Any rumors that Nick Diaz may face KJ Noons at EliteXC’s next primetime event in July were quickly shot down today as Sherdog.com announced that Diaz’s opponent for the CBS show will instead be Thomas "Wildman" Denny. The two are expected to sign contracts for the bout on Tuesday.

As we reported on Sunday, Diaz was forced to withdrawal from his title fight with Sakurai at DREAM.5 in July. EliteXC made the move to ensure that Diaz was available for what will be only the second nationally televised MMA event in history.

EliteXC’s July 26th event titled "Unfinished Business" will take place in Nick’s hometown of Stockton, CA. The main event features a highly anticipated rematch between EliteXC middleweight champion, Robbie Lawler, and Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith.

GracieFighter.com also confirmed this week that Jake Shields will be fighting Nick Thompson for the first ever EliteXC welterweight title on the same night. It is a day that Shields has been looking forward to for a long time. Jake was originally scheduled to fight Drew Fickett for the title in March but he was forced to withdrawal due to a back injury he suffered in training. The bout was postponed until June 14 but once again is was called off. This time it was Fickett who was forced to pull out due to an injury.

The fight between Diaz and Wildman Denny has "scrap" written all over it. Both fighters are known for there in-cage antics and both will be fired up come fight time.

While a rematch between Noons and Diaz seems imminent, the two almost settled the score on their own terms following KJ’s post fight victory celebration at "Return of the King". After a brief exchange of words followed by a pair of middle fingers, KJ along with his dad Carl lunged at Nick and his brother Nate Diaz. Carl Noons, a former pro boxer, managed to grab Nick in a Muay Thai plum before the action was promptly halted.

Thomas Denny recently took on Muay Thai sensation, Malaipet MTA, at ShoXC’s Elite Challenger Series in March. After an extremely exciting first 4 minutes, the bout was unfortunately stopped after Malaipet landed some vicious elbows to the back of the head. Thomas Denny could not continue and therefore won the fight via disqualification.

Denny talked about his upcoming fight with Diaz.

"I think his antics are entertaining, but it will be more entertaining when I punch him in the face," said Denny. "I can’t wait to shock the world in his own backyard."

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Recently in the news for an ongoing feud with rival KJ Noons, Stockton Gracie fighter Nick Diaz, is officially out of his DREAM.5 title fight with Hayato "Mach" Sakurai.

According to GracieFighter.com, Diaz was forced to withdrawal from the bout due to "contractual obligations" he has with EliteXC. Apparently his fight in July interfered with EliteXC’s plans to have Diaz fight in their upcoming July event "Unfinished Business". The CBS event will be their second nationally televised event.

With plans to host the July 26th event in Nick’s hometown of Stockton, CA, and rumors of a possible rematch with KJ Noons surfacing, the events title "Unfinished Business" could become even more appropriate.

As of now the event features a rematch between the EliteXC middleweight champion, Robbie Lawler and Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith. This match up will give closure to their first meeting at EliteXC’s primetime debut which ended with a controversial stoppage. Other fighters appearing on the card include Jake Shields who will fight for the title, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, and Shayna Baszler.

While Diaz will not get the opportunity to fight Sakurai for the belt at DREAM.5, the possibility of a future fight for the title has not been ruled out. Nick talked about the possibility of a future meeting with "Mach".

"I was happy to be fighting Sakurai and hoping to get back there to Japan where they have you fight in a ring and there seems to be more respect for the art of MMA. I hope they will still have me back soon to fight him (Sakurai) for the belt."

Diaz earned his shot at the title back in May when he defeated Katsuya Inoue at DREAM.3. He devastated the Japanese fighter with strikes and finished him off with punches a little over half way through the first round. Nick returned to the cage earlier this month defeating Muhsin Corbbrey to earn his second title shot against his arch enemy, KJ Noons.

That same night, Noons defeated Yves Edwards in stunning fashion to retain his lightweight title. During KJ’s post fight celebration, Diaz along with his brother Nate entered the cage and complete chaos ensued. Even KJ’s dad, Carl Noons, got a piece of the action, grabbing Nick in a Muay Thai plum before being pulled off of him.

Since losing to Noons in their first fight due to cuts, Diaz has had surgery to repair his scar tissue and even had his ocular bone filed down to hopefully alleviate cutting so easily in the future. He even stated before his fight with Noons that the only way we would lose would be because of a cut.

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ProElite.com just announced that Nick Diaz will be back in the cage for the June 14 EliteXC event to take on Muhsin Corbbrey in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Joining Diaz on the card will be his friend and training partner, Jake Shields who will battle "The Master" Drew Fickett for the first ever EliteXC welterweight title.

Featured in the main event of the night will be a battle of the strikers as lightweight KJ Noons defends his belt against the experienced Yves Edwards. Noons earned the title of EliteXC lightweight champion after defeating Nick Diaz at EliteXC Renegade back in November of 2007. The fight ended in controversy when doctors called the fight due to cuts after only one round of battle.

This will be Diaz’s first fight since back since his loss to Noons. He will no doubt be looking to make a statement after such a devastating loss. 7-2 Muhsin Corbbrey is currently on a three fight winning streak and will be looking to make it four in a row. In his most recent bout he defeated Bobby McMaster via guillotine choke with only one second left in the round. One of his only two losses came at the hands of Jim Miller who is currently making waves in the IFL’s lightweight division recently defeating Bart Palaszewski via unanimous decision.

The EliteXC "Edwards vs Noons" event in Hawaii event was originally slated for April 26 but was unfortunately postponed until June 14. Apparently the debut of EliteXC’s Saturday Night Fights on CBS played a factor in pushing back the original date.

GracieFighter.com just reported the news that Nick Diaz will be joining his training partner, Jake Shields, at StrikeForce "Shamrock vs Le" on March 29 in San jose, CA.

Diaz’s opponent has yet to be named. Nick was originally slated to fight Muhsin Corbbrey at EliteXC in Hawaii on April 26 but the fight was scrapped. No news on why the fight was scrapped has been reported as of yet.

On the card, Jake Shields, who was just awarded his Black belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, will be taking on UFC veteran and submission artist Drew Fickett for the welterweight title. Headlining the event at the HP Pavilion will be Frank Shamrock taking on one of the most dynamic strikers to ever enter the cage, Cung Le.

This upcoming event will be the third time in a row that Diaz and his teammate Jake Shields have competed on the same EliteXC card. Although Shields won his last fight at EliteXC Renegade submitting Mike Pyle with a rear naked choke in the first round, Diaz suffered a hard loss at the hands of KJ Noons who sliced and diced Diaz eventually cutting up his face enough that the fight was stopped.

ProElite.com announced that Nick Diaz will be returning to EliteXC on April 26 in Honolulu, Hawaii to fight Muhsin Corbbrey. It is unknown whether or not Diaz has signed on for the bout yet but Corbbrey’s camp did confirm the fight.

This will be Diaz’s first fight back since his hard fought loss back in November to KJ Noons for the EliteXC lightweight belt. The fight was stopped after the doctor decided that Diaz’s cuts were to bad to continue. Needless to say Diaz was furious and left the cage immediately showing the camera man some affection (see pic). Noons was ecstatic knowing that basically he was handed the belt on a silver platter. It was a bad climax to a fight that started out with fist of fury and precision striking.

Diaz is 1-1 in EliteXC with a decision win in his first fight over Mike Aina. Diaz actually said before the fight that the only way Noons would beat him is if he got cut. To remedy this problem Diaz recently underwent eye surgery and the surgery was completely successful. Apparently the bones above his eyes were too sharp and would have lead to more and more cuts therefore jeopardizing his mma career.

Muhsin Corbbrey is a professional boxer, muay thai fighter and mixed martial artist. His pro mma record is 6-2 and his EliteXC record is 2-0. He is looking to extend his win streak to 3 in a row against the aggressive Diaz. In his EliteXC debut he edged out Lee Gibson with a unanimous decision in July of 07. His last fight was in October where he choked out Bobby McMaster with a guillotine with only one second remaining in the first round. Talk about almost saved by the bell.

Diaz is a tough task for any fighter to handle but Corbbrey is no walk in the park himself. He has a lot of experience in the stand up department and is always improving his striking with the help of John Blanken. He is also a good grappler and has competed in many grappling tournaments such as NAGA and ISCF. He currently trains with American Top Team and works on advancing his ground game with UFC vet Din Thomas.

It was also recently revealed by GracieFighter.com that KJ Noons declined a rematch with Nick Diaz. This is obviously bad news for Corbbrey who will now have to fight an angry Nick Diaz. EliteXC suggested the rematch but was declined by Noon’s camp who said they did not want anything to do with a rematch.

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