For the second time in his past two fights, KJ Noons quieted the doubters and struck gold in an EliteXC lightweight title fight.
Noons (7-2), defending his title for the first time since upsetting Nick Diaz for the first-ever EliteXC 160-pound belt in November, stormed through veteran Yves Edwards (34-14-3), flooring his opponent with a stiff right and following with a frantic barrage of punches and elbows to force a TKO stoppage just 48 seconds into the opening round.
Noons’ first title defense capped off Showtime’s “EliteXC: Return of the King” event, which took place at the Blaisdell Center Arena in Honolulu.
After the sound of the bell, the two fighters immediately engaged, and after tagging the champ with a shot, Edwards may have simply gotten too aggressive.
“He caught me with a great shot, but I think he thought he got me,” said Noons, who once again was labeled the underdog by oddsmakers. “But I can take a punch.”
Noons landed a right hand flush to Edwards’ jaw, and after an explosive follow-up of strikes, the stoppage came just seconds later. Edwards had no excuses for the lightning-quick loss.
“He’s the man; there’s not much I can say,” Edwards said. “He just whooped my ass. He dropped me, and I was out. I don’t remember [anything].”
Immediately after the fight, EliteXC officials brought to the ring Nick Diaz (17-7), who used a boxing-heavy game plan to score a third-round TKO of Muhsin Corbbrey (8-3) in the preceding fight. After announcing the two fighters would meet again at a future event, the trash-talking and shoving began. Noons charged after Diaz, and then members of the two camps (including Noons’ father and Nick’s brother, Nate Diaz) briefly clashed before security restored order.
In other action, Murilo “Ninja” Rua (16-8-1) rebounded from his December 2007 title loss to Robbie Lawler with an impressive performance over Tony Bonello (16-1-1). Rua quickly took the fight to the ground, using sidemount and the crucifix position to rain down a barrage of unanswered elbows and punches. The stoppage came at 3:16 of the first round.
With the dominating performance, Rua picked up his fourth victory in his past five fights. Bonello, meanwhile, was tagged with his first career loss.
In a battle of young vs. old, 24-year-old heavyweight prospect Dave Herman (11-0) continued his streak of quick and violent victories as he battered 42-year-old Ron Waterman (15-6-2) standing and on the mat. Herman dazed his opponent with gruesome elbow strikes early as Waterman worked for a single-leg takedown. After seperating, Herman perfectly timed a leaping left kick to the face and then followed with a knee to the body and some fight-ending ground and pound.
The stoppage came at 2:19 of the first round. Herman has now earned stoppages in all 11 of his career victories. Ten have come in the first round — all in less than three minutes.
In the night’s first televised bout, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (6-1) heeded the advice of cornerman (and UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva) to score a first-round TKO of Wayne Cole (11-7). Using Silva-like knees to the body, Cavalcante forced the fight to the ground, where he delivered a flurry of strikes to force the stoppage at the 2:47 mark.
PRELIMINARY CARD
* P.J. Dean and Dean Lista fight to a majority draw (29-28 Dean, 28-28, 28-28)
* Mike Aina def. Kaleo Kwan via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
* Mark Oshiro def. Chris Willems via submission (triangle choke) — Round 1, 2:12
* Chris Barnard withdrew from scheduled bout with Lolohea Mahe
* Bubba McDaniel def. Kala Kolohe via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 0:40
* Russell Doane def. Dwayne Haney via TKO (strikes) — Round 1
* Carl Barton def. Kepa Madeiros via TKO (strikes) — Round 1
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