K.J. Noons Stripped of EliteXC Belt

by Kid Nate on Sep 20, 2008 8:30 AM EDT in News

Noons This isn't a surprise, EliteXC bossman Jeremy Lappen:

"We are stripping KJ of his championship belt for refusing to defend against Diaz,’’ Lappen said. "It’s 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.That’s 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.He’s charismatic, has a very exciting fighting style and is a top level fighter. So I’m obviously disappointed that he has chosen to take this stance.

"I don’t 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 I’m 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.’’

I don't blame Noons for being frustrated with his contract but I also understand that EliteXC is beyond broke and isn't about to give out any mid-contract raises. Its also pretty certain that Noons is getting bad advice from the infamous Mark Dion.

Missing the chance to headline on CBS is blowing a career opportunity of enormous proportions. If Dion was worth spit he could get Noons enough sponsorship deals to make up a lot of the money he isn't getting on his fights. I imagine he won't be making any more money sitting out or fighting on the undercard of ShoXC fight cards.

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I don’t see why Elite is so upset with Noons for a non-defense.

Kimbo is the draw at heavyweight over their title holder, who just tested positive.
They have no light heavyweight title holder.
The middleweight and welterweight titles did not prove to have drawing power on the second CBS card.

Titles don’t factor into them making money, and I don’t think adding one to Diaz will change that.

by Baudelaire on Sep 20, 2008 9:24 AM EDT 0 recs

Title = more sponsorship money

by cyph on Sep 20, 2008 10:44 AM EDT up 0 recs

Okay, I’ll grant you that; however, I was addressing my thoughts from Elite’s view and not of the title holders. Or, are you suggesting Elite is doing this is some beneficent gesture for a lightweight who will defend their belt?

I guess I was just being cynical and offering that Elite should concern themselves with things that make them money.
And those things are not their titleholders.

by Baudelaire on Sep 20, 2008 11:05 AM EDT up 0 recs

Titlefighters > non titlefights

by cyph on Sep 20, 2008 11:44 AM EDT up 0 recs

Sure.

by Baudelaire on Sep 20, 2008 11:58 AM EDT up 0 recs

I’ll assume you meant Title Fights > Non Title Fights.

However, that doesn’t work for EliteXC.
See heavyweight title fight unaired and Kimbo headling.

by Baudelaire on Sep 20, 2008 12:07 PM EDT up 0 recs

Sorry to jump in here.

But, Kimbo is a draw of casual fans, thus the headlining. In the long run, a promotion needs to establish titles and champions to succeed. Fans need to know the direction that fighters are heading. Even if they tune in to see Kimbo, they need to know that he is climbing his way up to get the belt, from someone like Bigfoot. Imagine having the NFL season, with no Superbowl or championship game. You just need that end goal, imo.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Sep 20, 2008 12:13 PM EDT up 0 recs

I don’t think the people who are captivated by the personality of Kimbo are waiting for him to work his way up to a title shot.

by Baudelaire on Sep 20, 2008 3:59 PM EDT up 0 recs

Makes sense to me

I respect Noons position and wish him luck, but sometimes a noble stance comes with repurcussions. Even properly spelled ones.

by mythbuster on Sep 20, 2008 11:02 AM EDT 0 recs

1st off, I want to see Alvarez/Diaz for the title.

2nd, they should have just taken the Dana route and had an interim title. I’ve got a fever and the only cure, is more interims.

3rd, not going to take either side here, but it seems a questionable move for a struggling promotion. I don’t like BS like this. However, as a struggling promotion, they need to have their titles in the mix and can’t afford to let KJ stall them out.

I guess we will see how this works out. If it is Diaz vs an easier opponent, I will be very disappointed. Maybe Nick vs Gina, lol??

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Sep 20, 2008 12:05 PM EDT 0 recs

I don't blame KJ

Why would he step in the cage with Diaz.

Diaz has a hard time making 160.

Diaz is not necessarily the #1 contender.

Diaz and his runt little brother showed no class after KJs last defense.

Diaz will make more money on this fight than KJ. If I were Noons i would never allow this to happen.

If your argument is that Noons will receive career changing exposure by fighting on CBS, then my answer is that Diaz would recieve the same exposure. Noons is in effect holding the Golden Ticket, and isn’t willing to share it with a scumbag like Diaz.

If Diaz winds up winning the title from whatever can EXC puts him up against, we the fans will always know that he never beat Noons to get it. By the way, if you remember, Noons was the original hand picked can for Diaz to beat for the title, and that plan blew up right in their face.

In closing I believe Noons sees the sinking EXC ship, and isn’t willing to give them a money fight to bolster their bottom line. I think he is waiting for this ship to sink and the UFC to throw him a raft. UFC PPV > EXCBS

by nitro on Sep 20, 2008 12:39 PM EDT 0 recs

yeah well Diaz has the Golden Ticket now

and Noons just screwed himself.

by Kid Nate on Sep 20, 2008 1:03 PM EDT up 0 recs

Yep, good for him for sticking to his guns.

Bad for him that he missed out on the huge endorsement cash and chance to flatten Diaz on a national stage and make a name for himself. (CBS actually seems to be promoting this event, including ads during their Sunday football coverage).

by Day Man on Sep 20, 2008 1:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

I wouldn't expect that UFC raft

Do you honestly think Dana White would sit down and negotiate another fighter contract with Mark Dion? Noons manager burnt his bridges with the UFC during the Brandon Vera debacle. If KJ Noons is waiting for the UFC then it’s going to be a long long wait and even if they did give him the time of day they aren’t going to offer a relatively unknown guy with 9 fights any more than the 20k+ a fight that he thought wasn’t enough from EliteXC.

Noons might of had some gripes against EliteXC but he went the wrong way about handling them, now he gets to sit on the bench under contract instead of drastically increasing his exposure and value by defending a title on network tv. Nick Diaz has already had major UFC exposure in the past but casual fans don’t know or care about who KJ Noons is. The only things he’s known for are beating Nick Diaz by cut (it is something that comes up every time the fight is mentioned) and getting knocked out by Krazy Horse Bennett. Nick Diaz doesn’t need the CBS “golden ticket” like Noons does, heck Diaz was on the last CBS card. In the end the majority of casual MMA fans won’t know that KJ Noons ever had the belt or even exist for that matter.

As far as Diaz making more money, well duh. MMA fighters sign contracts to get paid according to how big a draw they are, holding a belt(particularly a EliteXC belt) is irrelevant unless it’s getting you exposure to the public. This is MMA business 101 stuff, if you want to make more money as a MMA fighter you need to get as much positive fan exposure as you can. Refusing to fight on network tv(twice) is the exact opposite of what you should do if you are wanting to make more money in MMA.

by who me on Sep 21, 2008 4:40 AM EDT up 0 recs

Who's the number one contender that Lappen refers to?

Sorry to change the subject for a second here, but I’m still wondering who Lappen refers to when he said this:

"I don’t 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)

Who did Nick Diaz beat that was No.1 in the world? GOmi??? Well in my opinion that statement does not have any validation since that was a long time ago, and after that W Nick sucked ass in the next few performances. He is not the no.1 contender in EXC, but I can clearly understand why EXC wants to do the fight.

by demonianray on Sep 20, 2008 2:32 PM EDT 0 recs

IF EliteXC says Diaz is the number one contender for the EliteXC belt then he’s the number one contender for the EliteXC belt and that’s the end of the story. It’s the same as Joe Silva deciding who gets the next title shot in the UFC. Champions don’t get to decide who is or isn’t deserving of a title shot the companies do. Did anyone honestly think that Forrest Griffin was the number one contender for the UFC light heavyweight belt? When the decision came down that he was next in line then he was next in line and that was the end of the discussion about who gets the shot.

If Jerry Lappen says that Nick Diaz is the number one contender for his companies belt then that’s the end of the discussion about who gets the title shot. Yea he might not of been the true number one contender by website rankings but he is the official number one contender in EliteXC. That’s just how the system works.

by who me on Sep 21, 2008 4:50 AM EDT up 0 recs

Bottom Line

Diaz > Noons in popularity.

Champ Diaz > Champ Noons way more in popularity.

Diaz as champ would make more $$$ for Elite XC. Dont see whats so hard about that. Even then if Noons would beat Diaz again its still a good thing for him and EXC so to me, Noons just fudged himself over BIGTYME.

by xFenixKnightx on Sep 20, 2008 2:37 PM EDT 0 recs

Alvarez will be the champ

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Sep 20, 2008 6:05 PM EDT up 0 recs