the UFC, so the only people to talk about it with would be them. What am I going to talk to Scott about? He doesn't own anything any more."
Coker did not respond to a request for comment.
What's clear is that a possible Strikeforce contender such as Tyron Woodley, who's been earmarked as Diaz's next challenger, does not pass muster. And though the champion has drawn universal praise for his recent performances and made a strong case in a post-buyout world for a shot at the UFC's best welterweights, Gracie said Diaz actually has been lagging.
"People think he's better now, but he was physically in better shape then," Gracie said. "He's winning now because he's figured the game out of how to finish people quicker – how to deal with people that just want to hug you. He's not fighting a lot of wrestlers, obviously.
"He's technically better than he ever was, but from a physical standpoint, he's not in the same shape. He's just not as motivated. We're just not seeing the best Nick Diaz out there, really. He's just kind of going through the motions. He's not training as hard as he used to. It's been a problem, really."
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