GracieFighter.com is reporting that Jake Shields will fight Nick Thompson for the first ever EliteXC welterweight title on July 26. The fight will take place on the 2nd installment of the CBS Saturday Night Fights partnership with EliteXC.
Shields has waited several months to get a crack at the welterweight title after two different title fight matchups against Drew Fickett were postponed. Both Thompson and Jay Heiron were considered possible opponents for Shields, and it appears that “The Goat” has gotten the nod. This will be a very tough opponent for Shields and will give a good idea if he is deserving of the top 10 ranking.
The July 26 event will be headlined by the EliteXC middleweight title fight between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith. The event is rumored to take place in Stockton, CA but that has yet to be confirmed.
Here are the official fighter payouts from last Saturday night’s TUF 7 Finale.
Diego Sanchez - $70,000
Spencer Fisher - $36,000
Kendall Grove - $32,000
Dean Lister - $28,000
Drew McFedries - $26,000
Evan Tanner - $25,000
Jeremy Horn - $25,000
Dustin Hazelett - $24,000
Matthew Riddle - $16,000
Jeremy Stephens - $16,000
Amir Sadollah - $16,000
Matt Brown - $16,000
Luigi Fioravanti - $10,000
Josh Burkman - $10,000
Marvin Eastman - $9,000
C.B. Dollaway - $8,000
Dante Rivera - $8,000
Matt Arroyo - $8,000
Rob Kimmons - $6,000
Rob Yundt - $5,000
Dustin Hazelett and Josh Burkman earned an additional $20,000 for Fight of the Night bonus, Drew McFedries earned an additional $20,000 for Knockout of the Night, and Dustin Hazelett won a second $20,000 bonus for Submission of the night.
Overall as a fight camp, the TUF 7 Finale was pretty tough for us again. We did rise two spots to #32 in the middleweight division. We dropped from #26 to #37 in overall win/loss record and dropped from #10 to #14 in average bankroll.
GracieFighter.com is reporting that the upcoming DREAM lightweight title fight between Nick Diaz and Hayato Sakurai has been canceled.
The fight was scheduled to take place at DREAM.5 this coming July 21 in Japan, but EliteXC has told Diaz he cannot fight on the card due to other “contractual obligations.” One can only assume this means that EliteXC will have Diaz fight on their upcoming CBS Saturday Night Fights scheduled for July 26. With that in mind, rumors are also surfacing that the EliteXC event might be held in Diaz’s hometown of Stockton, CA.
It is unknown if the DREAM title fight with Sakurai is now off the table completely or if it will be rescheduled for a later date.
Currently the CBS event is scheduled to be headlined by a middleweight title fight rematch between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith. Other fighters scheduled to appear on the fight card are Jake Shields, Antonio Silva, and Shayna Baszler.
Here are the official fighter payouts from last Saturday night’s TUF 7 Finale.
