nick diaz v frank shamrock in april

really!?!??! and they dont say at what weight?

i HOPE its at 170.....


link

It hasn't been decided yet. I'm thinking catch weight, maybe 175.

i know a lot of poeple will hate this match up but im loving it.
its gonna be hella entertaining. you never woulda guessed these 2 would be one of the first confirmed fighgts for strikeforce

this will be a fun fight to watch lots of trash talking

Awesome! These two will build some serious hype for this one. It's going to be a great momentum builder for Strikeforce! I am going to have to go back and watch a bunch of Frank's old fights but my initial gut reaction is that Diaz will take this one if it's at 170....if it is a catch at above 170 Shamrock's odds get a lot better.

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Posted by hindsightufuk

i know a lot of poeple will hate this match up but im loving it.
its gonna be hella entertaining. you never woulda guessed these 2 would be one of the first confirmed fighgts for strikeforce

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i love this matchup, i watch mma for many reasons, but mostly for the entertainment factor....so irregardless of winner, this is gonna be an awesome fight.....frank definitly has a size advantage...striking i give to diaz, i really like his boxing and hes got a chin....shamrock, ive never really been impressed by his standup to tell ya thruth, he came up in a time were he was one of the few "complete packages" so i think that helped his standup look better when opponents had more than that to worry about....granted he picked apart baroni, but who hasnt lately?.......i might give shamrock the edge in the one punch area, given his size advantage, but he tends to throw arm punches and combos, which will work against some, but not really against diazs style of punches in your face bunches relentless attack.......wrestling neither have much skill in the deparment, but advantage goes to shamrock given the size.....submissions id give to diaz without a doubt, guy is a master on the ground, he just loves to box so we dont see much of it.....shamrocks grappling is, at the current state of the game, now textbook......in the end tho, i see shamrock pulling off a decison win, he might just prove to be too big for diaz

According to Weekly's article, which confirms the fight (and it'll be the Main Event), the catch weight is likely going to be around 180.

Edit: 179.

This cards really starting to come together...

I think it's a little bit of a mismatch, but can't help but be interested in a Shamrock vs Diaz fight... Just think Frank's too big...

If they can get Noons to fight Thompson, that would be a real boost...

And Melendez vs either Ishida or Gurgel sounds great to me

Add Smith vs Radach (the much needed "loser-eats-soup-for-a-month" fight)

And this card is looking really impressive... Maybe even a little Baroni at WW too...

Not bad, especially considering that they aren't even going to have their biggest asset, Cung Le, in the lineup... Things are looking good for Strikeforce

I'd love for them to add Cung vs Lawler

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Posted by cmill21

I'd love for them to add Cung vs Lawler

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Ooooohh me too!

But wait, isn't Le still making movies......

Shame

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Posted by cmill21

I'd love for them to add Cung vs Lawler

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SF has confirmed Le won't be on the 4/11 card. Elbow injury that's keeping him out of training for now. But he will be back later this year, SF expects 2 fights out of him this year, one of which likely will be a Frank Shamrock rematch.

I like it. I'm going with Diaz. He is a scrapper with the jits skills.

Here's another interesting storyline behind this fight: It's a chance for Diaz to get revenge against Frank for his trainer, Cesar Gracie.

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When Nick Diaz takes on Frank Shamrock in the main event of the new-look Strikeforce debut show on April 11 in San Jose, California, for him there will be more on the line than just another notch in the win column.

He’ll also be fighting to avenge a brutal 21-second knockout loss Shamrock delivered to the Stockton native’s mentor and trainer Cesar Gracie in front of, at the time, the largest live audience to witness a mixed martial arts event in North America with 18,265 fans in attendance.

That fight remains Cesar Gracie’s one and only professional MMA match.

During a conference call today to promote the April 11 event, Frank Shamrock talked a little bit about the back story. Here’s a snip:

“I know for a fact he said some words when I knocked out his coach Cesar. And he said some words afterward that got him into this fight. We’re going to fight. I don’t care about Nick. He’s a nice guy, and I’m going to knock him out, and then I’ll go on to the next one.”

Some of those words in question also came following Shamrock’s dismantling of Phil Baroni back in June of 2007, when a far from impressed Diaz told Gracie Fighter that he would ‘Whoop Frank’s ass.’

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker also talked about how the history between Gracie and Shamrock played into the match making and how the weight issue didn’t cause any hesitation because Diaz was set to compete as a welterweight for Strikeforce anyway. Here’s more:

“I talked to Cesar Gracie and he said look, ‘We can’t make that weight anymore so we want to fight at 170.’ As you know, Frank is in the 185 weight class, so you know putting those two to fight together just made sense to me because of the history behind the Gracies and the Shamrocks. I thought it was a compelling story, and it would be a fantastic match-up because of the styles.”

Clearly there’s a compelling storyline here with the Cesar Gracie vs. Frank Shamrock background, but the size difference makes this match-up interesting as well.

Even though Diaz competed as a welterweight in the early part of his career, he fought as a lightweight under the EliteXC banner. In fact, many believe the promotion bumped the division limit up to 160 pounds, instead of the standard 155 pounds, so that Diaz could make the weight cut.

His trainer admits that he can’t make the cut down to 155 pounds anymore, and that was never more evident then when he failed to make even the 160 pound limit for his EliteXC match with Muhsin Corbbrey last June, missing his mark by nine pounds.

There were questions when Strikeforce purchased his contract last week about which weight class he would be competing in. We now know that he’ll move forward as a welterweight with Strikeforce after this fight with Shamrock, which will be contested at a catchweight of 179 pounds.

There has never been a welterweight champion in Strikeforce. The 170 pound title is vacant.

At least for now.

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http://mmamania.com/2009/02/10/nick-diaz-rekindles-shamrock-vs-gracie-rivalry-with-april-11-strikeforce-bout/

The one thing I hope for is that, regardless of the outcome, Frank shows no disrespect towards the Gracies. It's still too soon after Master Helio's passing for that.

Also, according to Sherdog, Diaz will be fighting at Welterweight (170) after this fight.

I can see why some people wouldn't like this match up. Seems kind of random to me. Diaz used to fight at 160 and Shamrock at 205 .

That said, I think this fight will be pretty good. I like the back story with Cesar Gracie and everything and both are usually pretty entertaining fighters. On top of that, you know with these two the trash talking in this fight is going to be ridiculous

I think Diaz will take it by a close decision. His star is still rising, while I think Shamrock is getting close to the end of his career.

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And Melendez vs either Ishida or Gurgel sounds great to me

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Your kidding me right? Gurgel? Why does he deserve to fight Melendez? The guy couldnt beat anyone in his last 4 fights vs avg fighters in the UFC, now he is to get a shot vs a solid Melendez? No way.

Rematch for Melendez vs Ishida is needed, Melendez got screwed in the last decision. Rematch needed.


Diaz vs Shamrock will be amazing, and the smack talk during the fight should be just as good as the fight. Two guys with the same ego's should be entertaining. Either way, I see Diaz winning via TKO.

This fight is going to be awesome.

a catch weight of 178 i think it was or maybe 176.

Unlike everyone else I like Frank and Nick, am looking forward to this and indeed the trash talk will be lengendary, either way this will go to a decision. I dont really understand the idea behind this match other than marketability, kinda like I dont understand Rich vs Wand at catchweight, still excited for both though. Strikeforce is lookin' good and I always knew that buying EliteXC would be their only way to survive and everyone will benefit from that.

This sherdog article I just read says the fight will be at a catch weight of 195 pounds! That can't be right.

No way its 195.

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Posted by higdon10

No way its 195.

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its at a catchweight of 179lbs

cant wait the **** talk leading up to this fight should be great