With a couple of fighters and a CBS exec to worry about, EliteXC promoter Gary Shaw hasn't been able to catch a break lately. AP

Dream for Diaz, nightmare for EliteXC?

For the first time since stopping Gleison Tibau in November 2006, Nick Diaz returns to the welterweight division when he fights Katsuya Inoue (16-5-3) May 11 in Tokyo.

First proposed for the April 29 Dream card, but moved to May 11, Diaz's appearance on the HDNet-televised card has not come without some hand wringing from EliteXC.

"Gary Shaw is going to honor the agreement that one of his underlings made, even though they didn't pass it by him," said Diaz's manager Cesar Gracie. "He would have never agreed to it. [That] is what he told me, because it was too close to June 14. Right now, the fight that's in jeopardy is the June 14 Hawaii fight."

With Showtime contracts stipulating a 30-day fight restriction prior to their televised fights, Diaz's contest with Muhsin Corbbrey in Honolulu appears to be in serious doubt. That determination could be made Monday, according to sources close to Diaz and EliteXC.

"What EliteXC is trying to figure out is if they can actually switch the May 11th and fight in July instead, so he can fight in Hawaii," Gracie said. "But I don't see that happening because the July show would, potentially, if Nick wins his fight [against Inoue], be a matchup with Hayato Sakurai [for the Dream welterweight title]."

Sakurai, however, may have hurt his chances of fighting for the title with his surprising stoppage loss to David Baron this weekend on Shooto's 20th anniversary card in Tokyo.

"He lost in Shooto, not Dream," said Gracie, who made Diaz one of three fighters he's promoted to the level of Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. "As far as I know he's still fighting for the championship."

With his contract signed, visa secured and flight booked, Diaz (15-7, 1 NC) has focused on getting near the division weight limit of 170 pounds as he prepares to fight the larger Inoue.

Competing at 160 beginning with this stunning victory over Takanori Gomi in February of 2007, Diaz's recent career path has been nothing short of manic. After his win over Gomi, which was famously wiped away by the Nevada State Athletic Commission because of a positive test for marijuana, Diaz served his suspension before taking on Mike Aina last September in a lackluster split decision. That victory set up an EliteXC 160-pound title bout against K.J. Noons, but Diaz lost by doctor stoppage when Noons' knees and accurate punches carved up his face.

Taking time away from the cage, Diaz underwent surgery to shave down bone and remove scar tissue near his eyebrows in an effort to limit bleeding during bouts. Unfortunately for the 24-year-old Stockton, Calif., native, the first chance to test the limits of the procedure disappeared when he failed to get licensed by California because of issues surrounding his use of medical marijuana.

Redstone's comments resonate

He may have made them in passing last Wednesday during a panel discussion on the sports industry at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, but Viacom and CBS chairman Sumner Redstone's criticisms of MMA didn't go unnoticed.

During a radio tour last week to promote the historic May 31 MMA card, Shaw was asked about Redstone's comments on six of the eight shows on which the CBS exec appeared.

"I thought it was an off-the-cuff remark," Shaw said. "I don't think he meant it as it came because Sumner Redstone owns Spike TV."

Spike TV, of course, is the television home of the UFC. One could argue that the success of the UFC on Spike led directly to CBS becoming the first major broadcast network to carry MMA live in prime time. So, ironically enough, Redstone, whose personal fortune was estimated at $9 billion by Forbes in 2007, may have had an unwitting hand in the rise of, what he coined, "socially irresponsible" programming on terrestrial TV.

"I think we need to just do a much better job of educating," said Shaw, "and I don't think Sumner understands the magnitude of what he said."

Josh Gross will periodically answer questions from SI.com users. Email him at jgwriter.si@gmail.com.