"I felt pretty crappy in my match in Hawaii, but I figured I was suffering from jet lag or from something I had eaten the night before,'' Diaz said. "When I left Hawaii, I was getting chills and had to be covered with several blankets on the plane. I kept having cold sweats.
"By the time I got to Vegas, the infection had ballooned up so I went to a hospital and was admitted right away. I started getting my strength back the last few days in the hospital.
"But I definitely won that fight with Aina and people that think otherwise; well, I do not know what they were watching. If we ever fight again, I will tap him out.''
The outspoken, brutally honest Diaz recuperated quickly enough to compete in a triathlon for a second consecutive year. "I ended up taking second place,'' he said. "I lost first by seven minutes due to a poor swim. I couldn't get much swim practice because I was in the hospital.''
Diaz has fought some of the sport's biggest names in an illustrious six-year career. In perhaps his most unforgettable performance, a battered, bruised and bloodied Diaz rallied from the brink of defeat to score an impressive, legendary gogoplata submission victory over then-consensus No. 1 lightweight contender, Takanori Gomi (takanorigomi.proelite.com), in a 2007 Fight of the Year candidate that wound up going into the books as a no contest.
"I am looking forward to getting back in the cage on Saturday,'' Diaz said.
Noons (kjnoons.proelite.com), who is also a professional boxer, is coming off a smashing third-round knockout over Edson Berto on July 27, 2007, at Santa Ynez, Calif. Despite fracturing his left hand in the opening minutes, Noons would go on to mostly dominate the favored Berto.
In a scintillating finish to a thrilling encounter on ShoXC: The Elite Challenger Series on SHOWTIME, Noons wore down Berto, then dropped him with a devastating right knee to the face. Noons followed the knockdown with a right hand and right elbow to the face before the referee stepped in and halted the proceedings 45 seconds into the round.
The victory was monumental for Noons, who had been knocked out by "Krazy Horse'' Charles Bennett in his outing before last (Feb. 10, 2007, the debut telecast of EliteXC on SHOWTIME).
"I had to prove I was better, which is why I put in so much time and sweat and blood preparing for Berto," Noons said. "It wasn't easy, but I made it look easy. It definitely helped me put the 'Krazy Horse' fight behind me. I got a lot off my shoulders with that fight.''
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