By Ray Hui
- Editor
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Strikeforce welterweight champion
Nick Diaz will put his belt on the line for the first time in a rematch against
KJ Noons at Strikeforce: San Jose on Oct. 9 at the HP Pavilion, Strikeforce confirmed Wednesday to MMAFighting.com.
Noons, who defeated Jorge Gurgel last Saturday, will move up to welterweight for this championship bout with Diaz. Noons has been competing mostly at lightweight or around 160 pounds and this past weekend missed weight for the Gurgel fight scheduled for 155 pounds, stepping off the scale at 156.25 pounds.
Noons and Diaz met four years ago in a Showtime-televised fight also with title stakes for EliteXC in Corpus Christi, Texas. Noons emerged the 160-pound champion after stopping Diaz after one round due to cuts. Diaz has since undergone surgery to remove scar tissue in an effort to reduce the chances of cuts on his face during a fight.
Diaz (22-7) has not tasted defeat since the first Noons fight and is currently on a seven-fight win streak. Diaz captured the Strikeforce title earlier this year against Dream welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis. In May, Diaz traveled to Japan and submitted Hayato "Mach" Sakurai with a first-round armbar.
Noons (10-2) has a win streak of his own at six fights and is coming off Strikeforce wins this summer against Conor Heun and Jorge Gurgel.
By promoting Diaz vs. Noons, Strikeforce has decided, for better or for worse, not to capitalize on
Diaz's feud with Jason "Mayhem" Miller which escalated to a brawl on Strikeforce's second live CBS broadcast in April.
Another championship bout on the Oct. 9 card will be 135-pound champion Sarah Kaufman making a title defense against Marloes Coenen. Also confirmed for the card is 2000 Olympian Matt Lindland taking on prospect Luke Rockhold in a middleweight showdown.
Tickets were made available Wednesday morning for newsletter subscribers. Strikeforce: San Jose will be televised live on Showtime at 10 PM ET.
Read More: kj noons, strikeforcesanjose, strikeforce san jose, news, Nick Diaz (MMA)
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