Strikeforce Champ Nick Diaz to Fight Japanese Favorite Sakurai at DREAM.15
By: Fighters.com Staff Posted On: April 7, 2010 at 9:34pm
Strikeforce welterweight champion “Diablo” Nick Diaz (21-8) and Japanese veteran “Mach” Hayato Sakurai (35-10-2) will matchup in a non-title welterweight bout at DREAM.15 north of Tokyo May 30, according to GracieFighter.com.
While Diaz is at the pinnacle of his career coming off a victory of DREAM’s titular welterweight champion “Whitemare” Marius Zaromskis (11-3), Sakurai is at a low point after losing by stoppage to Akihiro Gono (30-14-7) and Zaromsikis in his last two fights.
MMA Junkie reports that DREAM considered a rematch between Diaz and Zaromskis for the DREAM belt, but opted for Diaz to fight Sakurai instead because Sakurai is a Japanese fan favorite.
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Comments
Nick will handle Sakurai, he has all the tools. Jake Shields his training partner for the last nine years beat “Mach”, a few years ago. Sak had just become the # 2 WW in the world, it was a step down. About 6-7 months earlier he lost a UFC Championship fight to Matt Hughes, who moved up from # 2 to #1.
Sakurai was ranked #2 and Shields wasn’t ranked, it was beating Sakurai in Japan that gave Shields his break .
Nick is younger and has better stand up and ground, but “Mach” has better wrestling/judo.
Diaz by late stoppage.