KJ Noons became the latest Elite XC fighter to release an official statement, as he finally dished on what’s been keeping him from taking a fight with Nick Diaz on the October 4 CBS show. Noons sent his screed to MMANews.com, and it is full of fun little quips and nuggets about life in Elite XC. Noons’ grievances range from the financial to the probably merely perceived to the petty, but he puts it all out there with enough attitude and anger to make up for all the time he let Jared Shaw run his mouth without consequences. Among his complaints:
In the Elite XC’s DVD where Diaz and I fought there are two (2) baseball cards of Diaz and Kimbo. Hello! I won the fight and Elite XC’s promoting Diaz after I beat him? Or how about the day Elite XC flew Diaz in to do a signing on the DVD where he lost. Wow, that must have been uncomfortable Nick? Signing a DVD, and it is a fight that you lost. Why wasn’t I flown in for the signing?
[…]
Consider when Elite XC gives a couple thousand tickets away at their CBS show in Stockton.
Elite XC gives me a hard time about comping me one extra ticket for my cousin that helped me train for my fight. I only get four tickets per show. I am the main event in Honolulu, my home town! I did not ask for any tickets for my family and friends and they gave me a hard time about one extra ticket!
Or how about when Elite XC brought Diaz into the ring after my last victory in Hawaii to disrespect me and my family.
Chuck Champion (President Elite XC) threatens me, my family and my manager with lawsuits and how he’s going to sue me. HAHA. Pretty hard to sue a guy who does not make jack with your company. I’m glad $kala disclosed how much I make, which breached the confidentiality clause of the contract. I will break down the real numbers for you. I am the defending world champ, I have been the main event for Elite XC three out of four times on Showtime. In almost two years I have made approximately $83,000?
Of course, Noons then goes on to tread familiar ground for fighters, explaining that he has to pay his trainers and managers and (gasp!) taxes with that money, so he figures he’s really only making around $300 a week, and his friends who are bus boys make more than that (he really said that).
The Diaz situation rears its ugly head in all of this, and it seems that their request to have Noons face him in a rematch on CBS was what really set “King Karl” off:
But the straw that broke the camel’s back is they want me to fight Diaz for the second time. Diaz is not the number one contender and they are paying Diaz three times more money than me. Diaz complained after the Stockton fight, he was not paid enough. How do you think that made me feel? Yes you can argue that Diaz gets more for the draw, therefore I do not deserve as much compensation. If that is the case, it is a result of Elite XC terrible job promoting me. Instead of promoting me as their champ and upcoming athlete, Elite XC has resented me for ruining their plans to make Diaz their champ. That is just total disrespect. So it comes down to money and what is fair. I am tired of being bent over by Elite XC with no Vaseline.
I am right when I say Diaz is not the number one contender. Elite XC is trying to force this fight for their ratings. Eddie Alaverez is the number one contender and anybody with half a brain knows that a fight with Eddie is a way harder fight for me than Diaz. I will fight Diaz, but Elite has to be fair. I’m not ducking Diaz, why the hell would I be scared of someone I already beat.
Noons concludes by saying that he plans to fight Diaz eventually, but not on the October CBS card, and that he also plans to focus on his boxing career, where he feels he can make more money. He also claims that no one is talking about Elite XC’s October card apart from the Noons-Diaz match that isn’t happening on it. He does know about the whole Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock thing, right?
Here’s a crazy idea: if Noons is upset that Diaz is making more money and getting more of a push, why not go out in front of the CBS audience and give him a whipping? After all, he’s not a top contender, so it should be an easy paycheck, and after he beats Diaz down Elite XC will have to pay him more and promote him as their champ, right? Plus, think of the extra sponsorship money he could pick up in front of a CBS crowd.
Or he could just sit out and not get that money. Either way. Maybe his bus boy friends know of some place that’s hiring.
Written by admin on August 28th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on money and Elite XC and CBS and contract and Jared Shaw and KJ Noons and fight and News and Nick Diaz and Gary Shaw and Boxing and General and MMA.
- Because he loves him some publicity, Dana White will appear on A&E’s “Mindfreak” with magician Criss Angel tonight. You say you’re not going to watch, but let’s not kid ourselves. You’re going to pretend to watch the Democratic National Convention, then get bored when there are no crazy MMA riots breaking out, and suddenly you’re thinking, ‘Man, my mind could really use a good freaking right about now.’ Boom! A&E’s got you covered. If you want a taste of Criss Angel’s particularly cloying brand of magic, I recommend this little gem.
- The ever-elusive Lyoto Machida says his fight against Thiago Silva at UFC 89 isn’t going to be another snoozefest. As he told Tatame: “I believe this fight won’t go to decision… Thiago likes to fight aggressively, me too, he has good MMA techniques, so I believe this fight might finish before the third round.” Seems like he stops just short of actually committing to finishing, or saying that he’ll be the one to finish it. Even this guy’s interviews are, um, tactical.
- Chuck Liddell’s nutritional supplement company, Iceman Rx, is anticipating a Liddell victory over Rashad Evans at UFC 88. They’re even running a sweepstakes to coincide with UFC 92, where Liddell might conceivably challenge Forrest Griffin for the UFC light heavyweight title if he is victorious next weekend. And what does the winner of that sweepstakes get? An Iceman Rx Hummer H2. Even has a picture of Liddell on the side. Rumor has it he only decided to give it away after seeing what happened to Rampage. I started that rumor.
- You thought our jokes about the Tito Ortiz/Jenna Jameson baby news were in poor taste? Just check out The Sun. They pull no punches over in the UK press, and their photoshops are meaner. Kudos to them for referring to Jenna’s porn flicks as “blue movies.” That mixture of cruelty and decorum is why I love the Brits.
Written by admin on August 27th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on baby and UFC 89 and UFC 88 and UK and Iceman Rx and photoshop and UFC 92 and sweepstakes and pregnant and Rampage Jackson and fight and Dana White and Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell and UFC and News and Lyoto Machida and General and Jenna Jameson and Thiago Silva and MMA.
(Coming atcha, Portland)
So, okay, former UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson may have some legal troubles. He may have been charged with two felonies and a couple few misdemeanors resulting from his little driving mishap, and he may even be looking at potential jail time. Big deal. Does that mean he shouldn’t take a fight in November? Maybe. Probably. But so what. He’s doing it anyway.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Dana White is actively trying to set Jackson up with a fight for UFC 91 on November 15 in Portland, Ore.:
“Of course he’ll fight,” White said. “If he was doing drugs, if he had been drunk, if he had gone out there and done what he did because he was pissed off at someone, that would be a completely different story. But he was ill. And in this company, we support our friends and anyone who works for us when they’re ill and have problems. He was ill, the incident occurred, and now he’s fine.
“Rampage feels awful about the woman’s baby, but he had nothing to do with it. And the (traffic incident) occurred because he was very ill and not with him in control of his faculties.”
All right, I understand the argument that because he was “ill” it shouldn’t be looked at in the same way as someone with a drug or alcohol problem. That makes a certain degree of sense. Until you consider that this “illness” was entirely self-imposed. Rampage decided not to eat, sleep, or drink anything other than energy drinks after his last fight. That’s not like coming down with the chicken pox. It’s more like coming down with the crazy-energy-drink pox, which is almost as bad as the cocaine pox, except not as expensive.
If Rampage really does come back in November, the next question is, who will he fight? Wanderlei Silva is looking doubtful, so there goes that bad idea. Plus, the trouble with trying to convince everyone that Rampage is perfectly fine is that you can’t reasonably set him up with an easy return bout without undermining that claim. And if you do give him someone tough, then you have to worry that he’ll have another energy drink meltdown and go careening down Burnside in a giant monster truck with his picture on the side, and nobody wants that, least of all the bums sleeping under newspapers on Burnside.
Whoever Rampage faces, don’t be surprised to see Dana White following him around with an IV and a sandwich all weekend. Maybe a tranquilizer gun, too, just to be on the safe side.
Written by admin on August 26th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on felony charges and energy drinks and monster truck and November 15 and UFC 91 and Portland and Rampage Jackson and fight and Dana White and UFC and News and Wanderlei Silva and General and MMA.
I don’t know why I was so discouraged to hear that Elite XC had decided to match Kimbo Slice against Ken Shamrock, with a Brett Rogers option reserved for some possible version of the future. I should have expected this. I guess I’m just too much of an optimist. I thought Elite XC might try for a competitive, somewhat meaningful fight instead. I’ll never learn.
It’s not that I don’t understand what Elite XC is thinking. If anything, that part is all too obvious. They want a name to put on the marquee next to Kimbo’s. Someone with drawing power, yes, but not someone who stands a good chance of winning. Preferably, they’d also like the next Kimbo victim to be susceptible to knockout. So they called on Shamrock, an over-the-hill legend who has been getting KO’d by a list of fighters that starts out fairly impressive and then gets less and less so as we near the present. He’s perfect, given their priorities, but that only tells us how screwed up their priorities are.
But it’s not just Shamrock-Slice. Look at another high profile Elite XC fighter, Gina Carano. Instead of matching her up against “Cyborg” Santos — a fight they were already hyping by the end of Santos’ victory at “Unfinished Business” — they’ve decided to put Carano up against Kelly Kobald, who’s coming off two straight losses. They’re not even bothering to try and come up with a compelling explanation for it, just ask Pro Elite CEO Chuck Champion:
“It’s giving both an opportunity to further develop their fan bases and develop further excitement around the potential of them coming together,” Chuck Champion, CEO of ProElite, which runs the EliteXC brand, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “If Chris destroys another opponent, people are really going to be clamoring, especially if Gina gets in and clobbers hers. It’s just really about letting the fighters develop, letting them grow in their skills and their character development in order for them to eventually meet one another.”
In other words, they’d rather string us along with a few squash matches first. The fact that they aren’t even intended to be competitive, that doesn’t seem to bother Elite XC. And that’s what’s really disappointing.
This begs the question, what are we watching for? Is it to see a good fight, or just a good beating? Is it because we want to know who wins, or because we want to know how bad it can get?
The worst of it is that Elite XC is squandering a great opportunity. They think that people will tune in to CBS, see Kimbo beat down Shamrock and Carano demolish Kobald, and then we’ll all be foaming at the mouth to see a pay-per-view where they actually make legitimate fights for a change. But what they’re really doing is intentionally putting an inferior product on live network TV. Someone please tell me, how does that help them build a fan base?
Maybe it wouldn’t be so irritating if they weren’t so glib about it. Elite XC has got to be the only MMA promotion in the world where being a talented fighter can keep you out of the main event. The sole reason Brett Rogers isn’t getting his shot at Kimbo on CBS is because he might win. You can’t even argue that it has to do with his lack of name recognition among casual fans, not after they put Kimbo against James Thompson in their first CBS offering.
It’s not that Shamrock can’t win, either. Any guy who knows his way around a submission the way he does always has a chance. But we all know who Elite XC wants to see come out on top, and that’s not how a fight promotion is supposed to work. Not if it wants to be taken seriously, anyway.
They know what they’re doing with these purposely one-sided fights, and they know that we know. Either they think it’s what we want, or they don’t care. Neither option is very encouraging.
(-Ben Fowlkes)
Written by admin on August 25th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Elite XC and fight and CBS and Chuck Champion and Gina Carano Cyborg Santos and Brett Rogers and Pro Elite and UFC and Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock and Commentary and MMA.
(In Trigg’s defense, he had just gotten out of the pool.)
Sengoku’s “Fourth Battle” went down today in Saitama, Japan, featuring the long-awaited returns of Takanori Gomi and Frank Trigg, and the first round of their lightweight grand prix. In a non-tourney main event bout, Gomi faced 5-1 Korean DEEP vet Seung Hwan Bang — who should have been steamrolled by the legendary “Fireball Kid” — but Bang hung in for all three rounds. Eventually, Gomi’s accurate striking and control of the fight’s pace convinced the judges to unanimously give him the win. Trigg’s opponent was Makoto Takimoto, a judoka and PRIDE vet who came into the fight with a 4-4 MMA record, and as with Gomi, the fight was a little more difficult than it should have been. Trigg dominated the standup and inflicted major damage from top positions on the ground, but Takimoto nearly caught Twinkle Toes in a kimura in the second round, and spent a lot of the third on top; still, it wasn’t enough to prevent the judges from giving Trigg the decision after the fight went the distance.
The first round of Sengoku’s lightweight tournament held some surprises as three big names were unceremoniously bounced out of the competition. The HIT Squad’s Clay French was tapped in 31 seconds via achilles lock by former Pancrase mainstay Satoru Kitaoka, and jiu-jitsu ace Rodrigo Damm also suffered a first-round submission at the hands of Eiji Mitsuoka. Former IFL lightweight champ Ryan Schultz, who was the biggest favorite to win his first GP match, got his lights put out by a superman-punch from Cage Force champ Mizuto Hirota in the second round of their fight. Full results after the jump; videos to come.
Main Event Bouts:
Takanori Gomi def. Seung Hwan Bang via unanimous decision
Frank Trigg def. Makoto Takimoto via unanimous decision
Lightweight Grand Prix Opening Round:
Mizuto Hirota def. Ryan Schultz via KO (superman punch), 4:25 of round 2
Kazunori Yokata def. Bojan Kosednar via unanimous decision
Eiji Mitsuoka def. Rodrigo Damm via submission (rear naked choke), 3:13 of round 1
Satoru Kitaoka def. Clay French via submission (achilles lock), 0:31 of round 1
Undercard:
Valentijn Overeem def. Yoshihiki Takahashi via KO (flying knee), 2:42 of round 1
Moise Rimbon def. Peter Graham via submission (rear naked choke), 0:42 of round 2
Yang Dong Yi def. Pawel Nastula via TKO, 2:15 of round 2
Written by admin on August 24th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on lightweights and Japan and grand prix and Fourth Battle and gp and Superman punch and results and Frank Trigg and Takanori Gomi and Recap and "Sengoku" and Ryan Schultz and MMA.
Former IFL welterweight champ Jay Hieron has reportedly verbally agreed to face Drew Fickett at the next Affliction event in Las Vegas on October 11. The real question is, will Fickett find some clever new way to screw it up? Fickett’s manager, Alexander Oxendine, seems open to that possibility:
“We’re in discussion with a few organizations and Affliction is one of them,” said Oxendine. “They are at the top of our list. As far as Drew is concerned, he’s made a great turnaround with his life and training. He is ready to move forward.”
If you don’t know, Fickett is the same guy who managed to get himself fired from MFC and booted off a Strikeforce card in one glorious weekend when he tried to breach his contract in the apparent hopes that no one would figure it out. They did, chaos ensued, and Fickett went on to lose via questionable stoppage in a Rage in the Cage event.
So now one of MMA’s favorite troublemakers is being offered a spot in Affliction against one of the tougher welterweights outside of the UFC, and he’s not sure if he wants to take it? Affliction should not only be at the top of his list, it should be the entire list. He should run down there and sign the contract in his own blood before they have a chance to change their minds. Let’s hope this is just a negotiating ploy by his agent. If Fickett ends up turning this down to fight in some small show at a fairground somewhere, we’ll know it’s time for new management. No, not Mark Dion, either.
Written by admin on August 23rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Affliction and fight and MFC and Las Vegas and Rage in the Cage and General and Strikeforce and IFL and UFC and Drew Fickett and News and Jay Hieron and MMA.
(Just one girl? Must have been a slow week for Chuck.)
- Chuck Liddell makes his case for a title shot after UFC 88. (MMA Weekly)
- Trying to make sense out of Elite XC’s crazy week. (MMA Rated Radio)
- Chris Horodecki-Dan Lauzon officially on for Affliction: Day of Reckoning (Sherdog)
- Evan Tanner is not a big fan of MMA, as this half-assed UFC 87 breakdown reveals. (Spike.com)
- Dana White and Anderson Silva nominated for “Top 49 Men of 2008″ (AskMen.com)
- How MMA saved JoJo Thompson’s life. (AZCentral.com)
- False blood work prompts fighter and trainer suspensions. (MMA Opinion)
- The most marketable names in sports. (Wall Street Fighter)
- Frat boy movie review of “Death Race.” (Screen Junkies)
- A harrowing tale of the days before internet porn, and how Kate Moss almost ruined everything. (Holy Taco)
Written by admin on August 22nd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Elite XC and fight and General and Affliction and Death Race and Kate Moss and JoJo Thompson and Dan Lauzon and Evan Tanner and Chuck Liddell and UFC and Anderson Silva and Dana White and Chris Horodecki and News and MMA.
(You thought the fight was messy…)
Three KJ Noons stories in one day? It feels like that episode of “The Twilight Zone” where everyone looked like pigs except for the one blonde girl, only instead of everyone looking like pigs they’re all talking about KJ Noons, which is even crazier. I don’t know who would be the blonde girl in this analogy, but you get the point.
Insane though it may be, this is too good not to report. You remember the deadline put forth by Jared Shaw? Where he said KJ Noons had until 5 pm today to agree to the bout with Nick Diaz, and if he didn’t he would face the dreaded “public opinion” as a consequence? Well, get your opinions ready, because according to Noons’ manager, Mark Dion, they aren’t concerned in the least with Shaw’s ultimatum:
“The update on [the deadline] is nothing is going to happen with it,” Dion said. “That’s what’s going to happen with that. I don’t care about how many threats [Shaw] wants to pull. We’ll be doing a press conference if EliteXC doesn’t see the light here pretty soon and if Shaw doesn’t stop talking [expletive].”
“As far as Nick Diaz, he’s not the No. 1 contender out there,” Dion said. “To [EliteXC] he is. He’s the number one (for getting) eyeballs to (watch) them. They’re pushing on eyeballs versus a career move for a champion like KJ. KJ is really not the one who gets anything out of the fight. Diaz does and so does ProElite.”
“We’ll do a press conference to discuss everything,” Dion said. “But there’s nothing in it for KJ unless [EliteXC] finally wakes up a little bit. That’s why we’ll have a press conference. I don’t like to talk and beat a company that’s already beat down. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully they’ll see the light.”
Looks like the relationship between KJ Noons/Mark Dion and Elite XC/Jared Shaw just went from unfriendly to straight-up hostile. Dion just had to go and mention that Pro Elite is struggling. That’s like bringing someone’s mother into the argument. Now this thing is personal.
The point about Diaz not being a number one contender, but rather simply Elite XC’s number one contender is an interesting one. You could argue that Noons isn’t really a lightweight champ, but rather just Elite XC’s lightweight champ, though then you’d just be stating the obvious. So who does Dion think should get the shot?
“I would think Eddie Alvarez is the No. 1 contender,” Dion said. “He’s definitely ranked higher than Nick Diaz. KJ already beat Nick Diaz.”
When told that Alvarez was unavailable to fight because he’s taking time off to get married, Dion responded, “that’s not our problem…People get married in five or 10 minutes.”
Clearly, Mark Dion is not only a master negotiator, but also a totally sweet dude. People do get married in five or ten minutes. That’s a fact. So what now, Elite XC?
At this point, some of you are probably wondering, isn’t this brash Mark Dion character the same guy who was involved in the Brandon Vera-UFC contract debacle? The answer is yes, but don’t bring that up unless you’ve got a minute:
“Look at Brandon Vera,” Dion said. “He had a long layoff, but he’s making more money than the No. 1 ranked [expletive] fighter in the world, Anderson Silva — or the same amount.
“And now Anderson Silva is getting Bud Light sponsorships from (UFC President) Dana (White) handed down to him. He’s getting to fight at 205 (pounds). He’s kind of telling them what he wants to do. Why? Because you got people like Brandon Vera, who’s on a losing streak and not performing, making more money than the most valuable guy.
“Who do you think negotiated that [expletive] contract a year and a half ago? And if you look at my Post-it, the one I negotiated was a $7 million deal for four years. It’s nothing close to [$100,000] and [$100,000] (as a win bonus). As far as trying to bring in the Mark Dion negatives and stuff, good luck. Show me any negatives on it. And that’s just a pitch [EliteXC] can use. But hey, I know my [expletive]. I’ve been around this sport a long, long time.”
And so it goes. Your turn, Jared Shaw. Better make it count.
Written by admin on August 21st, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Elite XC and KJ Noons and contract and Jared Shaw and Mark Dion and deadline and fight and General and Anderson Silva and UFC and Dana White and Nick Diaz and Brandon Vera and News and MMA.
(This seems like something we should relive on network television, right?)
The rumor mill has been churning this week as to who Elite XC will get to take on Kimbo Slice on their October 4 CBS event, which is being called something of a make-or-break show for the organization. In a new article on Si.com, Josh Gross adds another name to the list: Sean freaking Gannon.
As in, the Boston cop who defeated Slice in an ugly, amateurish brawl back in 2004. As in, the guy who later got a shot in the UFC, only to be trounced by the unremarkable Brandon Lee Hinkle. As in, the guy who is officially 1-1 in MMA competition. That Sean Gannon.
Gross says that difficulty signing Ken Shamrock and concerns that undefeated heavyweight Brett Rogers would actually beat Kimbo (apparently that’s enough to nix an opponent for Slice) are making the Gannon bout a very real possibility at this point.
There are many, many reasons why this is an idiotic idea. To name just one, Gannon isn’t an MMA fighter. He hasn’t competed since 2005, doesn’t seem to be actively pursuing a career in the sport, and hasn’t done anything that would suggest he should be fighting professionally on CBS. He’s just a tough guy who once fought and outlasted Kimbo back in his street brawling days. In other words, this fight would be a major step back for MMA, not to mention one that would happen on network TV.
Let’s all hope that this is nothing more than a vicious, hateful rumor. Let’s hope that when Elite XC executives hear of it, they scoff out loud. Let’s hope that when Brett Rogers hears of it, he doesn’t murder whoever is closest to him. Let’s hope, but let’s not be too shocked if it turns out to be true.
Written by admin on August 20th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on General and fight and Elite XC and rematch and Brett Rogers and News and UFC and Kimbo Slice and Sean Gannon and Ken Shamrock and MMA.
(”The Athlete” is ready to get back after it.)
- Jason “Dooms” Day has been forced to pull out of his UFC 88 bout with fattie-turned-middleweight Jason Lambert because of a biceps injury, but those of you who are fans of seeing Lambert’s man-boobs in the Octagon needn’t worry. Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald is stepping in as a replacement for Day, despite the fact that he just went three rounds in a losing effort against Demian Maia at UFC 87. Good move for MacDonald. If you can’t win ‘em all, the next best way to keep the UFC happy is to fight ‘em all, especially when called upon on short notice.
- Poor Nate Quarry just can’t catch a break. After coming back from a nearly career-ending back injury only to be forced to chase Kalib Starnes in circles, Quarry has now been sidelined with an eye injury that is strangely not related to fighting. Apparently Quarry was at a party where people were hitting golf balls into the woods — like you do, just for kicks — and he accidentally walked into someone’s backswing. Despite breaking the Orbital Floor bone in his eye, Quarry is not seriously hurt, though he will be kept out of action for at least a few more months.
- American Top Team coach Andrei Benkei is leaving the squad due to “ideological disagreements” with head coach Ricardo Liborio. Benkei told Tatame that he’ll still work with several high profile ATT fighters like Thiago Alves and “Bigfoot” Silva, among others, but it’s been reported that Benkei disapproved of the way Liborio was turning ATT into “a big McDonald’s” by selling its name to karate gyms. For shame, Ricardo. Karate gyms? That’s the MMA gym equivalent of giving hand jobs in the Wal-Mart parking lot. You never need money that badly.
- It’s not MMA news, but it’s worth mentioning: Sumo wrestling has been rocked by a drug scandal. A totally lame drug scandal. Russian Sumo wrestler (they exist?) Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev was arrested for possessing a third of a gram of weed. According to CNN, it’s “enough to land him in prison on a diet of forced labor for five years if he’s convicted.” Five years for a third of a gram in Japan? Nick Diaz should really be informed about that before returning to fight for Dream again.
Written by admin on August 19th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Japan and fight and General and UFC 88 and arrest and Sumo and Ricardo Liborio and Andrei Benkei and Jason Day and weed and Thiago Alves and News and UFC and Jason Lambert and Jason MacDonald and marijuana and Antonio Silva and american top team and MMA.
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