Nick Diaz agrees to box Jeff Lacy; waiting on UFC to offer fight with Georges St. Pierre
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
If the UFC is going to stop Nick Diaz from boxing this year, they're going to need to make some decisions quickly. The camp of professional boxer Jeff Lacy sent out a press release on Friday stating that Lacy had signed on for a bout against Diaz sometime this fall. In separate reports, Diaz's manager and trainer Cesar Gracie confirmed that the Strikeforce Welterweight Champion has signed a contract, but not a bout agreement, to meet Lacy as well. Per Gracie, if the UFC can get a fight between Diaz and UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre together, that's the fight that will happen. "Nick's [MMA] contract takes precedence," Gracie said to Josh Gross at ESPN.com. "That's why we're not out there telling everyone what we're going to do. We're trying to work together with the UFC and not against them. And we're trying to do things the right way. "So we have to move forward with what we're doing. Of course, if those guys call and say they secured a date and it's going to conflict with boxing then it might change this whole thing up." The fight has a venue and date lined up that have not yet been announced, but unless the UFC steps in with that fight with GSP, Diaz vs. Lacy will be the fight that takes place. In separate comments made to MMAFighting.com, Gracie again made it clear that their only holdup for this boxing fight will be the UFC seriously offering them the GSP fight. "We are only waiting to see if Zuffa is serious about a Diaz-GSP fight," he said. Boxing promoter Don Chargin commented on the fight and on Diaz specifically in the release from Lacy's camp, and praised Diaz's skills despite only one professional fight under his belt in the boxing ring. "This is a very dangerous fight for both men," Chargin said. "Not only is this fight dangerous but stylistically it is very intriguing. I expected more resistance from fight fans and media in regards to this match-up but its amazing as to the hundreds of calls and e-mails I've received from fans on both sides wanting to see this match-up take place. I've received more than a few inquiries from some other very high-profile boxers that want to step up and fight Nick. Its been a real whirlwind. "I've been around boxing for quite some time and I've seen a lot of great, tough fighters in my six decades within the sport. I believe that if Nick had been one of those kids who had picked up boxing from a youth, he'd undoubtedly be a world-champion today. Sometime within the next 2 weeks I'll be personally making the trek to Cesar Gracies gym to setup a private, closed door sparring session between Nick and a few nameless top-level contenders I have in mind." The ball now appears to be in the UFC's court, and it's expected that they will be meeting with Diaz in the coming week, and the next course of action should be laid out after that. Penick's Analysis: Well, this is either a last-ditch bargaining effort on their part or Diaz is legitimately serious about taking this fight. At the moment I'm still expecting the UFC to find a way to put together a Diaz-GSP fight. Fans want it, Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White want it, Diaz himself wants it. If they can make that fight happen this bout will disappear, and really this isn't a fight that's going to do anything for most people. Boxing fans see Diaz as an outsider coming in to take on an aging and shot fighter, and likely won't have much interest in the fight. Likewise, I'm sure the vast majority of MMA fans would much rather see him in the cage then in a boxing ring. So I'm not sure what the audience is for this fight, and for Diaz, a fight with GSP is most certainly going to be the more lucrative of the two fights, so if that is a legitimate option, I'd fully expect him to take that fight. We'll see if the UFC can put it together. [Photo credit Esther Lin via Strikeforce.com]
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9266.shtml