K.J. Noons says he’s a free agent, EliteXC says otherwise
K.J. Noons was stripped of the EliteXC lightweight title almost a month ago after not coming to terms with EliteXC on a possible title defense against Nick Diaz. The promotion wanted to schedule Noons vs. Diaz for their October 4 EliteXC “Heat” show on CBS. Noons refused to defend the title against Nick Diaz and cited several reasons, including the fact that he felt Diaz wasn’t the number one contender for the title.
Due to the promotion taking his title away, Noons now believes he’s a free agent. “I’m a free agent,” Noons told Sherdog.
Noons was stripped of the title after allowing a 24 hour period which he was given to accept the fight against Diaz expire. EliteXC then publicly announced that they were stripping Noons of the title. But Noons claims that’s not how it went down.
“We weren’t coming to agreements on the fight, so I gave them written notice that I’d give them the belt back five days prior before they stripped me. I didn’t make it public, and I guess to prove a point, or maybe out of ego or whatever they want, they stripped me,” said Noons.
Due to the stripping of the title, Noons believes the two final fights on his contract are null and void, claiming that the fights he owed them were as a champion and now that he’s not a champion that those fights are no longer his obligation.
Jeremy Lappen, EliteXC’s Head of Fight Operations, claims that Noons still has two more fights on his contract no matter what and hopes that the two parties can come to some kind of agreement. Lappen also went on to say that EliteXC and Noons’ camp have been in negotiations and that progress has been good. No formal agreement has been made between the two parties but EliteXC did allow Noons to pursue a boxing match on November 13.
“We’re still on good terms. We’re gonna see if we can work a deal out, but as of right now, we are on the same page as I’m going to go box right now,” said Noons.
In the meantime, the vacated EliteXC lightweight title will soon have a home around someone’s waist. It has been announced that Eddie Alvarez and Nick Diaz will face off on November 8 in Reno, Nevada.
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I hope KJ fights again for EliteXC a title fight between him and Alvarez would be a great fight to see.
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I really can’t get over how absurd this situation is. Noons saying he wants Alvarez (and rightfully so), while EliteXC says that fight is impossible, and forces Diaz. They strip Noons of the title, and now it’s Diaz vs. Alvarez?? I know I dog Dana for his games, but these are outright shenanigans.
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“We weren’t coming to agreements on the fight, so I gave them written notice that I’d give them the belt back five days prior before they stripped me. I didn’t make it public, and I guess to prove a point, or maybe out of ego or whatever they want, they stripped me,” said Noons.
Are you kidding me? Who does this jackass think he is, Randy Couture? He cant pull this crap with the lack of experience he has. The only reason he was the champ was because EX/C created a lightweight division to suit Nick Diaz, and instead of Nick getting his face fixed to begin with, knowing how dangerous it was that if he didn’t he’d probably get his face re-arranged, Noons capitalized on the opportunity(after getting his block knocked off by Crazy Horse Bennett in devistating fashion). This kid has been nothing short of undeserving, unprofessional, and very un-champion like. He’s squandered any chance at getting another title shot anytime soon, and he better hope he’s not a free-agent, because he’s not getting a title shot with anyone else either. The UFC won’t touch him, K.J.s not talented enough and his manager is the same guy that burned the UFC while at the same time putting Brandon Vera on the shelf for a whole year. Sounds to me like K.J. is getting bad advice from a bad manager and a bad wrap from an even worse promotion. Elite XC has handled this situation and K.J. very poorly. First by creating their own rules by allowing a lightweight div. at 160 instead of the most common U.S. 155 lbs. for Nick, knowing Nick wasn’t the same person he was in the UFC any longer and putting Nick(pre-hambuger meat-face) up against someone who just got KTFO by a thug/hoodlum who makes a mockery of the sport everytime he steps in the cage in Charles Bennett. Second, not only does K.J. not have enough clout to pull off something like this(holding out and choosing fights ala Randy Couture), but neither does EX/C. They think they are in a postion where their roster affords them the flexibility to pick and choose who fights for the title. All along they know there isn’t the kind of stability in the EX/C like there is in the UFC to have a waiting list of number one contenders. In short, K.J. better hope he’s not a free agent, like I said above, and he should start right know taking every shot he can and try to stack up the wins since he’s only what 2 and 1, 3 and 1, something like that. He doesn’t do that, he doesn’t have a career in MMA. WHO TURNS DOWN A TITLE FIGHT ON NATIONAL T.V. AGAINST SOMEONE YOU’VE ALREADY DEMOLISHED ONCE IN YOUR CAREER?! Man this guys dumb.
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Be prepaired to see alot more of this from other
not-so-great fighters, especially the ones who are “Champs” for the other orgz. What with all this money EX/C and Affliction(and I guess you can throw the AFL in the mix as well) are throwing around. EX/C paying Kimbo a half a million to get beat in 14 seconds. Seth P. saying he got paid 6 figures. More than half of Affliction’s roster getting paid way to much, then asking them to take a paycut. The UFC has made alot of fighters millionaires. Then you get in to the middle of the roster where they pay what each fighter is worth, with the UFC knowing the fighters sponsers will make up the difference on what the UFC didn’t pay. Believe it or not the UFC pays great money to the fighters that deserve it. Then they give each fighter the exposure that brings in the sponsers that pays as good if not better than the UFC. Just throwing money at these fighters, undeservingly, doesn’t make for better, happier, more exciting fights and fighters. It makes for complacent, unexcited and unmotivated fighters. Boxing is no longer exciting because everyone gets paid more than what they want and more than what each fighter is worth. These stars of Affliction and EX/C are mostly burned out or rejected fighters from the UFC that no longer performed well in the UFC. Now they might be getting paid a little more in their new orgz. than they would have gotten in the UFC, but that just shows you that most of it is undeserved. If they weren’t performing well enough in the U, and now their fighting lesser opponents for more money. We will see more of this. Just not who should be bitching and complaining. Instead we get this “Daddy’s little man” sonof abitch.
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Simon Cason who are you to say the UFC pays fighters what their worth. The Fertitta’s are billionaires and Dana White is a multimillionaire and the UFC makes money had over fist with PPV,TV deals,Live Gates,and merchandising and then you see their total fighter payout for UFC 88 was 1,270,000 bonuses included for 18 fighters and Chuck Liddell got 500,000 of that.
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If you think the UFC is making enough money to pay Floyd Mayweather JR. money or Alex Rodriguez type money to their fighters yet and still stay afloat, you know nothing of sustaining a business. Compared to other sports, the UFC doesn’t pay any where near what they “could”. But if they paid everyone a base salary of 1 million dollars at least, no matter who the fighter is, the UFC would go down faster than Kimbo Slice in his last fight. Yeah the UFC doesn’t pay what “WE” think the fighters should get paid. But the fighters also get sponsership money that more than makes up the difference. Plus the only people you see complaining are the fighters who once were making great pay, then they got complacent and got cut from the roster. Look at Tito(I know, bad example) Tito always said while still in the UFC, ” Its not about the money with me, It’s about the money for the undercard fighters” Look at him now. Hasn’t signed with anyone yet because it has always been about the money. Where do you think he made all that money at to begin with. The UFC. And he never complained about his salary, just about everyone else’s, no matter if that fighter expressed displeasure or not. The money will come one day. And your right, who am I to say what the fighters in the UFC are worth. But I do know the money will come one day. Dana’s said all along that MMA will be bigger than boxing. When it does, thats when the money rolls in, and thats when the last of the great talent that aren’t already in the UFC, will come to the UFC. Look at Barnett. He’s been looking to fight Fedor since the days of PRIDE. He Just turned down an offer to fight Fedor. How much sense does that make. We don’t know the details of the fight contract, but Barnett is no jackass dummy. He was offered to take a paycut(not sure if he did) and even I’ll admit that was undeserved. If affliction says they will pay so much for a fighter, then they should honor that. Not ask for a paycut, and cancel and delay any opportunity to get the fighters on their roster to fight. When I want to watch a successfull, proven, and highly motived organization with excellent fighters willing to fight, and not willing to complain over a few extra dollars, I watch the UFC. You keep watch Affliction. Oh wait, they’ve only put on one show and blew their load on paying Timmy too much money, Barnett too much money, Megadeth any amount of money, and so on an so forth. Sorry fans like us can’t convince Dana and the Ferttia’s to empty out their pockets and pay everyone what you and every other ignorant jackass thinks they should. Dana owes us nothing. The UFC puts on great shows, on a regular basis, with exciting fighters, great matchups and top-level competition. Sorry but I’m not ready for the UFC to pay Neil Wain or even someone like Mark Coleman a million dollars, just because you think the UFC can afford it. Right now it’s just not feasible. The UFC and MMA is still in its infancy. When MMA gets enough people behind it and enough top level sponsers and with the blessing and acceptance of all 50 states, thats when you’ll start seeing top level fights in the UFC with top level boxing paydays. Until then, Im happy as long as my favorite fighters are entertaining me on a regular basis. Not once every 8 months like affliction and not like EX/C where they throw out on National T.V. Kimbo Farce for the whole world to see get exposed in 14 seconds, then get paid a half a million dollars, sponsers not included.
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By the Way, If you dont think Chuck Liddell, former LHW champ, defending the belt 7 times, being somewhat of a reluctant ambasador of MMA (or at least the face and most recognizable fighter in MMA) doesn’t deserve to be paid a half a million when Kimbo Farce was paid the same, Sounds to me like you don’t know your shit.
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K.J is a pussy he deserved to be stripped from the tittle
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I’m not sure how being stripped of a title gets Noons out of a contract he signed before he won the title? I can’t imagine that there was a provision in his contract that said he could drop two fights if he happened to win a belt and then was later stripped of the belt before the end of the contract? Noons seems to have some honest gripes against EliteXC but over half the things out of his or his manager’s mouth just don’t make much sense.
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Fighters are worth what someone is willing to pay them, but based on the fact that UFC, and Strikeforce are the only two MMA orgs consistantly making money in the world, I have a hard time bashing what either org is paying its fighters. Also UFC is known for their stars get a portion of the PPV proceeds, and that they give out locker room bonuses that are never reported, so the only people who know exactly what UFC paid out is the brass at UFC. Something else to consider is that UFC is still the only MMA organization that is hiring lobbiest to push for the regulation of MMA in states where it isn’t already especially New York, and they have been doing it for a few years now, that stuff isn’t cheap.
As far a KJ Noons is concerned, the man is an idiot, and he shouldn’t have signed the contract if he didn’t like the pay. If your sure your going to be a champion, then negotiate a clause in there that ensures you get a raise when you win it. I doubt he is going to make too make too much on the open market, so I hope he enjoys going back to boxing.
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I think it comes down to the fact that after Noons beat Diaz, Diaz was still making more money. Both parties have good points. On one hand you have EliteXc who built the division for Diaz and they say he is a bigger draw and therefore make more money than Noons. Noons believes that he should be paid more since he is the champion and is unwilling to budge. Perhaps they could just insert performance incentives in Noons future fights where as long as he is winning championship fights he receives bonuses that make him the highest paid fighter in the division. When he loses the belt he doesn’t get that bonus anymore.
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Simon Cason i guess you just did not get my point when a company makes billions of dollars and pay a guy 2,000 to show 2,000 to win something is wrong,and as far as you trying to insinuate that i was saying Chuck Liddell is overpaid i was trying to show how 1 guy got nearly half of the total fighters purse compared to the other 17 by no means was i trying to say he was overpaid apparently you have been brainwashed by people who think if you don’t like the points someone is making twist their words around so it gives you justification to attack their comments instead of making sense of what the person is saying.As far as you stating YOU’RE not ready for the UFC to pay guys like Neil Wain and Mark Coleman more i did not know you were invested personally in the UFC and that if they paid mid level fighters more it would hurt you financially.
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I hope EliteXC forces Noons into MMA purgatory based on his lousy attitude and behaviour.
I also hope that some of my fellow commenters learn to type in paragraphs.
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We all are invested in the UFC and other orgz. just in the fact that we pay for the PPV and we go to the shows or we sign up for the fight clubs, DVDs, books, training vids, Video games, all this shit goes to the fighters. Its something they fought for and its something they deserve. So yeah we all are invested in the UFC.
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“Sorry fans like us can’t convince Dana and the Ferttia’s to empty out their pockets and pay everyone what you and every other ignorant jackass thinks they should”
“Sorry but I’m not ready for the UFC to pay Neil Wain or even someone like Mark Coleman a million dollars, just because YOU think the UFC can afford it”.
Notice the emphasis I put on YOU…Maybe you didnt catch that, or maybe you pick and chose what you want to read. Or maybe you just didnt care enough to read my entire post. Either way it’s no skin off my back if you did or didn’t. But maybe next time you try to be a keyboard warrior, maybe you should pay attention to what the WHOLE thing says instead of a few out-of-context quotes.
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BTW I never insinuated you saying Chuck was overpaid. What I was getting at is, Do you think Chuck didn’t deserve a half a mil. Chuck gets paid great. He work hard to get paid like he does. Kimbo is a tool of EX/C’s brilliant marketing of one fighter makes a company. No matter how inexperienced that fighter is. For Kimbo to get paid the same as Chuck destroys alot of what Dana and the Ferttita’s have built up to this point. Kimbo making that much, while being as unproven as he is, makes this whole notion of who should get paid what a joke. Also, There’s not a whole lot of fighters in the UFC getting paid 4grand to fight. There’s deff. more undercard fighters getting paid the min. 8grand maybe 10. If they do get only 4 grand, that shows the fighter probably isn’t living up to his potential and will probably get the boot sometime soon anyway. Some people just don’t get it. If you start paying 6 figure contracts to every fighter from joe blow to Forrest Griffen, what you get are a bunch of fighters get paid more than they ever dreamed of, and you get fights that are not exciting because whats the point of proving yourself, throwing your body on the line if your already making a half mil a fight. What you get is what boxing has. Alot of bigger than life fighters getting paid ridiculous amounts of money and you get fights that go all 12 rounds because they have the mentality of “why do I need to throw it all out their, Im getting paid no matter what”. Its bullshit and if thats what you want, for fighters to right now, while their is only one Org. making a profit, to get paid like rockstars, then maybe you shouldn’t be watching and supporting MMA. Support Boxing, they need all the help they can get right now.
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i don’t care if i EVER see him fight again..
he’s an asshole in and out of the ring..
he’s too cocky for his own good..
it’s a miracle he won his last 2 fights..
i, personally, hate KJ..
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