EliteXC gives Diaz OK to fight on Dream card

Nick Diaz, right, and his EliteXC saga continues. He's now allowed to fight Katsuya Inoue on May 11. Darryl Dennis/Icon SMI

Nick Diaz spent early Thursday morning cutting weight in a Bay Area gym after learning a cancelled bout in Dream was, as his manager Cesar Gracie described it, "farsically" back on.

Just a day after EliteXC's Gary Shaw informed the fighter he would not be allowed to compete May 11 in Tokyo against Katsuya Inoue, ProElite CEO Doug DeLuca apparently overruled, telling Gracie that EliteXC would allow the fight between Diaz and former King of Pancrase Inoue.

Sherdog.com first reported the news Wednesday evening.

Representatives for EliteXC and FEG did not respond to inquiries about the fight.

Diaz accepted the assignment, despite ballooning upwards of 20 pounds in one night, Gracie told SI.com. "When Shaw told me the fight was off 100 percent," said the Brazilian jiu-jitsu trainer and fight manager, "I told Nick to go drink a beer."

Needing to make the welterweight limit of 170 pounds, Gracie said the plan was for Diaz, who weighed 195 before hopping on a stationary bike Thursday morning, to shed a dozen pounds overnight. The additional weight will be dropped once they arrive in Tokyo.

"Nick being Nick, I think it's some kind of crazy marathon challenge for him. So he said he's going to drop weight and basically I left him at the gym about an hour ago." Gracie told SI.com at 2 a.m. PT.

The 24-year-old's journey will continue five hours later when his younger brother Nate, and teammate Randy Spence board a flight with him to Los Angeles, where the trio will connect with a pair of EliteXC execs before making the 12-hour flight to Tokyo.

Both Diaz's camp and EliteXC told SI.com on Tuesday that the Inoue bout had been scrapped to preserve a June 14 Showtime-televised fight from Honolulu, Hawaii.

"We were told three times this fight wasn't going to happen," Gracie said. "And [Wednesday] afternoon we were called by Doug DeLuca and he approved it. That's the bottom line."

If Diaz manages to remain unscathed, he will also participate in the June EliteXC card, Gracie confirmed. It's believed that negotiations between ProElite and Dream promoter Fight Entertainment Group led to an agreement for Diaz's services.

"Who knows what deals they came up with," Gracie said. "Ultimately, when DeLuca called me, he said 'Cesar, no pressure whatsoever on Nick to do this fight. If he wants to do it, do it. If he doesn't, don't do it.' For them, if he didn't do it, it probably would have been more beneficial, so they didn't care one way or another."

Gracie said the Japanese promoter was in a tough position and had to do what it could to get the Californian on the card.

"They lost a lot of face in the Frank Trigg-(Ronaldo) "Jacare" (Souza) match when Trigg comes out and says 'I have no idea what they're talking about,'" Gracie suggested. "And they sold tickets based on this fight. They flat out told me that. It's a big fight. It's a big deal. [Diaz] beat (Takanori) Gomi, who's been untouchable in Japan the last few years, and he's fighting a tough guy."

Action begins live Sunday morning on HDNet at 3 a.m. ET.

The network will replay the card, which also features the continuation of the Dream lightweight tournament, later that day.

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