Jeff Lacy Facing Strikeforce/UFC Star in Boxing Match
I reported earlier that Nick Diaz wants a fight with Anderson Silva or he will fight Fernando Vargas. However, Diaz and Vargas have fallen by the wayside and they are now setting up Nick Diaz to face former champion Jeff Lacy in a boxing match. Cesar Gracie stated “These guys get to the point in their career where they want the big fights, that’s what Jake Shields is wanting. That’s what (Dan) Henderson wants. They don’t have to prove themselves.
Gracie said the Diaz camp had “signed on the dotted line” for a boxing match with former champion Fernando Vargas, though that match very recently fell by the wayside. “We were talking about Vargas, but the thing is, I just came under some information that Vargas apparently has some kind of medical issue where he’s not able to pass the test any more, and he could be retiring,” Gracie said. “Vargas was very interested, but unfortunately, if he can’t pass the test, he can’t pass the test.”
That shifts the focus to a match with Lacy if Diaz’s foray into pro boxing does happen. Although, Gracie said this that Diaz won’t sign a new contract bearing the name of Forza, the Zuffa-owned limited-liability company to which Strikeforce fighters will belong too moving forward, the principle clauses of his previous contract with the California-based promotion have been worked into the new agreement. “We didn’t sign it,” Gracie said of the proposed Forza deal. But he did get Diaz’s original deal changed. “We got it changed, so we’re good,” Gracie said. That, Gracie said, also clears the way for boxing.