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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