Drop whatever it is you’re pretending to do and watch this highlight reel (props: KingAtRock), which covers the year’s best knockouts from the UFC and EliteXC, starring Kala Kolohe Hose, Wilson Gouveia, Tim Boetsch, Chris Leben, Brett Rogers, Yves Edwards, and Kimbo Slice.
Also: If you need proof of Dana White’s rumored iron-pumping prowess, check out the wacky video after the jump.
Skip to 3:46 if for some reason you find The Garv unbearably annoying.
If you’re a fan of quick, one-sided demolitions, last night’s EliteXC: Return of the King card didn’t disappoint. In the main event, lightweight champ KJ Noons and top contender Yves Edwards sparred for the first thirty seconds of their bout before Noons caught Edwards with a jaw-punch that sent him to the mat. Noons leaped onto Edwards and started raining down blows like a man possessed by both Satan and PCP; the ref called it at the 48-second mark, and a dazed Edwards was left wondering what the hell had just happened.
Following the match, Nick Diaz — who weighed in a full nine pounds over his 160-pound limit for his earlier match against Mushin Corbbrey — stepped into the cage to confront the man who’d handed him his last loss at EliteXC: Renegade last November. In an apparent attempt to hype a re-match with Noons, Diaz (along with his brother Nate) mouthed off to Noons and stuck his middle fingers into the faces of Noons and his father. The Noonses lunged at the Diazes, but security intervened before things got out of hand. Amid a chorus of boos, Nick and Nate left the cage, their beloved middle fingers extended toward the crowd.
Diaz certainly had no reason to be cocky. Besides coming into the fight a full weight-class over Corbbrey (which Diaz is trying to blame on the ocean),
Diaz needed nearly all of the three scheduled rounds to put away an outmatched, outsized Corbbrey, which he finally did via strikes from the mount.
In other action, Murilo “Ninja” Rua made Tony Bonello pay for a seriously ill-advised guard-pull at the beginning of their match, dropping elbows and punches from the top until the fight was called, while Icon Sport middleweight champion Kala Kolohe Hose was quickly choked out in a non-title match by King of the Cage/Freestyle Cage Fighting vet Robert “Bubba” McDaniel. Full results are below, and a couple vids are after the jump, courtesy of MMAScraps.
MAIN CARD
K.J. Noons def. Yves Edwards via TKO, 0:48 of round 1
Nick Diaz def. Muhsin Corbbrey via TKO, 3:59 of round 3
Murilo Rua def. Tony Bonello via TKO, 3:16 of round 1
Dave Herman def. Ron Waterman via TKO, 2:19 of round 1
Rafael Feijao def. Wayne Cole via TKO, 2:47 of round 1
UNDERCARD
P.J. Dean and Dean Lista fought to a draw
Mike Aina def. Kaleo Kwan via unanimous decision
Mark Oshiro def. Chris Willems via submission (triangle choke), 2:12 of round 1
Robert McDaniel def. Kala Kolohe via submission (rear naked choke), 0:41 of round one
K.J. Noons could be the real deal.
I’m not 100% sold on Noons being the real deal just yet but he is certainly making a case for himself with some high-profile victories. This win over Edwards was really jaw dropping and Noons showed the ability to take a hard shot, recover with power, and go for [...]
Elite XC: ‘Return of the King’ is coming up soon. The event will take place at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, and will air LIVE on the premium cable channel Showtime starting at 10 p.m ET.
MMAmania.com will provide blow-by-blow, minute-by-minute, round-by-round coverage of the main card action below. Remeber that the under card will follow the main card action and will be streamed on ProElite.com following LIVE Showtime telecast.
Many of our readers check-in before, during and after the telecast to share their thoughts on the action. Therefore, feel free to leave a comment or 10 before you leave and chat with many of our readers during the show — it always turns out to be a great discussion.
Keep in mind that we will also be the spot for the latest news, recaps and post-fight analysis after “Return of the King.”
Without further delay, see below for the latest Elite XC: “Return of the King†results. (Note: This will go from the bottom up; therefore, scroll toward the bottom for the latest detailed round-by-round action!)
ELITE XC: “RETURN OF THE KING” QUICK RESULTS:
Elite XC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons defeats Yves Edwards via TKO (strikes) Round 1 Nick Diaz defeats Muhsin Corrbrey via TKO (strikes) round 3 Murilo “Ninja” Rua defeats Tony “The Gun” Bonello via TKO (strikes) round 1 Dave “Pee Wee” Herman defeats Ron “H2O” Waterman via TKO (strikes) round 1 Rafael Feijao defeats Wayne Cole via TKO (strikes) round 1
Mark Oshiro vs. Chris Willems
Mike Aina vs. Kaleo Kwan
Chris Barnard vs. Lolohea Mahe
PJ Dean vs. Dean Lista
Russell Doane vs. Dwayne Haney
Kala Kolohe Hose vs. Robert McDaniel
ELITE XC: “RETURN OF THE KING LIVE BLOW-BY-BLOW COMMENTARY:
KJ Noons vs. Yves Edwards
Round 1: Here we go for the Elite XC lightweight belt. Bell rings and gloves touch. KJ with a nice hard body kick. Yves eats it and lands a combo with his hands. KJ is working the jab now and Yves lands a solid right hand on KJ’s chin. Kj comes right back with a right hand of his own that drops Yves. KJ jumps right on him looking for the kill. He’s landing some bombs and Yves is in deep deep trouble. He’s not defending and the ref stops the fight at 4:14 of round one. WOW! All I can say is WOW! Huge huge win for the champ. Wow!
Final result: KJ Noons defeats Yves Edwards via TKO (strikes) Round 1
-end-
Nick Diaz defeats vs. Muhsin Corrbrey
Round 1: No gloves touching in this one. They’re feeling each other out but Diaz is stalking Corrbrey. Diaz shoots and Corrbrey kicks and circles. More circling mixed with sporadic punches from both fighters. They clinch and Corrbrey lands a knee and pushes out. Diaz lands a couple jabs. They clinch again and Diaz hits with a nice elbow. Diaz stays on the offensive with his boxing and Corrbrey does his best to dodge the punches. Diaz is looking to land combos and then clinch and push out. Its working for him, but Corrbrey not getting hurt and landing some shots himself. Now Diaz pushes Corrbrey against the fence and works some knees. A few nice punches for Diaz and Corrbrey spins out. He then lands a nice combo ended with a hard body kick. More exchanges won by each fighter and the round ends. Very active round. Hard to judge. I’ll score it 10-9 for Diaz for being a little more agressive.
Round 2: More of the same boxinf from Diaz and a kick from Corrbrey to start round 2. Diaz now pushes Corrbrey against the fence and Diaz grabs a leg and is looking for a takedwon. Corrbrey is defending nicely agains the fence and Diaz lets go and they’re seperated. More boxing from both. Each guy is landing punches, but Diaz is the one that keeps coming forward. Corrbrey is winning some exchanges now, but Diaz stays stalking him with those jabs. Now Diaz is taunting him and he’s got some confidence now. Corrbrey plays possum a little bit, but Diaz doesn’t get bothered and he keeps coming. Now against the fence and Diaz looking for the takedown again. Corrbrey is showing some great takedown defense and Diaz lets go again. Diaz lands a nice left hook. Against the fence again and Diaz is looking for some knees. Diaz finally gets a spinning takedwon and gets side control. Only 10 seconds left in the round and Diaz can’t capitalize, but that definitely secured him the round, if he didn’t have it won already. I score it 10-9 Diaz.
Round 3: Now they touch gloves. Some earned respect perhaps. Diaz shoots and Corrbrey stuffs. More Nick Diaz-esque jabs and into another clinch against the fence. Diaz quickly win a takedown. Nicely done. He’s in half guard and moves to side control methodically. Diaz looking for a Kimura from here. Corrbrey tries to get half guard again but can’t get it. Diaz now spins and looks for the armbar. Corrbrey twists and tries to defend. It works and Diaz is now on top landing punches. Corrbrey is having a hard time defending the shots and eventually pulls Diaz down to side control. Diaz looks for the arm again and stands up and throws some more punches. He baits Corrbrey with another Kimura attempt and steals a full mount. Corrbrey has no where to go now and the fight gets stopped at 1:01 of round three. Very nice execution from Diaz and a good showing for Corrbrey as well. Best fight of the night so far.
Final result: Nick Diaz defeats Muhsin Corrbrey via TKO (strikes) round 3
-end-
Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Tony “The Gun” Bonello
Round 1: Bonello has some words for Ninja as he circles the cage when entering. Ninja laughs it off and heads to his corner. Bonello continues the jawing during the staredown. This could be good. Bell rings and Bonello comes right at Ninja with a high kick and some punches. Then he pulls guard. He has Ninja in his guard and Ninja works and passes to side control. He traps Bonello’s arm and works some elbows. Bonello looks frustrated and Ninja stays with the elbows. Bonello has no answer, they’ve been in this position for over a minute now and Ninja finally moves to mount. He lands a few shots and decides to go back to side control. He’s doing whatever he wants in this fight. He continues to land elbow after elbow. Now he has a knee on Bonello’s stomach and he’s raining down huge punches. Bonello is done at 1:44 of the first round. Ninja Rua in DOMINATING fashion. That was awesome to watch. Final result: Murilo “Ninja” Rua defeats Tony “The Gun” Bonello via TKO (strikes) round 1
-end-
Dave “Pee Wee” Herman vs. Ron “H2O” Waterman
Round 1: Gloves touch. Immediate exchanges, nothing too serious though. Then Waterman shoots and gets the takedown. He pushes Pee Wee against the cage and looks for a can opener. Herman defended nicely and gets back to his feet. Waterman picks him right back up and gets another takedown, but Pee Wee rolls out and gets to his feet with some seperation. He lands a gorgeous kick right on Waterman’s chops. Waterman looks dazed from it and grabs Pee Wee’s leg as he moves in. Pee Wee goes to one knee and lands about a dozen or so elbos right to Waterman’s dome. Waterman is in deep trouble and he gets mounted by Herman and the fight gets stopped at 2:41 of the first round. Herman has some serious skills. He’s now 11-0 with 11 stoppages.
Final result: Dave “Pee Wee” Herman defeats Ron “H2O” Waterman via TKO (strikes) round 1
-end-
Rafael Feijao vs. Wayne Cole
Round 1: Fighters touch gloves and Feijao lands a nice body kick. Cole charges him with punches and they clinch. Feijao gets a nice takedown and after a few seconds they’re back up. Feijao has Cole against the cage now on their feet. He’s working sporadic knees mixed with some dirty boxing. Referee Yamasaki calls for a break. He gives Cole 5 minutes for a low blow. He takes his time and they come back out. Feijao goes for an immediate high kick than a Thai clinch with a knee. Cole muscles out and Feijao pushes him against the fence again. Fejao pushes out and lands a very nice combination. He stays on Cole and Cole looks for a single leg takedown, and Feijao lands a nice flying knee from there. Feijao gets out and goes right to the Thai clinch again where he lands some more knees that eventually put Cole on the mat. Feijao moves in for the kill, grabs his back and pounds him out at 2:12. Very impressive fight for Feijao.
Final result: Rafael Feijao defeats Wayne Cole via TKO (strikes) round 1
ProElite.com will stream the main event Elite XC lightweight title fight between KJ Noons and Yves Edwards tonight after the fight is aired on Showtime courtesy of “Cage Cam,” giving fans an up close, in-cage view of the action.
The Cage Cam is a high-tech camera suspended above the cage that gives viewers an overhead look at the fight. It moves around on a cable that covers the entire cage so the audience can follow the action throughout the match.
It’s a pretty cool way to see a fight for the second time.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the replay of a main event fight through the Cage Cam. Sho.com also streamed the Frank Shamrock and Cung Le Strikeforce middleweight title fight on March 29 immediately after the Showtime telecast.
It’s always interesting to see any kind of action from different vantage points. This could be worth a look, especially if Noons and Yves give us a fight like Frank and Cung did back in March.
As always, ProElite.com will also stream five of the untelevised undercard bouts live starting around 7 p.m ET. Those five fights are as follows:
140 lbs: Mark Oshiro (10-1) vs. Chris Willems (1-1)
160 lbs: Mike Aina (9-6) vs. Kaleo Kwan (8-8)
265 lbs: Chris Barnard (1-1) vs. Lolohea Mahe (1-0)
160 lbs: PJ Dean (1-2) vs. Dean Lista (1-1)
135 lbs: Russell Doane (1-1) vs. Dwayne Haney (1-0)
Remember that ProElite.com will also stream the non title bout between Icon Sport Middleweight Champion Kala Kolohe Hose and Robert McDaniel after the event as well. The fact that Hose isn’t on the main card is a testament to how good some of these other fighters are.
This is going to be a very entertaining event tonight from the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. To catch the main card action tune-in to Showtime at 10 p.m. ET tonight (June 14).
What: Elite XC: Return of the King
When: June 14th @ 10pm ET
Where: Blaisdell Arena; Honolulu, Hawaii
Here’s the latest on the EXC: Return of the King event:
Main Card
KJ Noons vs. Yves Edwards (EXC Lightweight Title)
Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey
Murilo “Ninja†Rua vs. Tony Bonello
Dave “Pee Wee†Herman vs. Ron “H2O†Waterman
Rafael Feijao vs. Wayne Cole
Undercard (televised [...]
(The man on the ground is now EliteXC’s lightweight champion. The man in the air is now under a bridge selling oranges, possibly.)
Gary Shaw must have a boner for flying knee knockouts.
When EliteXC signed K.J. Noons, he was a pro boxer who was riding three-straight knockout victories in MMA matches for Icon Sport. His first fight for Elite in February ‘07 resulted in a knockout loss to Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett, and he was relegated to a ShoXC card for his next match in July. Fortunately, he scored a dramatic flying-knee KO of Edson Berto in that fight, and despite having just seven pro MMA fights under his belt at that point he was given an immediate title shot in the 160-pound division against UFC vet Nick Diaz. Incredibly, that fight didn’t go so well for Diaz.
Now, it looks like Noons’s first title defense will be against Yves Edwards. And how did Edwards earn his shot? Coincidentally, with a hopping-knee knockout of Edson Berto, which must have tickled Gary Shaw something fearsome. To be honest, I kind of wish other fight organizations operated like EliteXC, where title shots don’t depend on a string of victories over top competition or marketability, but rather on who just pulled off the last ridiculous KO.
So yes, American Top Team confirmed today that Edwards will face Noons on April 26th in Hawaii for EliteXC’s 160-pound title. And not everybody’s happy about it. Nick Diaz called Noons out for ducking a rematch — according to Diaz, he just had surgery to fix his face, and that inconvenient blood-explosion thing won’t happen again — after which an insulted Noons responded with the following:
“First of all, I don’t dodge anybody. Whoever is the best, I want to fight them. As champion, you can decline who you want to fight. You only have one option as to who you’re going to fight, and that’s the best. Whoever the best is, that’s who I have to fight. In regard to a rematch with Nick, that would be a great pay day for me. Unfortunately, he’s not the best.”
Noons went on to express his desire for a rematch with Krazy Horse Bennett, which we’d love to see. And now, just for fun, here’s Yves Edwards’ acrobatic head-kick KO of Josh Thomson at UFC 49. I know we’ve discussed Steve Mazzagatti’s horrible reffing in the past, but this, I swear to you, is his worst performance of all time. Watch how he wanders into the frame like somebody’s lost grandfather after Edwards puts Thomson’s lights out, and slow-walks over to the fighters as Yves lands uninterrupted shots on Thomson’s face. It’s literally as if Mazzagatti forgot where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. Amazingly awful.
Update: KJ Noons and Yves Edwards will indeed fight for the EliteXC lightweight title on April 26 in Honolulu, Hawaii, according to AmericanTopTeam.com.
EliteXC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons has made a decision to not grant Nick Diaz an immediate rematch and is in talks to take on Yves Edwards in his first title defense sometime later this year.
No date, venue or event was provided to MMAmania.com regarding the potential championship showdown between Noons and Edwards.
The first-ever EliteXC lightweight championship fight between Noons and Diaz ended in controversy last November at EliteXC: “Renegade.” Noons was victorious when the fight was stopped following the first round because of cuts near Diaz’ eyes. The ringside doctor assessed the damage and ruled that Diaz unable to continue in his bloody condition.
We’ve all seen Diaz get cut before. Let’s face it, he’s a “bleeder.” But this was the first time he lost a fight because of it and it was a championship bout nonetheless. The result led Diaz to opt for plastic surgery to fix the scar tissue around his eyes.
Here’s a snip from Diaz’s training partner, Kit Cope, back in November:
“We’re going to get his eyes fixed up. There’s something they can do to actually fix the scars that makes them a lot smaller. [Stile is] going to have him fixed up so he doesn’t split open so easy. We’re going to go ahead and do that, have another warm-up fight and then come back and snag the title back that belongs to him.”
It looks as though thats exactly what’s going to happen for Diaz. His warm-up fight appears to be Muhsin Corbbrey, and then — with a win — he may get another title shot.
That of course could be against the winner of the scrap between Noons and Edwards if it is eventually booked.
Edwards is certainly deserving of a shot at the gold with his recent success in the cage and his decorated past. He looked great on this past Saturday against Edson Berto, knocking him out in the first round with an amazing one-legged knee to the grill.
Since joining American Top Team Edwards is undefeated (3-0) and recharged. He may even be a favorite against the champ if the fight does indeed happen.
Make no mistake: Diaz does deserve a rematch with Noons. He is arguably the best overall fighter in the organization. His hit list is certainly the most impressive with wins over current middleweight champ, Robbie Lawler, as well as the man who will challenge for the welterweight title in March, Drew Fickett.
And let’s not forget his electrifying win, which was later ruled a no contest, over the top lightweight in the world, Takanori Gomi.
No disrespect to Edwards because he’s proven himself in this sport, but after the way Diaz lost to Noons it would have been nice to see an instant rematch.
Of course, cuts are part of the sport and they do happen. But if ever there were grounds for a rematch it’s when a fight has to end because of a cut … especially a title fight. In fact, the brawl between Diaz and Noons looked like it was going to be an absolute war before it was stopped.
A lot of people had Noons ahead on the scorecard. But anyone who has ever seen a Diaz fight knows you can never count him out. Especially after only one round in a five round title fight.
We all know Diaz can go for days — he competes in triathlons when he is not fighting. His cardio is on another level. It’s not far fetched to say he would have eventually wore Noons down and worked his black belt jiu jitsu knowledge to submit the inexperienced ground fighter.
Regardless, Noons and Diaz will meet up again some time soon. Exactly when all depends on what Edwards can do in the cage if given the opportunity to challenge the champion and if Diaz can get back on the winning track.
