What on Earth Can Contain Diaz/Noons 2? Scott Coker Says "Security, and Lots of It."

Ask any EliteXC fans (if there are any left) what “don’t be scared homie” means, and you’re likely to get a chuckle. Immediately after KJ Noons defeated Yves Edwards to defend the EliteXC Lightweight Championship he won off of a victory over Nick Diaz, Diaz would get into the cage with many of his Team Cesar Gracie teammates and utter those words to his hated rival. What followed was an in-ring scuffle between both camps that remains infamous to this day. With one Diaz-led brawl already under his belt, how is strikeforce CEO Scott Coker going to prevent all-out mayhem when Diaz and Noons face each other once again? Here’s what he had to say on a new episode of “The MMA Hour”.

With text courtesy of MMA Mania, Coker said the following: “I’ll tell you what – if we leave those two guys in a room alone, I think you know what’s going to happen. So it’s up to us – we’re going to have a wall of security there. We’ve brought extra police to handle the weigh-ins, the press conference and pretty much a wall of people will be there for the night of the fight. We have to take precautionary measures because these guys have this big feud – and it’s not just them, it’s their camps. We’re going to make sure that we host it properly, and part of that is adding extra security and police officers, and it’ll be fine”.

Coker is definitely approaching this from the right direction. With a rivalry this bitter, with a guy as prone to post-fight fisticuffs as Nick Diaz, precaution after precaution needs to be taken. I think a little army of security will do just the trick. I know how bitter this rivalry is, I know how eagerly both men want to rip each other limb from limb, but they need to do it professionally. Strikeforce can’t risk another PR-damaging post-fight brawl if they want to continue to be taken seriously. It makes the entire promotion look bush-league if they can’t control what happens after a fight.

But let’s be honest here: no amount of security is going to be able to contain these two guys and these two camps. I have a strong feeling that something is going to break out somehow, despite all the additional security. If I’m wrong, if both fighters and camps play nice once all is said and done, I’d honestly be shockingly surprised. Even if it gets broken up quickly, I think all the ingredients are in place for another melee at the end of Strikeforce’s upcoming show. It will be contained and contained quickly, but I have very little doubt that someone will try to start something.

And if you want me to be completely honest? I’m actually kinda looking forward to some post-fight camp-on-camp warfare. I hate to admit it, but the Diaz’s post-fight brawls are so crazy that they’re good. If only for the trainwreck factor, the brawls in EliteXC and Strikeforce were easily the highlights of the night. I’m not advocating more wild brawls or post-fight fights, but I think we should all admit to ourselves right now that these things are an incredibly guilty pleasure.

So what do you think, fans and friends? Will enhanced security force everyone to play nice, or is a post-fight near-riot almost guaranteed?