Strikeforce cagefighting champion Nick Diaz is only 26 years of age, but the young Stockton California native has fought in almost every legit MMA promotion there is, including a three-year, 10-fight stint with the biggest and best one, the UFC. All his matches have been tremendously entertaining, the best one possibly being the "news reel-style" knockout win over a heavily favored Robbie Lawler at UFC 47 in April of '04. Diaz, in my opinion, is one of the top "pound for pound" fighters in the world today, and the eldest of the two fighting siblings was recently in Las Vegas to race in the Xterra Triathlon, an "iron man" contest; but ...

   Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz will return to action on May 29, facing Japanese heavy hitter Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, according to GracieFighter.com, the web site of Diaz’s trainer and manager, Cesar Gracie. GracieFighter.com says that the bout will take place under the fighter sharing partnership between Strikeforce and Dream. A Diaz rematch with Dream champion Marius Zaromskis for his belt was under consideration, according to the report. The Japanese promotion instead decided to match Diaz up with Sakurai, who is an extremely popular fighter in his native land. Diaz welcomed the bout, saying, "Good, I've been trying to fight this guy for a long time now." Diaz (21-7) hasn’t lost since he faced K.J. Noons for EliteXC in late ...