We knew it was coming and MMAWeekly.com apparently now has the confirmation.
Nick Diaz (18-7) and Eddie Alvarez (15-1) will indeed mix it up for the vacant Elite XC lightweight title on November 8. We first reported of the possibility of the mega fight two weeks ago and now the match is apparently booked.
The organization stripped former champion KJ Noons of his belt last month after he repeatedly turned down a rematch with Diaz. It was a long drawn out soap opera, but in the end the company did what they felt was right by relieving Noons of his post.
All along Elite XC just wanted to have its two best lightweights meet in the cage. Now it appears they’ll finally get their wish.
The Philadelphia native Alvarez has opened a lot of eyes with his recent performances. At the 2008 DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix he was the only man to go through the tournament without a loss.
He defeated Andre “Dida” Amade, Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen and Tatsuya Kawajiri during the impressive run. Unfortunately for him, he suffered facial injuries in the semi-final bout against Kawajiri that kept him out of the final.
Alvarez is stong, fast and powerful. He recovers quickly and he’s very athletic. He’s the former BoDog Fight welterweight champion and only has one loss in his 16-fight career.
Put simply, at just 23 years old – with the talent he has — the sky is the limit for this kid.
In fact, maybe KJ Noons was right and Eddie Alvarez was the true number one contender all along.
But a case can still be made for Nick Diaz. Even though his last three fights haven’t been close to the competition level Alvarez has faced, he’s still a very talented fighter with a solid resume over the last two years.
There are a couple hiccups on his record over that time like the loss to Noons on the cut, and the no contest against Takanori Gomi after the positive test for marijuana. But we all know he beat Gomi and nobody knows what would have happened had the Noons fight continued.
The truth is that both of these guys are the number one contenders. They share that title … and now they’ll fight for the real title on November 8. It’s going to be a great fight.
The Elite XC middleweight championship will also be decided on the same card when champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler defends his gold against Greg Jackson trainee Joey Villasenor. And there’s also rumors of a third title fight involving Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and Cyrille “Snake” Diabate for the company’s first ever light heavyweight crown.
Talk about ending the year with a bang … Elite XC officials have stated this will be the last show of 2008 for the promotion. There is no location set for the November 8 event at this time.
36 Comments »
My question is: what will Elite do with Noons now? They stripped him of the title, but he is still in their employ. There are but so many legitimate contenders at lightweight. Will he simply fade away? They said he would fight under their banner again, albeit not as champ. Would he get another shot at the title? Would Elite risk him holding said title again? Anybody wanna lay in on this ? Bueller……? Bueller……?
I’m sure they need a janitor or a guy to clean the blood off the canvas.
Would this be on CBS?
I think this would be on Showtime
Noons will fight the winner, not hard to figure out…OR!! Throw Hansen at Noons lets see if how bad his face will look after Hansen gets a hold of him.
But this is a great match-up, and i think Diaz has his hands full. If Diaz wins he diwsn’t even need to fight Noons anymore.
I would love to see hellboy in there with KJ. And then the winner get the winner of Diaz/Alvarez. We could get the rematch from Dream or Diaz/Hansen. Nice!
Go Nick! Can”t wait for this fight.
i believe hanson is scheduled to fight j.z. calvacante for dream on nye.
Another good fight being put up by elitexc.. I have a question, does anybody here knows for a fact if eddie’s jits is any good? I know he definitely hits hardbut about the sub game? thanks in advance.
Another good fight being put up by elitexc.. I have a question, does anybody here knows for a fact if eddie’s jits is any good? I know he definitely hits hard but what about the sub game? thanks in advance.
This is awesome. There is no better match up under the Elite XC banner. This has the makings of fight of the year.
yeah this should be a good one, i think alvarez takes it.
There is no think. He will look like fedor when he takes it. He negates everything Diaz brings to the table better than all the other guys who have fought diaz. He has way better striking and he’s a fast starter unlike nick.
I like Diaz. He is one of my favorite fighters. I think Alvarez has a good chance of winning the fight. I will still be rooting for Nick to win though.
I can see Eddie getting a tko. or grinding out a Decision. either way i see Alvarez winning.
i wonder what the odds will be?
Even if EliteXC goes down next year, this will be the most important fight they ever have.
I really hope if EliteXC goes under that Alvarez goes to the UFC.
I don’t know if the UFC has a big problem with Nick, but he would be a good fit there too, rematch against Karo would be interesting.
Nice to see Alvarez get a high profile fight in the US. He deserves that belt now after his luck in the Dream GP.
Hopefully Nick can at least make it challenging.
Wow, EliteXc is doing something right. Thank God it’s on in November, so it’s not placed behind a Kimbo Slice or Gina Carano fight.
This fight is a million times better than anything on the October 4th card.
I don’t know that this fight is better than Daley/Shields. It’s possible that this one will be just as entertaining, but to say that this matchup will be far superior to anything on October 4th seems a bit hasty.
It may not be superior or as explosive or w/e but Diaz has a well known name now and the fight will be more interesting to the common fan. Not to mention taking away the belt from Noons doesn’t mean Noons is less than either of these two guys. It makes the potential for Noons to come back and claim his belt. I’m no Noons fan but if the guy took a fight with the loser of Diaz Alveraz, won and then fought the winner of Diaz Alveraz to get his title back I’d for sure become a Noons fan.
too bad noons wouldnt beat alvarez or diaz (again)
this could work out nicely for elitexc if alvarez wins it would set them up with another top 5 fighter along with shields if they bring over the punk and hellboy they have a pretty good lw division
VERY NICE.
Seems like whenever I am able to drop by for a moment, another one of my dream matchups are being made! First Hendo/Franklin and now Diaz/Alvarez.
I am VERY HAPPY!!!
Gotta go…
Two great fights. i am way exited for the Hendo-Franklin bout though. that is an absolute dream fight.
the Hendo/Franklin fight is in the UFC and the Diaz/Alvarez fight is under the EliteXC banner…
Where did you hear these fights will be under the Dream banner?? None of these fights are for Dream..Sorry to break the news man..
Does anyone know how many fights diaz has under his curent contract?
He has as many fights as EliteXC can provide him before they disappear…
Seriously though, we can hope he has at least one more so he can challenge Noons to a rematch, with Diaz victorious the next time around.
Doez that mean he would be free to fight for the UFC, he would be a great entry levl fighter for BJ in the WW division. That would set up a good fight with gsp and bj would earn hi title shot.
hell yeah cant wait. diaz is the man. dont smoke to much diaz before this one.
can either of the diaz brothers wipe that craptastic i’m harder than you look off their faces?
But then how will we know that they are from stockton?
What matters is that Noons is out of the picture for now. The guy was a whiny bi*ch and everyone should agree that TRUE CHAMPS FIGHT ANYONE PUT IN FRONT OF THEM, ANYTIME. I don’t see Noons beating Diaz again and I sure as hell don’t see him beating Alvarez. This could set up a possible dream (DREAM) match………..Diaz vs. Hellboy.
do you think nooons reads how much of a pussy he is on this site?
eddie is the man!!
he will win
Alvarez is the real deal. He stops Diaz in the first frame 9 times out of 10.
“All along Elite XC just wanted to have its two best lightweights meet in the cage. Now it appears they’ll finally get their wish.”
They had that in Alvarez/Noons. Nick Diaz has made a career out of appealing to slack jawed morons and Kottonmouth King listening pederasts. The only positive is seeing Nick get pwned again and whine like the sniveling emotionally stunted nobjob we’ve all come to dislike. Eddie for the win!