Diaz, Daley Greenlit for Strikeforce

Two of the world’s most dynamic and controversial welterweights will lock horns in the Strikeforce “Diaz vs. Daley,” main event on Saturday at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego. On the eve of their anticipated showdown, they took care of one last piece of prefight business.

Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz tipped the scales at 169.75 pounds for his scheduled title defense against world-ranked contender Paul Daley (169.5) at Friday’s official weigh-in. The six other men booked for main card duty -- including the co-headliners, lightweight titleholder Gilbert Melendez (154.75) and challenger Tatsuya Kawajiri (154.25) -- also met their mandated weight requirements without incident.

Diaz (Pictured, file photo) will carry a career-best nine-fight winning streak into the match. The 27-year-old Cesar Gracie protégé last appeared in January, when he defended his crown with a second-round submission against Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Diaz has secured 20 of his 24 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission. Wins over former EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler, ex-EliteXC lightweight titleholder K.J. Noons, one-time UFC middleweight king Frank Shamrock and former Shooto middleweight boss Hayato “Mach” Sakurai anchor Diaz’s stellar resume.

Based at Team Rough House in Nottingham, England, Daley has won his last four fights and eight of his past nine. The brash 28-year-old last fought in February, when he needed less than two minutes to punch out Deep champion Yuya Shirai under the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts banner. Blessed with electrifying power in his hands, Daley has delivered 20 of his 27 wins -- a staggering 74 percent of them -- by KO or TKO. In 38 professional appearances, he has never been knocked out.

Strikeforce “Diaz vs. Daley” -- which also features a lightweight battle pairing current Dream champion Shinya Aoki (155) with Lyle Beerbohm (155.5) and a light heavyweight duel pitting one-time Strikeforce titleholder Gegard Mousasi (205.5) against UFC veteran Keith Jardine (205) -- will air on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Strikeforce “Diaz vs. Daley”
Saturday, April 9
Valley View Casino Center
San Diego

Strikeforce Welterweight Championship
Nick Diaz (169.75) vs. Paul Daley (169.5)

Strikeforce Lightweight Championship
Gilbert Melendez (154.75) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (154.25)

Shinya Aoki (155) vs. Lyle Beerbohm (155.5)
Gegard Mousasi (205.5) vs. Keith Jardine (205)
Hiroyuki Takaya (144.5) vs. Robert Peralta (144.5)
Brett Albee (218.5) vs. Virgil Zwicker (222.5)
Saad Awad (155.5) vs. Joe Duarte (155.5)
A.J. Matthews (171) vs. Herman Terrado (170.5)
Edgar Cardenas (139) vs. Rolando Perez (140)
Casey Ryan (185) vs. Paul Song (184.5)