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BENT COLUMN: Will Fight For Food: Elite XC and the KJ Noons Saga By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist
Aug 30, 2008 - 11:05:09 AM
KJ Noons has been in the news lately and has definitely shined a light on the business practices of Elite XC. All you have to do is take a look at Kimbo Slice and how they are promoting him in order to see why things just aren't going well at all for them. Yes, you should market your fighters to the audience but you should not do so to the point where if your marketed star loses, you have no one to take his place.
Kimbo Slice is considered their bread and butter and he was front and center for the first Elite XC on CBS special and he was exposed as far as being more of a media creation than a highly skilled fighter. Fast forward to this week and the announcement that Ken Shamrock is coming in to fight Kimbo in October and you can see that they are doing their best to protect Kimbo by placing him in a fight that he could win easily; and against a perceived MMA star in Shamrock even though Ken is past his prime.
Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock is not a top flight MMA matchup; but it is a top flight spectacle, and Elite XC is quickly proving to be more concerned with spectacles rather than trying to be a real challenger to the UFC. Because aside from Kimbo Slice, name me one Elite XC heavyweight fighter that anyone even hears of and don't tell me Brett Rogers, either. Brett Rogers has made himself known to the fans by way of challenging Kimbo, but Elite XC has done nothing to make Brett Rogers a known commodity. This is exactly what has happened with KJ Noons; they have failed to put any promotional efforts behind him. It was nothing but Nick Diaz while KJ Noons is the guy with the championship belt, and Elite was not prepared for an outcome other than the one they so dearly wanted.
The 160lb. weight class was created solely for Nick Diaz and Elite XC could not have pushed him any more down our throats like the mall Santa kicking Ralphie down the slide in "A Christmas Story". Nick Diaz is a very talented fighter, and his antics have gained him much notoriety along with a fanbase who seems to love him for the fact that they are supporting the anti-hero. That is fine by me. Nick Diaz put forth a great effort against Takanori Gomi which was ruled a no-contest due to Diaz testing positive for marijuana, with his THC levels being so high that you would have thought he trained with 311 and Snoop Dogg on this summer's "Unity Tour". This actually helped make Nick even more of an anti-hero to his legion of fans and gave Diaz even more exposure which continued to help make his name known.
Nick and his brother Nate Diaz are known for off-color comments and remarks about other fighters and for being the middle finger flipping poster boys of what not to do all while being legitimate forces in the cage. You can talk all you want but you still have to fight and the Diaz brothers fight, and fight well for the most part without backing down. You may find 4 ounces of marijuana in Nick's urine but you won't find one ounce of quit in him. Elite XC had a tough fighter in Nick and one that they could market to the hardcore fight fans and to those who prefer their fighters to be brash and outspoken. Everything was in place; until KJ Noons derailed the train.
Elite XC:Renegade on Novemeber 10, 2007 was to be a big night for the company as you had Kimbo Slice making his debut for the promotion and Nick Diaz was set to win the newly minted Elite XC 160 lb. title. The plan was going along smoothly as Kimbo Slice defeated Bo Cantrell in 19 seconds, as Cantrell tapped seemingly immediately after being struck by a few shots. Cantrell clearly did not want to be in there and Kimbo looked exactly as Elite XC wished for him to appear; as the intimidating fighter who was famous for YouTube videos of backyard scraps who was now going to unleash all hell on the MMA world. So far, so good for the company until the Diaz vs. Noons fight took place.
KJ Noons dominated Nick Diaz for the single round of their fight and opened up a cut with a vicious knee strike and then shortly after proceeded to open one on the opposite eye for good measure. Nick Diaz did not want to quit but heart alone was not going to be enough to win this fight. There is nothing to suggest that Diaz would have been able to get the better of KJ had the fight been allowed to continue. Diaz was not able to see and Noons would have continued peppering Nick with shots, and it is always better to let a fighter live to fight another day. KJ Noons was the victor by way of TKO and the new Elite XC 160 lb. champion. Nick Diaz then threw a temper tantrum much like an 8 yr old child being told he can't have the toy and proceeded to flip off Noons and simply run out of the cage and back to the locker room area. Cameras would follow and Diaz even struck one of the cameras out of frustration as he continued this show of sportsmanship backstage. Nick Diaz was not to be the only sore loser on this evening.
I can guarantee that collectively Elite XC was as angry as Nick Diaz at the result of this fight as the guy they had pushed so hard did not win. So, all of a sudden you had the guy they really didn't want as the champion, holding the belt while the fans booed. Were they booing Noons the victor? They probably were not and more likely they were booing the stoppage as the fight was in fact exciting to watch. After sitting through the dreck that was Slice vs. Cantrell, I can't blame them for wishing the main event had gone longer. However the guy that Elite XC had promoted and rolled the red carpet out for lost the fight he was supposed to win. Well, supposed to win as far as keeping the plans intact.
This was the MMA equivalent to Jethro Tull winning the Grammy over Metallica in 1988 as no one really gave Noons a chance to win this fight and it was pretty much going to be Diaz winning the belt that was tailor made to fit his waist. So here we are with the fight on the books and Nick Diaz out of the title picture; what is Elite XC to do?
They have Nick Diaz take attention away from KJ Noons' win over Yves Edwards at Elite XC:Return of the King by allowing the Diaz brothers to storm the cage as Noons celebrated his victory. KJ had just defeated an amazing fighter in Edwards and in a thrilling and decisive manner; wasn't this enough? Shouldn't they have been happy that their champion had defended the belt and looked great in doing so and maybe spent the post fight energies on Noons?
Apparently not as Nick Diaz would again stand in the spotlight and garner the attention while exhibiting extremely unsportsmanlike behavior; which led to a water bottle being thrown and security breaking up a scuffle in order to escort the Diaz brothers out of the cage. So, here is Noons in his hometown and having just defended his belt, and still Elite XC is more concerned about Nick Diaz and trying to drum up some hype for a possible rematch. This showed me how much they really wanted Diaz to win the fight and how little they cared for KJ. No time was spent on congratulating the victor as it was time to put the controversial Nick Diaz in the middle of the spotlight and try to make people forget about the guy who defeated him for the belt. Promoting the challenger rather than standing behind their champion is what has led to the ugly battle between Noons and Elite XC which has come to a head this week.
Not once has KJ Noons stated that he did not want to ever face Nick Diaz again; rather he's expressed displeasure at the lack of support the company has shown him, and the urgency with which they want to get Diaz into the title picture regardless of any of his actions. The disparity in pay is another issue which has been taken by Noons to be a major slight and deservedly so. When you look at the facts, Diaz received 60K for fighting Thomas Denny on the “Unfinished Business” card which aired on CBS in July; and then look at Noons, who claims to have been paid about $83K for the last two years in which he had fought four times.
Understandably the more marketable and more well known fighters do earn more for their fights regardless of being champions or not but Elite XC has not even discussed paying Noons more based on having become a champion and having beaten the perceived star in Diaz. It feels as though the company views KJ’s victory over Diaz as one of luck rather than skill. This is compounded by the seeming lack of promotion in regards to Noons and the unflagging support of Diaz.
Complaining about the lack of pay and how they are being treated is not something that is new to MMA athletes. Tito Ortiz is and has always been one of the more outspoken fighters in regards to the rate of pay and became public enemy number one to Dana White a long time ago due to such posturing. Randy Couture was next and is still waging a battle with the UFC over a feeling of being slighted while receiving less money than he felt he was worth to the company. In any sport and any business it is a fact that the employees will always want more than they are getting and this is particularly true when the business is thriving.
MMA fighters are on the bottom of the food chain when it comes to the pay that they receive for plying their trade. Bowlers on the PBA tour make more money than some of the top fighters in MMA. The Fertitta brothers were on the cover of the May edition of Forbes magazine under the heading, “Ultimate Cash Machine” and the article described how they took a $2 million dollar investment and have parlayed that into a company that could conceivably be worth in excess of $1 billion were it to be a publicly traded company ala Vince McMahon’s WWE. Clearly MMA is hot and the UFC is successful which is why we now have companies such as Elite XC and Affliction as well as Mark Cuban’s HDNet Fights doing battle for a share of the audience.
This sport is on the rise in both popularity and acceptance and you have to look no further than CBS airing Elite XC in prime time to prove that this sport is reaching the levels of major sports league proportions. KJ Noons has not asked for the kind of money that a guy like Tito Ortiz makes, but he wants to be compensated fairly as far as being offered a new deal that is more in line with being a champion for the organization. I am firmly against fighters trying to hold the organization up for exorbitant amounts of money, but Noons’ grievance is a fair one and one that Elite XC has failed to even listen to.
It is an absolute shame that it has come to this and that we have to hear about such things when we should be talking about the fighters for what they do in the cage rather than their financial dealings with their promotion. A company like Elite XC is having a hard time gaining respect from MMA fans due to their suspect matchmaking and their insistence on focusing on the spectacle rather than showcasing spectacular fighters. This is an organization that feels Kimbo Slice can lead them into the future; and they are matching him up with Ken Shamrock in the hopes of maintaining Slice’s perceived star power by providing a name opponent who poses much less risk than an assortment of unknowns who could possibly defeat Slice and derail their star making plans. A company which has put all of their promotional energies behind a man who has not shown he can fight at a high level while neglecting to promote and support a champion who appears to possess such skills is puzzling at best.
I understand that Elite XC wants Kimbo Slice to succeed and that they wished for Nick Diaz to be champion but they must understand that in the fight game there are no guarantees. Not once has Elite XC promoted their company and provided compelling matchups and instead it has operated in a way that is more smoke and mirrors than legitimate sport. Fighters will come and go and as the UFC has shown, no company can live or die because of one fighter. Due to their lack of efforts and consideration KJ Noons will probably not be fighting for them in the future, and this is bad for both their company and the sport.
Elite XC has not yet established itself as a promotion but rather as the company that features Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano. Every company should have stars and there will always be fighters who receive more of a promotional push than the others, but you cannot do so in the manner in which Elite XC has shown. They first need to gain respect as a company and to do so they must have fighters who actually enjoy fighting for them and doing business with them. So far Elite XC has not focused their energies on providing an excellent product to the fans and they clearly are not taking the steps necessary to ensure that they can be able to provide the fighters necessary to put forth quality fight cards.
If you lose both your customers and your employees, you will not be in business any longer and it appears as if Elite XC is going to learn this lesson very soon. KJ Noons vs. Nick Diaz is a fight that many of us would like to see and one which could help the company to gain a foothold in the marketplace. Instead the company is focusing on Shamrock vs. Slice for the quick fix in terms of ratings without realizing that they need fights for the future and fighters aside from Kimbo Slice. The champion means nothing if the company does not support him and when the championship means nothing so do the fights.
KJ Noons holds the Elite XC lightweight championship and while this does not mean he should sit at the head of the table it should mean that he at least merits a seat and consideration to be included with those who are currently there. If Elite XC wants fans to watch they need to provide compelling matchups and to do so they will need fighters who wish to fight for them. No one wins in battles such as these; not the fighters and particularly not the fans. KJ Noons isn’t asking the company to treat him like the king but as champion he should be considered more royalty than court jester. The way Elite XC does business is a joke; just not one that is particularly funny to either their fighters or their potential fans.
KJ Noons is not ducking anyone and would face a firing squad if asked to; he just would at least like a blindfold and a cigarette from his captors.
