This Saturday night, EliteXC will hold its first live event since the Kimbo Slice extravaganza that took place just two weeks ago. The event will take place in Honululu, Hawaii and will be televised live on Showtime. The cable audience will not be as widespread as the national televison audience that watched the May 31st event. In the past, the Showtime fight cards have been a positive for both the EliteXC as well as the sport. For whenever the bouts air on Showtime, there was significantly less fanfare than was seen on CBS. The organizatioin did without the elongated breaks or the elaborate entrances. It was simply a fight card featuring the main component everyone came to see, actual fighting.
EliteXC has entitled the event “Return of the King.’ It is a title in reference to the return of Hawaiian born lightweight champion KJ Noons. Noons will be defending his title in a main event bout against challenger Yves Edwards. The 24 year-old Noons brings in a 6-2 mma record and is also a very potent striker with an extensive boxing background. Edwards, on the other hand, carries with him a more seasoned career. During his career, the 31 year-old Edwards’ style of “thugjitsu” has enabled him to rack up a recrod of 31-13-1. His self-created style of thugjitsu is a combination of striking and grappling. Yet, that unique style may have ultimately hindered Edwards more than it has helped him.
Once one of the more promising fighters in the sport, Edwards continued to delve deeper into this world of thugjitsu. Perhaps a concentration on a more traditional fighting approach could have turned some of his defeats into victories. Edwards defines thugjitsu as finding a weakness in your opponent and exploiting it. That simple fact is basically one of the main ideas behind the entire sport of mixed martial arts. So such a philospohy may be preached moreso for just hype and notoriety. In fact, Edwards could be a victim of his own desire for the spotlight. Instead of concentrating on simply taking care of his business on the mat, Edwards contiuanlly shoots off about his style of thugjitsu. In all actuality, the word thug should have no placed in the world of mixed martiual arts. Mixed martial arts is a discipline that takes hard work, dedication and perserveance. A thug should have no real place inside the cage. Edwards’ devotion to the concept of thugjitsu could be one of the reasons he has wound up on the losing end thirteen times throughout his career.
Nevertheless, Noons will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to retain his title. Simply because Edwards has been handed thirteen defeats, doesn’t negate the fact that he is still a very dangerous fighter. Noons is much less experienced and has a very different fighting style. He will have the home crowd in his corner, but it will be a much more bitter defeat if the thug is able to come out and maximixe his own fighting style.
Another intriguing bout will be a lightweight match up between Nick Diaz and Mushin Corbbrey. Diaz is arguably one of the top fighters in the entire EliteXC and his record of 16-7 is a bit deceiving. He has only lost twice by knockout, one of which came by the hand of KJ Noons. The referee opted to stop the fight after the first round because of a cut above Diaz’s eye. A furious Diaz then left the cage feeling as though the referee made a rash decision. Three of Diaz’s defeats also came courtesy of some rather formidable opponents. While fighting in the UFC, Diaz lost decisons to Sean Sherk, Karo Parisyan and Joe Riggs. However, those losses came when Diaz was no older than the age of twenty-two. Now, at the ripe old age of twenty-four, Diaz has still yet to peak as a fighter.
If lady luck starts to deal Diaz a better hand and if he can continue to progress, Diaz could very well turn out to be one of the top mma fighters of the future. Before every great champion can taste the sweet victory that comes from being on top, they must all learn the misery of defeat. Diaz has learned that lesson and since his loss two Sherk more than two years ago, he has lost only one of his last seven fights. That loss was the questionable stoppage that came against Noons.
On Saturday, Diaz will be looking to make it seven out of his last eight against Corbbrey. It will defintely be a step up in class for the 8-2 Corbbrey who will be participating in his third EliteXC fight. Corbrrey emerged victorious in his previous two EliteXC bouts, although each was against a much lesser opponent. Corbbrey will have to be at his very best if he has any hopes of pulling off an upset against Diaz.
The other three fights on the undercard will feature Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Tony Bonello in a match up of middlewerights. Light heavyweights Rafael Feijao and Wayne Cole will also mix it up while
Dave “Pee Wee” Herman takes on veteran Ron Waterman in a clash of heavyweights. The event was originally supposed to feature a main event between Jake Shields and Drew Fickett for the first-ever EliteXC welterweight title. However, the bout was canceled because of an injury suffered by Fickett.
This weekend’s fight card will not only be an opportuniy for fighters like Diaz and Noons to heighten their prominence in the sport, but it will also be a chance for the EliteXC to get back in good standing with mma fans. The Return of the King should be appropriately titled “A chance for redemption” as the EliteXC will get back to basics and feature some quality young fighters doing battle. That fact alone should be enough to carry the sport of mixed martial arts no matter which organization sponsors the fight.
EliteXC, Recent News Dave Herman, Drew Fickett, EliteXC, EliteXC Return of the king, Jake Shields, Kimbo Slice, KJ Noons, Murilo Rua, Mushin Corbrrey, Nick Diaz, Rafael Feijao, Ron Waterman, Tony Bonello, Wayne Cole, Yves Edwards
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