
KJ Noons of San Diego has been stripped of his EliteXC lightweight title. The announcement was made Friday by EliteXC Head of Fight Operations, Jeremy Lappen.
The foremost reason EliteXC is taking this action, Lappen said, was due to Noons reluctance to defend against leading 160-pound contender Nick Diaz of Stockton, Calif.
We are stripping KJ of his championship belt for refusing to defend against Diaz, Lappen said. Its a very unfortunate situation but we cannot have belt-holders who refuse to fight the top contenders. We want champions who will fight anyone, anytime, anyplace. Thats the mentality all champions should have.
I feel very bad for KJ because I like him a lot on a personal level and have always thought he could be a big star. Hes charismatic, has a very exciting fighting style and is a top level fighter. So Im obviously disappointed that he has chosen to take this stance.
I dont understand why he would turn down a chance to be a headliner on CBS on Oct. 4. KJ then turned down the fight again when we offered him a headlining spot on our next SHOWTIME date against Nick. From my view, it is a fight against a top-named opponent in Diaz (someone who beat the No. 1 fighter in the world in his weight class), a fighter KJ has bad blood with and a fight the fans really wanted to see. It seemed like a great opportunity for KJ to me.
Personally, I do not think it was a smart career move, but Im sure he sees it differently. KJ has two more fights remaining on his contract, so we are still looking forward to having him fight for us again soon, but not as our world champion.
EliteXC will announce a fight for the vacant lightweight title in the near future, Lappen said.
Good. I dont care how Noons spins it, he ducked Nick Diaz. He talks about how he deserves to be treated like a champ . well, he should act like one first. Besides, the guy was never really a worthy champion. Lets look at what he did in EliteXC:
His first fight, he gets knocked out by a fucking clown who hardly anyone respects in Charles Krazy Horse Bennett. He got his ass whooped bad.
In his second fight, he beat some no-name who doesnt even have a wikipedia page.
So, at 1-1, losing to trash and then beating trash, the guy gets a title shot against Nick Diaz. Obviously, he never deserved the title shot, but since the jackass got one, he took full advantage of the opportunity. Ill admit he looked good in that first round, but the fact of the matter is that Diaz wouldve bounced back. He always does. He did so against a much superior fighter in Takanori Gomi, and Im 100% positive he wouldve done so against KJ Noons. However, the doc stopped the fight before the second round started and thats the way Noons won the belt: In bullshit fashion.
Now we have a champ whos 2-1 in the company, and won the belt because of some cut, instead of stopping Diaz or dominating him into a legitimate decision victory. Bullshit.
SIX months later, he then goes on to have a good victory against an over the hill Yves Edwards. In the meantime, Nick Diaz wins three fights in a row, in just three months I might add. He had to take some time off after the Noons fight for not only the cut to heal, but also because he got plastic surgery to remove scar tissue from around his eyebrows so he wouldnt bleed so easily.
So thats the deal. He doesnt give Nick a rematch, instead he fights a good friend and a guy whose hasnt been a true contender for anything since like, UFC 50. And then, after Nicks proves to be worthy of a title shot after winning three fights in three months, Noons still doesnt grant him a title shot because EliteXC doesnt treat him like a champion. Give me a fucking break.
I would like this douchebag if he had just simply gave Diaz a rematch like he deserved, but instead he acted like a fucking cunt. And thats why Im happy hes been stripped of the title. He didnt deserve to have it in the first place if you ask me.
And now, rumor is that the title will be put up in a fight between Nick Diaz and Eddie Alvarez on November 8th. Should be a great fight, and EliteXC will finally get a Lightweight whos truly worthy of being called a champion.
As far as Noons future goes, the douche wants to be a boxer, good luck. He wont be able to fight MMA again unless its in EliteXC since his contract obliges him to fight two more fights in the company. Even though he was stripped of the title, he wasnt let out of his contract like the article says above, so he wont be able to go to the UFC or Dream or Affliction, if that was one of his intentions. But thats a little bit too bad though because I would love to see the coward go to the UFC and get his ass handed to him over and over again by all the superior lightweights in that company.