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Former Elite XC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons made his return to the boxing ring a successful one with a unanimous decision victory over Alejandro Bogarin (8-6-3) last Thursday night at the Expo Center in El Monte, California.

Noons actually dropped Bogarin in the first frame, but could not finish him off. He did, however, dominate most of the match en route to the decision win, which was his first in the sport since defeating Anthony Cannon at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, Calif., in June 2007 (also by unanimous decision).

Bogarin wasn’t necessarily the stiffest test for Noons in his return. He had previously been knocked out six times and was coming into this bout fresh off a first round knockout suffered at the hands of Francisco Santana in July.

Nonetheless, with the win Noons moves his professional boxing record to an impressive 8-1 with five knockouts.

It’s unclear at this time whether he’ll continue to box or make the move back to mixed martial arts following the demise of his previous employer, Elite XC. Even before the demise of Elite XC he was taking a break from MMA after being stripped of his 160-pound title because he and the organization couldn’t come to terms on a rematch with Nick Diaz.

But now that the promotion is no more it might not be long before he’s back in a cage fighting MMA. Clearly, whatever happens with the fighter contracts from Pro Elite Inc. will have a lot to do with the next step for KJ.

Regardless, it seems very likely we haven’t seen the last of him in either sport.

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EliteXC, KJ Noons, MMA News

The first and only man to hold the Elite XC lightweight title, KJ Noons, will officially make his return to boxing one week from today when he faces Alejandro Bogarin (8-6-3, 2 knockouts) at the Expo Center in El Monte, Calif., on Thursday, November 13.

Bogarin is a 29-year-old Mexican fighter who is coming off a knockout loss in July to Fransisco Santana. He was eventually knocked out by a body shot in the fight, but Santana worked him over pretty good throughout the bout.

Based on his record and his six career losses by knockout this looks like a winnable fight for KJ.

KJ sports an impressive professional boxing record of (7-1, 5 knockouts), but has not competed in a licensed match in well over a year. He’ll come in riding a three-fight win streak in the sport. His one loss came on a razor close decision to Daniel Stanislavjevic almost three years ago.

He signed on with Pro Elite under the circumstances that he could pursue both his mixed martial arts and boxing careers. When he won the 160-pound title last November over Nick Diaz his focus obviously began to turn more toward MMA.

But the Hawaiian native never lost his desire to box.

When he and Elite XC could not agree to terms on a rematch with Diaz, he was stripped of his title. Because of that, Noons decided to switch back to boxing for the time being or until the two sides could work out their differences.

Now that Pro Elite has filed for bankruptcy a return to mixed martial arts is more likely for Noons in the future. The issue now is who the apparent free agent will sign with and just how far he actually chooses to pursue this boxing thing.

Time will tell.

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KJ Noons, MMA News

Former Elite XC lightweight champion KJ Noons once again had a lot to say about his arch nemesis Nick Diaz in a recent on PWB’s Official Podcast Hotline with Lex and Ian.

Noons defeated Diaz by first round technical knockout at Elite XC: “Renegade” in November of last year in the promotion’s inaugural division title fight. The 160-pound affair was stopped after the first round by a cageside doctor who would not allow Diaz to continue with at least two gushing gashes on his face.

Diaz stormed out of the cage shortly thereafter.

It was believed he would eventually get a rematch because of the way the fight ended. But the rematch never went down. Some people figured the less experienced Noons didn’t want to face the more talented Diaz again for fear of losing his title, but Noons tells a different story:

“The number one reason why it didn’t happen was because they wanted to pay me three times less money than the guy I beat the crap out of…I had defended my title successfully, and they wanted me to fight him, which I was perfectly fine with. It was built up, all the drama, behind the scenes … they wanted to pay me three times less money and I told them to go screw themselves.”

Noons’ performance against Diaz was without a doubt impressive — he was easily ahead in the fight when it was stopped. But the fact that it ended on a cut never sat right with the fans or Elite XC … and virtually everyone wanted the rematch to happen.

Noons, on the other hand, felt like he put a beating on Diaz and that the Stockton native didn’t deserve another title shot yet. And it’s not like Noons had a cupcake in his first title defense either. Yves Edwards was a heavy favorite and brought in a ton more experience, but KJ took him out … impressively.

Then he called out Eddie Alvarez, one of the fastest rising prospects in the world — but that still wasn’t good enough for Elite XC. The promotion wanted the Diaz rematch. And when the two parties couldn’t agree, Noons was stripped of his belt. Again, KJ tells another story:

“I wrote them a letter telling them I would give them the belt back, and in the return they don’t say anything about that and they strip me of the belt, acting like they are taking away from me. If you’re gonna treat your champ like that, I don’t want to be your champ.”

Now that the two fighters are apparently free agents with Elite XC going down, there are plenty of opportunities for them to fight each other elsewhere. And Noons is certainly not downplaying a rematch:

“I think it would be a great fight…as long as it makes sense, if any promotion wants to do it, let’s make it happen, call me up…”

And the fallout from the demise of Elite XC continues …

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EliteXC, KJ Noons, MMA News, Nick Diaz

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 [...]

Eddie Alvarez, EliteXC, KJ Noons, MMA News, Nick Diaz

With a lightweight title fight between Nick Diaz and Eddie Alvarez confirmed for November 8, where does that leave recently stripped champion, KJ Noons?

According to a Sherdog.com interview with Noons it means he now has complete freedom:

“I’m a free agent. Since I’ve been stripped, I’m no longer the champion and I don’t owe them the fights. I owed them fights for being a champion.”

Not so fast … Elite XC officials disagree. Here are thoughts from the company’s Head of Fight Operations, Jeremy Lappen:

“KJ still has two more fights on his contract. I’m hoping we’ll work something out, but there’s really not much to work out. He’s still under contract with us.”

This is just more disagreeing to add to months of back and forth between the mixed martial arts promotion and its former champion. Everything stemmed from Noons not wanting to grant Nick Diaz a rematch and another shot at his belt because he didn’t feel the Cesar Gracie black belt was the top contender.

Noons’ opinion was that 2008 DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix stud Eddie Alvarez had earned the top spot with his impressive tournament run. Apparently Elite XC didn’t fully disagree with that opinion either since Alvarez is now facing off against Diaz for the vacant strap.

It’s obvious the company wanted to squeeze everything it could out of the Noons and Diaz feud, but they promotion also clearly didn’t like the idea of of having its champion making the match making decisions so he was stripped of his 160-pound belt.

For now Noons is content on going back to boxing. In fact, he has a scheduled bout against Alejandro Bogarin (8-6-3) on November 13 in El Monte, California. Noons sports a solid professional boxing record  (7-1 with 5 knockouts).

Regardless, that doesn’t mean Noons’ mixed martial arts career is over. Believe it or not he’s still on semi-good terms with Elite XC, and he’s even talked about facing the winner of Diaz and Alvarez sometime in the future.

Here’s a snip:

“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. Hopefully they’ll want to bring me back in the future and they can have Eddie or Nick or whoever they have in the future fight the real champ.”

This is just a weird situation that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. The saga continues.

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EliteXC, KJ Noons, MMA News

Former EliteXC 160lb. Champion KJ Noons seems to be suffering from a bout of temporary delusion. This guys thinks he is just going to walk away from his EliteXC contract, he’s no Randy Couture, his best win was over Nick Diaz and that was stopped due to a cut. Some one needs to tell him that EliteXC has his ass for two more fights and the way he backed out of the Nick Diaz rematch, I don’t see them backing down on this one anytime soon.

“I’m a free agent”

Noons said his contract, of which two fights remain, only pertains to his reign as a titleholder.

“Since I’ve been stripped, I’m no longer the champion and I don’t owe them the fights,” he said. “I owed them fights for being a champion.”

Jeremy Lappen, EliteXC’s Head of Fight Operations, doesn’t agree.

“KJ still has two more fights on his contract,” Lappen said Monday. “I’m hoping we’ll work something out, but there’s really not much to work out. He’s still under contract with us.”

[Sherdog]

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EliteXC, KJ Noons, MMA News, News, Nick Diaz

MMA Junkie spoke with K.J. Noons on Sunday to get his reaction to being stripped of EliteXC’s 160 lbs. title. Noons indicated that he’d been given a deadline of today, the 22nd of September, to make a decision whether or not he wants to fight again under the EliteXC banner. “We were given until Monday, and [...]

EliteXC, KJ Noons, MMA News, Nick Diaz

KJ Noons of San Diego has been stripped of his EliteXC lightweight title. The announcement was made 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. “It’s 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.That’s 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.He’s charismatic, has a very exciting fighting style and is a top level fighter. So I’m obviously disappointed that he has chosen to take this stance.

“I don’t 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 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 I’m 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.

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EliteXC, KJ Noons, MMA News, News

EliteXC announced late Friday that K.J. Noons has been stripped of the promotion’s lightweight title. The company is citing Noons’ refusal to defend the title against Nick Diaz during CBS and EliteXC’s upcoming “Saturday Night Fights” show on Oct. 4 as the reason behind the decision. “We are stripping K.J. of his championship belt for [...]

EliteXC, KJ Noons, MMA News

Props: ProElite.com

Quoteworthy:

“We are stripping KJ of his championship belt for refusing to defend against Diaz. It’s 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. That’s 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. He’s charismatic, has a very exciting fighting style and is a top level fighter. So I’m obviously disappointed that he has chosen to take this stance…. 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.’’

Elite XC Head of Fight Operations Jeremy Lappen announces that the promotion has had enough of the back-and-forth with its lightweight champion and has stripped him of his 160-pound belt. Noons defeated Nick Diaz to win the first-ever lightweight championship and then defended the belt just once against Yves Edwards. Diaz — who won several fights during that time to get back in contention — was then labeled the number contender. Noons and his management team didn’t agree, saying that a fighter like Eddie Alvarez was a more worthy opponent. So when Noons refused to fight Diaz at Elite XC: “Heat” on CBS “Saturday Night Fights” on October 4 the promotion apparently felt as if it had no other choice but to use the only ace left up its sleeve. Noons was not cut, but it’s hard to imagine that he would want to continue fighting for the promotion. In the past he’s expressed an interest to box on the professional circuit, which provides him with other opportunities if he so chooses.

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EliteXC, KJ Noons, MMA News