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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