Whatta *****!!! Sep 20, 2008 1:34 AM Press release LOS ANGELES KJ Noons of San Diego has been stripped of his EliteXC lightweight title. The announcement was made late 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 most definitely 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.
I was going to post this last night, but I was too lazy :yep . KJ deserves to get the title taken away for refusing to fight Diaz.
Why he beat him already and EliteXC hasn't lived up to thier end of the bargain. EliteXC isn't gonna be around for much longer in my opinion anyway. Shaw will do anything to get a "name" as his champs and Noonz isn't a "name" fighter, but guess who is, Diaz.
KJ said he would rather fight 4 or 8 rounders in boxing then deal with EliteXC in MMA, he would make more money as a undercard boxer then a "champion" MMA fighter.
He should just get the fights and contract over with. holding like Randy obviously doesn't work besides if he has a couple more impressive fights he will only raise his value when he decides to leave.
After hearing all the **** the Diaz brothers have talked, I'm sort of glad. They show a serious lack of class, Noons ****ed Diaz up already. I'm glad he held out.
They do lack class but that's part of their appeal. (n/h). Here's a little more background info . . . "Days after being slammed by EliteXC management for deciding not to accept a proposed title defense against Nick Diaz, EliteXC lightweight champion K.J. Noons has issued a formal statement regarding the situation to the media. The complete, unedited statement can be read after the jump. Noons vs Diaz or Noons vs EliteXC? It is not about being scared to fight Diaz, who I previously defeated, it is about the fight I am currently in with Elite XC regarding my career. I would first like to address all the false allegations and insults from Jared Shaw, aka $kala, VP of Elite XC. You will see why I am so disgusted of how Elite XC treated me and how it applies to this proposed fight and my career. $kala says: Honor my contract. Elite XC wants to talk about honoring the contract. How about when Elite XC honored the contract and my pay to fight Edson Berto went down after I lost my first fight. That was not part of my contract. Or how about the contract Gary Shaw breached by not promoting my boxing career? Gary Shaw only gave me one out of four of the agreed upon fights. I have not boxed for over a year. When I signed with Elite XC, I was promised they would promote both my boxing and MMA careers. I could have signed with another MMA only company, but I wanted to box too. Elite XC does me a favor after I lose, by putting me on the first ShoXC against Edson Berto? Bertos father is good friends with Jareds father, Gary Shaw who wants Bertos brother on a boxing contract. Berto was the next guy Elite XC wanted to build. But I win that fight and now I am 1-1. Elite XC gives me an opportunity to fight Diaz. Elite XC puts me against Diaz because Elite XCs roster was so light and there was nobody else to fight him. Elite XC creates a new weight class for Diaz because he beat Gomi. Giving Diaz a belt and creating a weight division (160) he can make, will make your belt legit. Sorry to ruin Elite XCs plans and beat him. Elite XC never promoted or took care of me as their champion. Examples: In the Elite XCs DVD where Diaz and I fought there are two (2) baseball cards of Diaz and Kimbo. Hello! I won the fight and Elite XCs 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 wasnt I flown in for the signing? Elite XC has never promoted me on either of their websites, EliteXC or Pro-Elite. Elite XC offered me a fight on the first CBS show, but only if I signed a new long-term contract. Instead of promoting their best fighters on CBS, you have to be on a long term contract for them to promote you. That was not our deal. 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 hes going to sue me. HAHA. Pretty hard to sue a guy who does not make jack with your company. Im 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? After paying my trainers and managers fee, I have $50,000 thousand. After taxes, probably 30 grand. Divide that by two years for $15,000 thousand a year. Divide by 52 weeks that amounts to approximately $300 a week. I do not know anybody that can survive on that amount of money. My buddies make more money than that in a couple days being a bus boy or bar back. And yes you can argue I should fight more. Elite XC doesnt give me fights or promote me, they ice me. Gary Shaw Productions only gave me one of the agreed upon four fights per the boxing contract. And I do not want to ramble on about all the little small stuff that I can keep going on about. But the straw that broke the camels 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. Im not ducking Diaz, why the hell would I be scared of someone I already beat. With that being said, I am going to focus on my boxing career. I can make more money doing 6 and 8 rounders every other month and make more than I did being the Elite XC defending world champ. At least I will be able to sleep at night and be able to look myself in the mirror everyday. That right there is worth more than $300 bucks a week or fighting a guy I cannot stand for less money than him the second time around. Will the Diaz fight happen, yes. Will the fight happen on Elite XC on October 4, 2008, probably not. The way things are being run by Chuck Champion, a guy whose history is newspapers, not fighting, and $kala, someone who talks a lot of game, but has never put on a pair of gloves, never stepped in a ring or cage. $kala has had everything handed to him with a silver spoon from daddy. Does anyone else but me think $kala just wants to be famous and stir up all this dirty laundry? I guess any publicity is good publicity. When I think about it, it has been good promotion for their October card since nobody is talking about it until you bring up the Noons vs. Diaz match up. Before I end, I would like to thank my team, my trainers and workout partners for helping me prepare for my fights hours every day. I would like to also thank my manager Mark Dion for standing behind my decision making. I want to be a fighter who is not doing whatever I am being told like some kind of mindless puppet. Thanks for hearing my side. K.J. NOONS "
This may be a statement other fighters might follow. We may be seeing the way future contracts get worked out, turning more into boxing like contracts. Fighters don't like the contracts or the crap money they get, sometime in the near future you will see fighters trying to sign non exclusive fight contracts much like Fedors.
Elite XC never wanted Noons as their champion anyway. Noons seems to have a very legitimate beef with the company.
