Mixed Martial Arts - Brutal MMA . com

In his recent guest appearance on a radio show, Jake Shields talks about his upcoming bout against Nick Thompson. The encounter is the second installment of EliteXC-CBS tie-up, which takes place July 26 at the Stockton Arena in California. Shields and Thompson vie for the organization’s first-ever welterweight belt.

“I’m really excited about this fight,” Shields said. “I think we’re both, me and Nick, right at the top of our group. We’re both on a huge win streak. This is the fight I asked for.”

Shields’ career boasts of 20-4-1 tally while his opponent rides in 36-9-1 record. Obviously, the bout is a clash of two veteran MMA warriors.

Shields has expected to match up against UFC veteran fighter Drew Fickett to wrangle for the belt. However, instead of fighting it out with Shields, Fickett decided to compete in a smaller organization. Fickett’s reason for the pull out was an injury.

The 29-year-old fighter voiced out his perplexity over Fickett’s move.

“It’s kind of weird,” Shields said. “I don’t know what happened. I know I was supposed to fight him on the 14th (of June), and on the 7th he fought someone else. I think it was (a) really easy (fight) on the 7th. … Obviously it was a stupid move. I don’t know what he was thinking. That EliteXC would just be like, ‘no big deal?’ Obviously they weren’t happy if they dropped his contract.”

Shields handpicked Thompson to fight him in lieu of Fickett.

“When I found out Fickett pulled out, the first thing, like any other, we’re looking around, (and) they asked me if I had any other ideas,” Shields said. “Nick Thompson came right to mind. It’s funny; I’d just read an article a couple days before Drew pulled out, and [Thompson] called me out in the article, and I’m like, ‘Perfect. Nick’s on a big winning streak. He’s asking to fight me. Let’s bring in Nick.’”

It is apparent Shields found a worthy opponent in Thompson and vice versa.

“I think it’s an all-around great fight,” Thompson said. “I’m excited for it. I want to fight good guys. That’s why I asked for him. I saw him as the toughest guy I could fight, other than a couple of the guys in the UFC – (Georges) St. Pierre and (Jon) Fitch and stuff. That’s why I asked for him, so we’ll see what happens.”

The event is Shields’ re-emergence into the fight scene. His last ring encounter was last November 2007 and an injury has forced Shields to take a long break. But he is quick to reassure that he is now completely recovered from that injury.

“[My shoulder] took longer than I wanted for it to heal,” Shields said. “I ended up being hurt for about three months with that thing. (I’m) finally back to 100 percent, and I’m training full-on and I’m ready to fight.”

KJ Noons trashed Nick Diaz not in the ring but on Inside MMA.

During his recent appearance on Inside MMA, Noons did some talking against Diaz. The two were involved recently in an on-ring fracas at the Elite XC: Return of the King. Noons was delivering his victory speech when Diaz, who won in an earlier bout, was summoned on stage by the organizers to promote a rematch. Soon, the verbal exchange escalated into physical aggression. Before it became a full-blown riot, Diaz’s camp was escorted out of the venue.

With the well-known animosity between the two fighters, it is expected that they meet again to face off. However, when asked by Inside MMA hosts, Noons was not so keen on a rematch. He admitted thought that the rematch idea could be financially rewarding, but career-wise, the EliteXC lightweight champion wanted to fight it out with other guys in the sport’s rank ladder.

“I was thinking about this earlier,” Noons said. “Does he deserve a rematch? No. Is he the number-one contender? No. I want to fight other guys out there. But do people want to see the rematch? Of course.”

“What it boils down to is I need to take care of myself,” he said. “Money talks. I think a lot of people forget what happened the first time. … I think a lot of people want to see the rematch, (but) I destroyed this guy in five minutes,” Noons added.

Along with Noons, UFC heavyweight Justin McCully and preeminent female fighter Debi Purcell were also in the panel during the show. But it was on Noons and his altercation with Diaz that the discussion was centered.

Excerpts of their November 2007 match was shown, where Noons emerged as the victor. McCully’s mentioning of Diaz’s scar tissues elicited further disparaging remarks from Noons.

“That’s another thing, too,” Noons said. “A lot of people say scar tissue. [Diaz is] not a professional boxer. He hasn’t had any real pro fights. He hasn’t taken a lot of damage on his face, so I don’t know where they come up with (this idea) of all this scar tissue.”

But the last blow Noons dealt against his rival came when he showed his ‘prop’ – a close-up photo of Diaz after their initial encounter. It showed a bruised and battered Diaz.

“Zoom in real close,” Noons instructed. “You see this? This took five minutes. My name is KJ, so I’m going to do a little trash-talking now for you guys. I’m going to make it a little fun. … They’ve come up with nicknames for me for each (one of my fights). For this one, I think I’ll be called ‘The Artist’ because this right here, it’s a masterpiece. I painted this.”

According to EliteXC, Diaz’s next ring assignment is not against Noons but King of the Cage veteran Thomas Denny. The bout is the second EliteXC-CBS event slated for July 26. Diaz’s hometown of Stockton in California is the venue for the card.

Is Mike Tyson training for MMA?

The MMA grapevine in Vegas is rife with rumors of Iron Mike displaying his fighting skills in another kind of ring. According to sherdog.com, an anonymous source is telling that the former heavyweight boxing champion has been “training his ass off” and that the Iron Mike “is not going to do boxing anymore.” But when asked if Tyson was going to attempt MMA, the source gave an evasive answer with “I don’t know, I can’t say.”

Allegedly, Tyson is training with prominent strength and conditioning coach in the Vegas area. He also has affiliation with several notable MMA fighters, including EliteXC heavyweight Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson.

Tyson has also become a familiar figure with many MMA fans. In 2006, he was a guest referee at a World Cage Fighting Championship bout in Manchester, England. In addition, he also made an appearances-only deal with Pride Fighting Championships during its existence.

Bad news for UFC, EliteXC seems to be coming to terms as being at least a somewhat competitor to UFC in the MMA game.  With UFC dominating 80%+ of the MMA crowd, EliteXC will soon start to dominate at least 30-40% of MMA.

We can see this by the DVD sales chart on the billboards.  With the EliteXC: Renegade show ranking top 6 in MMA sales, outselling UFC almost 2 to 1.
Billboard Rec-Sports DVD Chart - 6/14

1. WWE: WrestleMania XXIV
2. WWE: Twist Of Fate: The Matt & Jeff Hardy Story
3. WWE: Tagged Classics 2003: Backlash/Judgment Day
4. NFL: Super Bowl XLII Champions New York Giants
5. WWE: Tagged Classics 2003: Royal Rumble/No Way Out
6. EliteXC: Renegade
7. WWE: Triple H: The King Of Kings
8. WWE: The Best Of Raw: 15th Anniversary 1993-2008
9. UFC 80: Rapid
10. UFC: Best Of 2007

Elite Xtreme Combat today releases the full fight card for its “EliteXC: Return of the King” event on Saturday. Said event headlines the bout between EliteXC lightweight champ KJ Noons (6-2) and challenger Yves Edwards (33-13-1).

Twelve bouts are scheduled to explode at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, five of which air on Showtime and additional five that air on ProElite . com. Showtime airs the main card starting at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

The bout’s co-main event features Nick Diaz (16-7) going head to head against Muhsin Corbbrey (7-2). It is Diaz’s return to EliteXC for the first time since he lost his title to Noons in November.  According to EliteXC, the winner in this bout will have a go for a title shot against the Noons-Edwards victor.

“You have four quality lightweights in KJ, Yves, Nick and Muhsin; a fantastic matchup between Ninja and Bonello; and much more,” EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw stated. “Fans in Hawaii are extremely knowledgeable. They know MMA. The last time we were here, the fans were into it from the start.” In September 2007, EliteXC held its first and only other Hawaii show with the event dubbed “EliteXC: Uprising.”

Murilo “Ninja” Rua (15-8-1) also takes part on the night’s televised main card. He combats undefeated Tony Bonello (16-0-1).

Saturday’s full card includes:

MAIN CARD
•    Champ KJ Noons vs. Yved Edwards (for EliteXC lightweight title)
•    Muhsin Corbbrey vs. Nick Diaz
•    Tony Bonello vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua
•    Wayne Cole vs. Rafael Feijao
•    Dave Herman vs. Ron Waterman

PRELIMINARY CARD (PROELITE.COM)

•    Kala Kolohe vs. Bubba McDaniel*
•    Mark Oshiro vs. Chris Willems
•    Kaleo Kwan vs. Mike Aina
•    Chris Bernard vs. Lolohea Mahe
•    PJ Dean vs. Dean Lista

PRELIMINARY CARD (UN-AIRED)
•    Russell Doane vs. Dwayne Haney
•    Carl Barton vs.  Kepa Madeiros

*Airs on ProElite.com after the Showtime main card

After calling the May 31st fight by Kimbo Slice “Garbage”, Brett Rogers is now on the hit list to face Kimbo Slice in the fall.  EliteXC owner and promoter Gary Shaw announced the fight between Kimbo Slice and Brett Rogers would happen in October.  The venue has not been selected nor has any time been alloted to the fight on CBS.

Rogers, who also fought on the card with Kimbo in their EliteXC “Primetime” event, with an impressive 1 minute knockout of Jon Murphy, had nothing nice to say about Kimbo Slice.  He considers Kimbo a joke and not a real MMA fighter, going so far as calling Slice’s performance ‘Garbage’ during a press conference.

Kimbo Slice said he’d be glad to take the fight, but has commented that the 2 broken thumbs he suffered will need at least a few months of healing.  After this, he’ll be concentrating hard on his ground game because he was exposed for his weakness by D-Level MMA fighter James Thompson.