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A card once newsworthy because of its sheer volume of title fights has now seen that number of championship bouts cut in half.
A week after the organization announced that Alistair Overeem's (29-11) injured hand forced him out of a title defense with challenger Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1), Strikeforce executive Mike Afromowitz today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) a fight between Nick Diaz (20-7) and Joe Riggs (30-10) has also been dropped from the Aug. 15 card.
Diaz and Riggs, whose first epic meeting took place under the UFC umbrella three years ago, were slated to fight for Strikeforce's first-ever welterweight title.
The Aug. 15 show takes place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., and airs on Showtime.
The loss of the Diaz vs. Riggs II fight (Riggs won the first meeting via decision) was first reported by GracieFighter.com, the official site of Cesar Gracie's school, which is home to Diaz. The report stated that Riggs could have an extended hospital stay because of "a bad reaction to an as of yet undisclosed drug."
"I heard something like, but we're still looking into it," Afromowitz said.
Afromowitz confirmed that the organization is searching for a replacement to fight Diaz, but he couldn't say whether or not the fight would still have title implications.
"It's still all speculation right now," Afromowitz said. "We just don't know yet."
The Aug. 15 Strikeforce event is headlined by a fight between Gina Carano (7-0) and Cris "Cyborg" Santos (7-1) for Strikeforce's first-ever 145-pound women's title. The Strikeforce lightweight title is also up for grabs when current champ Josh Thomson (16-2) meets interim title-holder Gilbert Melendez (15-2) on the card.
As for Werdum, Afromowitz said the organization hopes to also find a replacement for him. Sources have suggested that the former UFC fighter could get a crack at an interim heavyweight title (Overeem hasn't defended his belt since winning it in November 2007) if a high-caliber replacement is found, but Afromowitz declined to comment on the possibility.
A week after the organization announced that Alistair Overeem's (29-11) injured hand forced him out of a title defense with challenger Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1), Strikeforce executive Mike Afromowitz today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) a fight between Nick Diaz (20-7) and Joe Riggs (30-10) has also been dropped from the Aug. 15 card.
Diaz and Riggs, whose first epic meeting took place under the UFC umbrella three years ago, were slated to fight for Strikeforce's first-ever welterweight title.
The Aug. 15 show takes place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., and airs on Showtime.
The loss of the Diaz vs. Riggs II fight (Riggs won the first meeting via decision) was first reported by GracieFighter.com, the official site of Cesar Gracie's school, which is home to Diaz. The report stated that Riggs could have an extended hospital stay because of "a bad reaction to an as of yet undisclosed drug."
"I heard something like, but we're still looking into it," Afromowitz said.
Afromowitz confirmed that the organization is searching for a replacement to fight Diaz, but he couldn't say whether or not the fight would still have title implications.
"It's still all speculation right now," Afromowitz said. "We just don't know yet."
The Aug. 15 Strikeforce event is headlined by a fight between Gina Carano (7-0) and Cris "Cyborg" Santos (7-1) for Strikeforce's first-ever 145-pound women's title. The Strikeforce lightweight title is also up for grabs when current champ Josh Thomson (16-2) meets interim title-holder Gilbert Melendez (15-2) on the card.
As for Werdum, Afromowitz said the organization hopes to also find a replacement for him. Sources have suggested that the former UFC fighter could get a crack at an interim heavyweight title (Overeem hasn't defended his belt since winning it in November 2007) if a high-caliber replacement is found, but Afromowitz declined to comment on the possibility.
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