I’m not 100% sold on Noons being the real deal just yet but he is certainly making a case for himself with some high-profile victories. This win over Edwards was really jaw dropping and Noons showed the ability to take a hard shot, recover with power, and go for the kill when he smelled blood. There are things that we haven’t yet seen from Noons, though, and that’s his ability to deal with adversity in a fight as well as his ground game. Those are two big question marks that are still out there but overall he is coming along quite nicely. It was quite an impressive showing from the EliteXC lightweight champion and it seems that a rematch with Nick Diaz is the next thing in store for him as champion and I think it may be likely that we’ll see that fight on the July 26 CBS card considering the heat these two drew tonight.
Poor Yves Edwards.
He just can’t get over the hump. Whenever Edwards is poised to make that leap in his career, the one that will put him exactly where he wants to be and in a great position, he always seems to get knocked down. I really do feel for the guy. He trained his ass off for this fight and just got a little too aggressive when he thought he had Noons hurt. He certainly paid the price for it. I know there were a lot of people out there that wanted to see the Yves Edwards that knocked Josh Thomson flat on his ass but that was not meant to be. By no means do I think we’ve seen the last of Yves, but you can’t help but feel for the guy. MMA is a tough business and Yves is living proof of that.
This summer is really heating up as far as MMA action goes. We’ve had almost a month now where every weekend there has been at least one event. This weekend is no different as there’s three MMA events (EliteXC: Return of the King, Adrenaline MMA, and DREAM 4).
EliteXC: Return of the King is featuring some pretty bangin’ fights like Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey, heavyweight prospect Dave Herman taking on Ron Waterman, Rafael Feijao clashing with Wayne Cole, and of course the title fight between K.J. Noons and Yves Edwards. Oh, and don’t forget Kala Kolohe is fighting on the undercard as well so there should be some pretty damn good fights on this card. Here’s a little preview to whet your appetite.
“Obviously the back injury happened (to Shields) and the easiest thing to do was move him to Hawaii to fight Drew,” said Shaw in the interview with MMAWeekly Radio. “Unfortunately since then Drew Fickett has hurt his knee and he’s not going to be able to take that fight on June 14 and that will be rescheduled again.”
By “rescheduled again,” Shaw is referring to a scheduled March 29th bout between the two that didn’t go through due to Shields’ aforementioned back injury.
In addition to revealing Fickett’s injury, Shaw also announced five bouts for the June 14th show set to take place in Hawaii. The bouts are as follows:
K.J. Noons vs. Yves Edwards (for EliteXC’s lightweight title)
The Fight Network is reporting today that an EliteXC lightweight title fight between Yves Edwards and K.J. Noons has been postponed to June 14th:
Yves Edwards will have to wait a little longer for his shot at K.J. Noons and the EliteXC lightweight championship. On a three-fighting winning streak, the rejuvenated Edwards will challenge Noons for the 160-pound belt on Saturday, June 14 – not April 26 as previously planned – in Hawaii.
“I had started training for it,” Edwards said. “A few weeks ago, they told us it was postponed.”
FiveOuncesofPain.com has learned that not only has this bout been moved from April 26th to June 14th, but that the April 26th show in Hawaii has been canceled altogether.
MMA Weekly is also reporting in their rumors section that Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva may be scheduled to compete on the June 14th show in Hawaii as well.
According to the website of American Top Team, new EliteXC fighter and former number one lightweight in the world, Yves Edwards, will face EliteXC’s current 160 lbs. champion, K.J. Noons for the EliteXC lightweight title on April 26th in Hawaii.
Edwards is coming off of a brutal knockout victory over Edson Berto at EliteXC: Street Certified and seems to have rejuvenated his career since making the move to American Top Team.
Noons is coming off of the biggest win of his MMA career over Nick Diaz due to cut stoppage at EliteXC: Renegade last November. Surprising to everyone, Noons dominated the fight against Diaz, peppering him with better boxing and standup skills and stuffing Nick’s weak takedown attempts.
Edwards vs. Noons should be one of the best fights that EliteXC has put on during their short tenure in the MMA world.
A match at 160 lbs. between Edson Berto and Yves Edwards has been signed for EliteXC’s next card on February 16 in Miami at the BankUnited Arena.
Edwards had been rumored to be fighting Kyle Bradley on EliteXC’s upcoming ShoXC card on January 25 in Atlantic City, but a potential bout against Bradley never came to fruition and Bradley is now believed to be headed to the UFC.
Berto, 13-4-1, has not fought in EliteXC since a third round knockout against K.J. Noons in the main event of July’s ShoXC event.
He’s since has two fights for the Florida-based Real Fighting Championships, winning both bouts via unanimous decision.
Edwards, 32-13-1, was once considered one of the top lightweight fighters in the world. He began to lose that reputation after suffering a split decision loss against Joachim Hansen during PRIDE’s Bushido 9 in September of 2005. Including the loss to Hansen, he would go on to lose five out of his next six fights.
Here are some of the latest news and rumors pertaining to the UFC:
- UFCDaily.com is reporting a rumored match between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cheick Kongo. After the Jardine and Griffin upsets, I’m convinced we’ll end up seeing Randy vs. Kongo for the heavyweight title.
- The Fight Network is reporting that the UFC is encouraging Dan Henderson to move to middleweight but Henderson wants to stay at 205 lbs. He has one fight left on his current deal and feels he could be ready to fight again in November. Dan, we all know you’re a badass and cannot only hang with light heavyweights, but probably even heavyweights. But please, the UFC middleweight division desperately needs your talents! To me, a Hendo vs. Anderson Silva in a unification is actually a bigger money matchup then some of the matches the UFC is looking at in the light heavyweight division right now. The UFC may need to sign him to an extension in order to convince him to compete regularly at 185 lbs.
- MMAJunkie.com is on top of the whole Michael Bisping vs. Matt Hamill rematch situation. It looks like it was indeed talked about for UFC 78 in Newark but Hamill’s knee injury won’t allow it. However, Hamill said via his personal website that the injury is not so bad that he won’t be ready for a rematch at UFC 79 on Dec. 29. I‘m telling you, the best place for a Hamill vs. Bisping rematch is on free TV when you consider the reason why there’s interest in a rematch to begin with.
- I saw on BloodyElbow.com that former UFC lightweight fighter Yves Edwards is now with American Top Team. I’d like to echo Luke Thomas’ opinion that this is a great move for him.
BodogFIGHT has announced that it will start airing on The Score in Canada on September 4. Bodog will be airing every Thursday on The Score on every Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. There will also be a repeat Thursday.
Tomorrow night at 11 p.m. ET on ION television in the States will be another installment of BodogFIGHT: New Jersey. The main event for the show will be a bout between Jorge Masvidal and Yves Edwards. I saw the match live and it was one of the better fights on the show.
Masvidal really impressed me and he’s someone that you could be hearing more about in the future. If reports are true that Bodog is making cutbacks and Masvidal becomes available, he’d be a great fit for either the UFC, WEC, or EliteXC.
Light Heavy
1. Rampage Jackson
2. Lyoto Machida
3. Chuck Liddell Middle
1. Spider Silva
2. Paulo Filho
3. Dan Henderson Lightweight
1. JZ Calvan
2. Hayato Sakurai
3. Tatsyua Kawajiri Click for Full Rankings
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