In Jay Hieron’s recent appearance on The INFO, the official PROMMA.INFO podcast, he spoke about his next fight being for the Strikeforce Welterweight Title. “My next fight is for the title,” Hieron said. “I need eight weeks to prepare and be sharp. I want to fight Nick Diaz if everything goes to plan.”
Hieron said one of the reasons he chose to sign with the San Jose based promotion was because they offered him the title shot. “One of the reasons to decide to go with Strikeforce was I was fighting for the title,” Hieron explained. The UFC offered me a very good deal but I wanted the chance to fight for a title. Nick Diaz is a big name and that’s the type of guy I want to fight right now.”
That title shot was supposed to come on Aug. 15 at “Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg” where Hieron was scheduled to face Nick Diaz. However, Diaz chose not to take his pre-fight drug screen and was replaced by Jessie Taylor. Not only did Hieron not get a title fight, his fight with Taylor was moved to the un-aired preliminary card.
Hieron explains, “When I got to the arena I read all the bout sheets and I saw my name was not on the live broadcast. Showtime did not want to televise my fight because they did want to discuss the Diaz drug issue. I got the short end of the stick all the way around.”
Another one of Hieron’s fights was turned into a “dark match” earlier in the year when Affliciton mis-managed the swing bout for their PPV show. The result was the same for Hieron. Nobody got to see his victory.
Hieron did not seem too upset with Diaz personally. Having had his fair share of issues with marijuana, Hieron could sympathize with Diaz’s situation.”Everybody has to go thought their stuff in life,” Hieron said. “I made my mistakes and had to pay the price but I learned from it and moved on. By him doing what he does if not only affects him, it affects me.”
Moving on from this current drama Hieron is focused on his upcoming title opportunity. However, when and where are still to be decided. “I have no control over what Diaz does. I spoke with Scott Coker and my next fight is for a title,” stated Hieron. “I would love for it to be Nick Diaz. If he shows up or not I can’t control that. I can only prepare and that is what I am going to do. They do not call it the hurt business for nothing!”
By: Fast Eddie / Jack Bratcher
As they say: “Keep you eye on the prize”.