Nick Diaz Will Face Familiar Adversary KJ Noons in San Jose on Oct. 9

Strikeforce fans have been waiting for Nick Diaz to make his return to Welterweight for a while now.

The man's last fight was when he soundly beat Marius Zaromskis in Miami, and thanks to the infamous night in Nashville, Team Cesar Gracie's representation in Strikeforce is now down to Diaz and Gilbert Melendez.

That, plus Diaz hasn't fought in a while.

All of that changes on Oct. 9 when Strikeforce returns to San Jose, California, and a familiar face stands across the cage from him.

The bad news for fight fans: It's not Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

The good news: It's a fighter with boxing as bad-ass as Diaz's own.

Fresh off his win over Jorge Gurgel this past weekend in Houston, KJ Noons will look to prove that there was no controversy in their first fight in EliteXC.

Diaz, on the other hand, will be looking for retribution against the man who handed him his only TKO career loss.

For those unfamiliar with how heated this one could shape up to be, you need only look as far as their first fight.

Seems the cuts Diaz suffered raised a lot of questions from fans who couldn't believe what they were seeing.

How could a lightweight sensation like Noons cut up a guy like Nick Diaz that badly in a fight that was at a 160-pound catchweight?

However it happened, the trash talk after the fight escalated to where both fighters' camps nearly caused their own type of brawl in the cage.

Noons claimed Diaz and his camp were talking trash, Diaz claimed Noons and his camp were talking trash, and what we were left with is two guys who were hungry to beat the hell out of each other in the cage once again.

Strikeforce officials announced today that, in fact, they will get that chance on Oct. 9.

These two might very well be giving new meaning to the term "heated rivalry" in these passing weeks, and it's only going to get hotter until fight week begins.

You thought the feud he's having with Mayhem was a hot one? Just stick around.

This bout has all the makings to be the most hotly contested bout in Strikeforce history, yet we're less than two months away from it.

If a shot gets thrown by Diaz or Noons after the round ends or the fight ends, try not to think, "Oh, well maybe it was unintentional" or "maybe he didn't hear the bell."

They'll hear the bell for sure.

They'll know when the round is over.

What they won't do is relent on the guy in front of them until they're left unconscious in the cage.

Hey, if it makes for a more exciting fight, I'm all for it.

All I hope for is that at the end of this one, there will be no doubt who won this time.