My Take On MMA 6.16.08: Final ELITE XC ‘Return of the King’ (6.14.08) Thoughts
Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.16.2008
ELITE XC returns with an overall good event, an overweight Nick Diaz and a pro-wrestling ending that I both loved and hated.
WELCOME~!:
Welcome back to another edition of My Take On MMA! I am your host Larry Csonka and with another MMA event comes another look back at the show. We had a packed weekend of shows, and make sure you check out Adam Tool's reports on the Adrenaline debut as well as DREAM 4. 411 had you covered this weekend, that's for sure. Today I'll be discussing the latest offering from ELITE XC, the Return of the King show. I hope you enjoy.
Final ELITE XC ‘Return of the Kings' (6.14.08) Thoughts~!:
The Fight: LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT - Rafael Feijao (5-1) vs. Wayne Cole (11-6)
My Pick: Wayne Cole, Sub, RD1 The Result: Rafael Feijao via RD1 (2:47) TKO Final Thoughts: To get things started properly, horrible prediction by myself. I talked myself out of picking Rafael Feijao, and in the end I must remember, think too long, think wrong. This ended up being a great fight to kick off the card as both men were hungry and looking to throw. They were off to a good start, unfortunately there was an accidental knee by Feijao as he was working the knee strikes to the thighs. After a short time out we started again, and it was all Feijao. He picked Cole apart, hurt Cole with knees and a solid left, which turtled Cole, and from there Feijao dropped roughly 10 shots to the head of Cole and the bout was stopped. Cole was upset because he thought he got hit to the back of the head, and there were 1 or 2 shots that may have been questionable, but with Feijao landing so many shots and the fact that Cle went to the turtle position, the bout was going to be stopped anyway. This was a really fun fight, and Feijao's move to Light Heavyweight looks to be an excellent one because he looked very impressive here. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0
The Fight: HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT - Dave Herman (10-0) vs. Ron Waterman (15-5-2)
My Pick: Ron Waterman, Decision The Result: Dave Herman via RD 1 (2:19) TKO Final Thoughts: To get things started properly, horrible prediction by myself. The last time I saw Waterman he looked good and I thought he would offer up much more than he did here, but what can you do? Waterman looked dominating early with two takedowns on Herman, but he couldn't keep him down or do any real damage to him when he had him down. Herman was quickly up and on the offense, including a sweet roundhouse to the face of Waterman. Herman would stuff a shot by Waterman, and after some vicious ground and pound the fight was stopped. Waterman's right eye was a mess after the bout and looked out of it. Herman came off as a very impressive fighter here, and while the ELITE heavyweight division is thin, he may be a player for then with impressive performances like this. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.5
The Fight: MIDDLEWEIGHT BOUT - Murilo "Ninja" Rua (15-8-1) vs. Tony Bonello (16-0-1)
My Pick: Ninja Rua, Decision The Result: Murilo "Ninja" Rua via RD 1 (3:16) TKO Final Thoughts: While I picked Rua to win, I obviously didn't expect the performance that we got from him here. A lot of people were blinded by what looked to be an impressive record from Bonello, unfortunately for Bonello his best offense was shit talking during the instructions. This was complete domination by Rua here, as he took Bonello down, dominated the ground position and landed just a plethora of elbow and forearm strikes to the face of Bonello, who had no answer at all but to take everything Rua threw at him. Rua looked simply amazing here, and mentioned that he wanted a shot for the title he lost to Lawler. With Lawler/Smith II already announced, and Rua and Villesenor both back on the winning track, I would like to see a rematch of Rua vs. Villesenor, both former champions, with the winner getting the title shot against the winner of Lawler/Smith. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 8.0
The Fight: 168lb CATCH WEIGHT BOUT - Nick Diaz (16-7) vs. Muhsin Corbbrey (8-2)
My Pick: Nick Diaz, Decision The Result: Nick Diaz via RD3 (3:43) TKO Final Thoughts: In the roundtable I predicted a Nick Diaz special, a decision win with him pot shotting his way to the victory, and I was almost right. While Diaz didn't look amazing in the fight, I will say that his game plan was a good one, and he essentially outclassed Corbbrey the entire time. He took Corbbrey out of his own game plan, making Corbbrey fight the fight he didn't want too and that was his downfall. Diaz easily took the first round as he landed the small shots continually, as well as some very solid ones and simply out pointed Corbbrey. Round two was more of the same as Corbbrey had no real answer for Diaz, and the takedown Diaz scored made sure the round was his with ease. Again round three saw more of the same from Diaz, but this time when he got the takedown he had all the time he needed, nearly submitting Corbbrey but settling for the ref stoppage. Again while not a spectacular performance, Diaz was dominating, although I could have done without the showboating.
As far as the weight thing, once again this is bullshit. He is a fighter, his job is to train, make weight, piss clean and fight. I don't want to hear excuses that he is fighting at 170 for DREAM, because that is his choice. The ELITE Lightweight Division was custom made for him with the limit at 160, and the fact that he didn't make weight is an insult to his opponent, who trained hard to make the weight. This is again another reason I wish that we would move to same day weight-ins. While they are headed towards a rematch with Noons, I do not think he deserves one until he can prove that he can make weight. There has to be some real punishment here, besides a small purse penalty. And that goes for everyone, not just ELITE. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0
My Pick: Noons, Strikes, RD3 The Result: KJ Noons via RD1 (0:48) TKO Final Thoughts: Most people wrote off Noons for this fight, he was the underdog, he was inexperienced and by all rights I could not blame anyone for picking against him. I got mocked a bit for my pick of Noons to win, but in the end I got that one right. A very fast fight, which saw Edwards rock Noons for a moment, but that merely served to wake Noons up as he dropped Edwards and connected with some of the fastest shots I have seen for the quick stoppage. Edwards was humble in loss, stating that Noons was the man and, "I just got my ass whooped, I don't remember anything." This was a very impressive victory for young KJ Noons.
As for the after match "angle," which was right out of pro-wrestling, I think that you either love it or hate it. As soon as Diaz was brought into the cage and the fans booed his rematch request, I knew something wild would happen and it did. Here is the thing, ELITE cannot compete with UFC, they cannot try to be another UFC. As much as traditional MMA fans will hate this, the pro-wrestling aspect can draw well, look at Kimbo and the CBS debut. Hate it all you want, but the pro-wrestling aspect drew that card. They can't be UFC, and trying to be just the "Pure Sport" will fail as well, look at the IFL. The bottom line is that they have to do something to make people want to see a fight, to make it seem like a money fight and they did that here. In many ways I appreciate what they are trying to do, but in other ways I just think that it re-enforces that Nick Diaz is a classless fighter. He doesn't make weight, and then thinks he deserves a title shot. Part of me thinks that he doesn't deserve the shot, due to not making weight, but if we have learned anything in MMA, it is that you have to make the fights when you can, because if Noons loses before a rematch with Diaz, then the fight doesn't have nearly the heat or importance that it would have. It's a slippery slope to be honest with you. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.5
The Overall: Best Fight(s): MIDDLEWEIGHT BOUT - Murilo "Ninja" Rua (15-8-1) vs. Tony Bonello (16-0-1) 8.0 Worst Fight: Nothing Bad Final Thoughts: In the end we got a good night of fights, and thankfully no wacky decisions. When all is said and done Feijao and Herman looked great in their divisions, Rua seems to be back with a dominating performance and for better or worse, they have a ton of hype for the Noons vs. Diaz rematch. This was a fine night of MMA.
