Report: Noons vs. Diaz rematch officially off
August 22, 2008 by Adam Morgan
It looks as if we won’t be seeing that K.J. Noons vs. Nick Diaz rematch on the October EliteXC card after all. There has been a lot of jabbering between the two sides in the past couple of days and according to MMA Rated, the bout is now officially off of the October 4 EliteXC card on CBS:
It was hoped that both sides would reach some sort of agreement but, according to EliteXC VP Jared Shaw, in the end both ProElite and Noons’ agent, Mark Dion, were unable to agree to the terms of the contract.
Interestingly enough, Shaw informed us that throughout this whole process no one from ProElite was able to speak to Noons directly as his management team refused any direct contact between the two sides.
Shaw mentioned that ProElite will not be stripping Noons of his 160 lbs title at this time but hopes that Noons will “wake up and smell the Hawaiian coffee” sooner rather than later.
The report goes on to say that Diaz will not be fighting on the card but will instead appear on the November 8 Showtime card and that his opponent has yet to be named. This whole situation just baffles me. How, as a fighter, do you let your management control 100% of what’s going on? Why does Noons not get a say in anything? More to the point, why isn’t Noons demanding that he be involved in the process?
Opportunities like this don’t come along very often. The opportunity to defend your title against a high profile opponent on national television is a rare one. Add that to the fact that people will actually be watching this EliteXC card because of Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano (unlike the last EliteXC show) and you have a perfect opportunity to get a ridiculous amount of exposure. All the money in the world can’t buy you the kind of exposure that Noons would receive from fighting on this card. To not seize that opportunity is just plain stupid, especially given EliteXC’s financial situation.
With all the information that has come out the past couple of days, I really don’t think this has anything to do with Noons ducking Diaz. Instead, I think it has to do with his management being some of the dumbest people on Earth. Mark Dion can talk about how long he’s been in the sport and how great of an agent he is but the reality is that he’s already completely burned his bridges with the UFC and is now doing the same with EliteXC. There’s only so many bridges to burn in this sport and those are two of the biggest. K.J. Noons needs to take the Brandon Vera route and get as far away from Dion as humanly possible. And quickly.
Actually, the report doesn’t say that Diaz is still going to be fighting on the card.
“As a result, Nick Diaz will NOT appear on the 10/4 show but will be fighting on the 11/8 EliteXC on Showtime event. At this time, his opponent is unknown.”
Whoops, my bad.
noons is a chump, not a true champ.
ProElite not getting to talk directly to Noons doesn’t mean that Noons has no say in anything. It is possible that he didn’t get a say (although I think unlikely), but many people use another party during negotiations and have that person do the negotiating because they realize there are some advantages that brings (whether buying a house, buying a car, negotiating a salary/contract for those in a position where an agent is allowed, etc.). Noons seems like a smart enough guy that I would be surprised if he wasn’t talking to his agent for much of this.
Great article Adam -
The way things are looking EliteXC might not be around too much longer and this could be the last CBS show they do. In any event, the exposure will be huge and as a marketable looking fighter he could pick up HUGE sponsorships as a result.
I still have hopes of this fight coming off though if only because I can’t picture Noons not insisting on it. Otherwise, he’s forever marked as a chump in my eyes…
Ironically, Darin, calling Noons smart and mentioning that he actually had a say in this debacle is a bit contradictory. I’m with Adam on this one…Noons, Dion, whoever made this asinine decision should be embarrassed. Somebody’s ego is getting in the way of creating a name (and thus some future big time paydays) for KJ Noons. I’ll reiterate what Adam said here…KJ, put some distance between yourself and Mark Dion. The only person making a name for themself at this point is him…and the name is tainted with poison. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on this one, KJ…and hopefully you ARE smart enough to fire Dion.
Maybe Noons is on vacation or something.
Regardless, this fight should have happened. Didn’t Dion screw over Vera at one time? Hopefully Noons gets a new agent soon.
I’m really, REALLY curious if this is a case of Noons’ manager doing the same thing he did with Vera, or if it’s Noons himself. I don’t personally think Diaz is worthy of another shot; since losing to Noons, all he’s done in the organization is beat Corbbrey and Denny, and neither of those guys really matter. Denny put up a hell of a fight, but Diaz should have been able to put away Corbbrey MUCH earlier then he did. It would be different if Diaz was KO/submitting guys in the first round, but frankly, I think he’s looked pretty craptastic lately.
This whole situation is just crazy. Since when did a fighter’s manager get to decide who was and wasn’t worth of title shots? The organizations rank fighters and make matches and decide who deserves a title shot, being the champion doesn’t also make you your own matchmaker for your title defenses. It doesn’t matter who Diaz has or hasn’t fought or how many he has won in the last year, EliteXC said he was the number one contender so he’s the number one contender end of story, Mark Dion has no say in the matter.
Can you image what would happen if a UFC champion told a guy Joe Silva said got the next title fight that he wasn’t worthy and couldn’t have the shot? Seriously can you imagine if Forrest Griffin told the UFC that Rampage Jackson wasn’t worthy of a title fight and didn’t deserve a rematch? Can you imagine if Anderson Silva had told Rich Franklin that he hadn’t done enough to deserve a rematch so he couldn’t have one before their last fight. Can you imagine if Matt Serra had told GSP that he hadn’t proved that he deserved a rematch for the belt because he hadn’t beat enough guys since their last fight or if Matt Hughes had told GSP before their second fight that he’d already beat him once and he demanded better competition or he wouldn’t fight?
The only way Noons is in the clear here is if he is on vacation on an Island that has no media outlets entirely ie…phones, internet, etc…cuz u have to believe he has read the bad press and friends hav definitely called saying, dude! Step up here and whoop this guy! I think Noons is the better fighter but that being said I think Diaz is the more danerous fighter! The reason I feel this way is because he can submit anyone of any level @ anytime
jdavis-”This whole situation is just crazy. Since when did a fighter’s manager get to decide who was and wasn’t worth of title shots? ”
The problem lies in that Marc Dion is a boxing manager first and foremost. In that sport, managers have a lot of say as to who and when their fighter will fight, even champs. Its one of the problems with that sport. People will slam the UFC for not letting their fighters fight elsewhere, and I agree to a point. But by letting fighters fight all over leads to more power for some of these power hungry managers like Marc Dion or Vadim Finkelstein. Thus one of the pitfalls of inter-promotional contracts.
Noons is a bitch. The end.
Whether Noons should fight Diaz is one issue, but how he negotiates with the org. is another, seperate issue. I think it’s good strategy to force Shaw and the org. to deal exclusively with his manager. If Noons gets inolved in direct talks with Shaw and Shaw doesn’t like what Noons’ management is doing, they’ll try to go directly to Noons, cutting out the manager. By staying out of it, Noons avoids undercutting his own representative and undermining the strategy. No “divide and conquer.”
Mike wolfe: No “divide and conquer.”
Exactly. That was basically my point. A person in any negotiations not letting the other side use the “divide and conquer” strategy on them doesn’t mean they aren’t involved. I hope that at some point we get to hear Noons’ take on all this, as there could be a lot of things we don’t know about what he wanted vs what ProElite was willing to do, or his plans.