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EliteXC Renegade: Mildly Disappointing

Posted by Kris Karkoski on Nov 11, 2007 at 4:44 am ET37 Comments

The EliteXC Renegade card has been hyped for some time now, riding high on the Kimbo Slice advertising wave all the way up to Saturday nights big show. Unfortunately, the big show left a lot to be desired. This is largely due to the Kimbo Slice-Bo Cantrell match which lasted a grand total of 19 seconds. Sure its great to see Kimbo Slice (real name Kevin Ferguson) destroy opponents like we expect him to after seeing so many of his infamous youtube videos, but really a better opponent needs to be thrown in with Slice that can give fans their moneys worth. No doubt Slice is a great competitor, but the other man in the ring with him wasn’t exactly ready to press the action.

Another big name on the Renegade card was UFC veteran Nick Diaz, who ended up losing to K.J. Noons via TKO (doctor stoppage- multiple cuts) at 5:00 of the first round. With his upset victory K.J. Noons becomes the first ever EliteXC Lightweight Champion. Following the match it was reported that an angry Nick Diaz flipped off the fight doctor on his way out of the arena while shoving a camera out of his face. Ironically enough, Diaz allegedly stated in a pre-fight interview that the only way he would lose his fight would be if a cut were opened up above his eye…Maybe he had a crystal ball? The rest of the bouts on the card weren’t bad, they were just fast. In fact all but two matches went past the first round with only one going the distance. Antonio Silva, Yves Edwards and Jake Shields performed especially well in their fights with all three winning via rear naked choke in the first round.

In the end, you could say EliteXC Renegade definitely appealed to the easily bored mixed martial arts fan, but left those looking for some real MMA battles pretty flat. Hopefully the next EliteXC event will be a little more exciting, and perhaps when Kimbo Slice returns he will at least break a sweat for the fans in the cheap seats. Click continue for complete card results.

  • Kimbo Slice defeats Bo Cantrell via TKO (Strikes) at 0:19 of Round 1
  • K.J. Noons defeats Nick Diaz via TKO (Doctor Stoppage- Multiple Cuts) at 5:00 of Round 1 (K.J. Noons becomes the first EliteXC lightweight champion)
  • Yves Edwards defeats Nick Gonzalez via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:05 of Round 1
  • Jake Shields defeats Mike Pyle via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:39 of Round 1
  • Antonio Silva defeats Jonathon Wiezoerek via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:12 of Round 1
  • Jae Suk Lim defeats Daniel Pineda via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:42 of Round 1
  • Brett Rogers defeats Ralph Kelly via Submission (Strikes) at 1:43 of Round 1
  • Matt Lucas defeats Jon Kirk via Unanimous Decision at 5:00 of Round 3
  • Kyle Noke defeats Seth Kleinbeck via TKO (Doctor Stoppage – Cut) at 4:22 of Round 2
  • Geoff Bumstead defeats Robert Ruiz via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:30 of Round 1

37 Comments »

  • Vampslayr says:

    Eric, no disrespect but did you not see the fights? Diaz stormed out of the ring, turned around and then gave everyone in the ring the finger. Backstage Nick was walking back to his locker area, pushed the camera out of his face, started to run away from the camera crew, began shouting (it was incoherent) before they cut the feed.

    As for the fight, Noons definitely won the 1st Round. The doctor stopped the fight after Diaz took a knee to the head that cut his right eyelid. With blood running into that eye, Diaz took damage to his left eye and had blood covering both eyes. After the 1st Round, Nick’s cut team was attempting to stop the bleeding, but Diaz kept moving his head around making it difficult to stop the cuts. Nick can talk about cuts all he wants, but Noons won the battle in the ring. In fact, with almost every punch thrown by K.J. he kept dropping his head low to his right. I’m surprised Diaz didn’t pick up on that, not to mention Koons consistently lowering his hands. Great first round, just disappointing it had to be stopped.

    Kimbo vs Bo was a complete joke. Bo came out with a spinning back fist before cowering to the cage. Kimbo connected with a slicing elbow and down went Bo. He tapped due to strikes almost immediately. I hope Elite-XC withholds some of his pay due to that pathetic showing. Bo won due to psyching out his opponent (I think Bo wore a diaper instead of a jock strap).

    Shields vs Pyle started off pretty evenly. Once it got to the ground, Jake really took over like a python just working it closer and closer until you knew it was only a matter of time. He finished with the rear naked choke and should have won the 170 lb belt. The problem, was that Pyle didn’t feel he’s been properly promoted within Elite-XC. This was the last fight on his contract, he didn’t want to renew so it became a 3 round non-title fight since XC doesn’t want the chance of Pyle winning the belt and then quitting. Everyone in Team Couture must be drinking the same Kool-Aid as Randy these days.

    Seth Kleinbeck vs Kyle Noke was the best fight aired last night. The problem was that it was stopped in the 2nd round due to another cut. Noke is a little known from Australia, but this man has a lot of potential. His Jiu-Jitsu looked phenomenal last night and his guard was extremely active (nearly had several different arm bars in the 1st round). In the first round, the stand up was won by Seth (barely) and while Seth was on top during the ground portion of the round, it was Noke that was more active. I have the 1st round to Seth (by a narrow margin). In round 2, Kyle dominated. He took Kleinbeck down and punished him. The show stopper (literally) was a vicious elbow that landed on Seth’s skull above his left eye. That busted him open and led to the fight being stopped. It was one of the worst looking cuts you’ll ever see (I had it in high def and you could see skull). Nasty! Noke is one to watch out for at 185.

    The Super Heavyweight fight between Silva and Wiezoerek was funny to watch (it was actually pretty entertaining). Silva is as big as Tim Sylvia and is not only as quick with his hands, is quicker at making take downs. Silva dominated the entire 3:12 minutes both on his feet and when it went to the ground. Jonathon didn’t stand a chance the entire match and ate a ton of hammer fists and strikes while on the ground. He looked a little scared after taking a hard leg/knee (can’t remember which) early on to the mid-section and you could just see his face as it went from “will to win” to “oh no”.

    Those were the 5 fights shown last night and that’s how I saw ‘em. Hope that adds a little more insight for everyone.

  • Red says:

    I didn’t think Noons stood a chance against Diaz; well I was wrong and it is MMA so predicting a winner these days is too difficult.

  • FixXeR says:

    I used to like Nick Diaz…he was a little b**** after the fight though. Walking out and flipping everyone off….it was pretty poor sportish if u ask me. He got his ass handed to him and he cried about it. Noons is a good fighter, and he should stay champion for a while.

    As far as the Kimbo fight….can you say rigged? I wonder how much they paid Bo to go down. He caught a minor elbow to the face, dropped down and started tapping. Are you serious?

    Vampslayr, did u say Do won?? I had no sound when I was watching it at the bar, but he looked like he lost

  • Vampslayr says:

    My bad, meant to say Kimbo won. Thanks for the correction FixXer.

  • Eric Shapiro says:

    vampslayr, I got to see all the aired fights but like a schmuck I left the room right after they called the Diaz match and did not get to see his antics first hand, so I had to write it based on the other reports as well as my buddies frantic descriptions. I agree the fights shown were exciting, like I said “they werent bad, just fast” so I felt like the night was over before I could take it all in, just my opinion. It’s hard to be that thrilled when the night is capped off by two main events which end they way those did, it just left us wanting more. Which I suppose is a good thing for the promotion.

  • Vampslayr says:

    Eric, thanks for clearing it up. When you mentioned “It was reported” I was surprised since it all aired on television.

  • Eric Shapiro says:

    you bet, I eventually caught the whole Diaz thing online earlier this morning and I guess I could change the whole “reported” lingo, but at this point I don’t think it matters.

  • scotchydow says:

    Silva has always been a threat to anybody who will fight a super heavyweight. Its nice to see him back in action. I would like to see Kimbo get his ass kicked by someone with some talent. I would really like to see Don Frye jack him up. He is the type of guy that could do it. As far as Nick Diaz goes, I agree with a lot of people out there that they shouldn’t have stopped it. He was definately behind, but he is Nick Diaz. It was a title fight, you have to let those ones go. I am pretty bummed that Jake Shields re signed with Elite,. He could have caused a stir in the UFC.

  • ravine says:

    FixXeR …i dont agree wit the kimbo fight being rigged…have u watched his infamous youtube videos…he knocks out everyone that dude has alot of power and that elbow kinda looked like it hurt cuz if u catch it at the right angle it caught him in the back of the head…then that bomb that kimbo threw after bo fell….thats like a a bomb going off on u…the only person i wanna see kimbo fight now is the only man that beat him in his internet videos…shawn gannon….garunteed elitexc is gonna try make that happen cuz sean is a mma fighter after he beat kimbo…on another note i would like to see him fight fedor…i think kimbo would destroy him

  • ravine says:

    and on another note….no one ever knocked chuck liddell for so easily dominating his weght class and knocking almost all his opponents out in the first round…so why does kimbo get knocked….jus cuz he can knock people out in the blink of an eye doesnt mean that he shouldnt be considered a force to be reckoned with…sure hes gonna lose some…but so does every single champion theres ever been

  • FixXeR says:

    Im not a big Kimbo fan, and I have seen his fights online…I guess I am just not used to someone tapping from a punch. Your right ravine..im sure it wasnt rigged…but jeez. He was on the ground tapping really before Kimbo was able to get a good shot. He is a powerful dude, and I think he is semi good. I would like to see him get knocked out.

    Whatever happend to him fighting Tank? I know after the Slice-Mercer fight there was some **** talking between em. Tank has the power to knock him out if he can land a solid punch in the first…..umm, like 45 seconds, other than that, hes done. But your right ravine, it prolly wasnt rigged, I was just disappointed in Bo for tapping from a elbow…most fighters would fight out of it or try to until the fight is stopped.

  • ravine says:

    i agree…if anyone can do it tank can…bo is a **** for tapping like that and he shoulda tried to fight it off…but eh its history now….last i heard about the tank and slice fight it was set to go down like october 5th or something like that…but the company that was hosting it kinda fell through and is now no longer a legitamate company…so thats why that fight didnt happen….maybe if were lucky elite xc will try and sign tank in a one fight deal and let them two fight….could be a crazy pay paer veiw worthy bout

  • Vampslayr says:

    ravine, I agree that I don’t think the fight was rigged.

    The only Sean Gannon I know hasn’t fought a sanctioned professional MMA match in 2 years and his last fight was a loss to Brandon Lee Hickle. Kimbo would not stand a chance against Fedor at this time.

  • ravine says:

    lol maybe im dreaming but i jus cant see fedor standing a chance against kimbo….he hasnt really fought anyone that can hit u on the button and knock u right out…besides mirko…but i think that kimbo is jus too big for fedor to handle the way he man handles everyone else

  • Vampslayr says:

    Fedor’s handled bigger than Kimbo (Zuluzinho was almost 400 lbs). I’m not a big Fedor fan and would love to see him get beat, I just don’t think Kimbo has the skill-set yet to be that man. Perhaps after some more training. If Elite XC was that sold on his ability, they’d have found a much more credible opponent (including the original one that had to back out of yesterday’s fight).

    Hey, at least they’ve got us talking about him, which is what they want.

  • ravine says:

    lol well im a huge kimbo fan…and him being trained by the one and only bas rutten is the only reason i think he can actually beat fedor

  • scotchydow says:

    I think Antonio Silva could mess Slice up. I think that is a pretty marketable fight. I would (still) like to see the UFC get a super-heavyweight division. That would be great. They could force fighters like Tim Sylvia into it, and sign monsters like Antonio Silva.

  • ravine says:

    i agree…and im willing to bet thats gonna be the next fight for both of them

  • Vampslayr says:

    Silva weighed in at 265 yesterday, so he can make Heavyweight. I think he’d be a great addition to the UFC. He’s big, if not bigger than Sylvia, and quicker (especially at take downs).

    I don’t know that I’m anxious to see a Super HW division in the UFC though. I like that they stop at 155 and leave the lighter weights to the WEC.

  • First fight with that cretan looking guy was good except for the guy who looks like me when i look in the mirror ha! Man i was laughing when they said that fatso does 5 minute rounds. only rounds he does is rounds around the buffet. Dont get me started on Bo Cantrell. Where is his dress? Thanks Vern – http://Dan-Henderson.com

  • ravine says:

    lmao good point bout the buffet…when we gonna see dan henderson vs anderson silva????

  • Vampslayr says:

    There have been rumors about UFC 79, but unless Hendo does a new deal, I don’t see it happening. Dana won’t let Dan’s last contracted fight be a UFC Championship bout.

  • ravine says:

    lol true dat…but those two titles need to be unified…even if it is his last fight i cant imagine dan going anywere else to fight cuz the elite guys are in the ufc…and if ur in the top 10 then u should wanna fight the top 10 right???

  • Vampslayr says:

    Well, if you look at the UFC’s 185 Weight Class, they have perhaps only 4 of the top 10 ranked right now (5 if you count WEC). If Dan were to stay at 205, then he’d be assured of top competition in the UFC.

    Dana will not risk having Dan beat Silva and then being out of contract, holding the Unified Pride/UFC Championship. There are too many players right now looking to drop big money to sign top talent and Dan’s no spring chicken. He’d be foolish to at least not consider outside offers. Don’t forget, he’s best buddies with Randy Couture as well, and you see how his relationship with the UFC has been lately (the latest is Wanderlei Silva couldn’t wear “Team Couture” clothing and couldn’t be filmed at Couture’s training facility for his upcoming “All Access”).

  • ravine says:

    well i always wanted to fight in the ufc…but the way there not allowing wanderlei to no wear randy’s stuff…man my own parents cant tell me what to wear im not sure if i want some dick like dana tryna tell me that i couldnt wear what i wanted

  • trey_trey says:

    am i the only one that thinks the whole elitexc thing is a joke? dancing skanks? goldberg? the “good voice guy” and the creepy looking professor? the atmosphere and vibe really suck! i really find it hard to take the fights seriously with the circus like atmosphere, at least in my opinion…

  • Vampslayr says:

    I could definitely do without the dancing girls and Goldberg is just the worst at doing interviews. You can tell he’s not evening listening to the fighters, but to the producer telling him in his earpiece to get to the clip. I actually hope they keep him since he’s so funny to laugh at.

    Every Elite XC event seems to have a problem. The first event I watched, Frank Shamrock got DQ’d for throwing rabbit punches. The 2nd one was in a stadium that seated 100,000 people and maybe 10,000 showed up (many of them receiving free tickets). Now this one where we get 2 stoppages due to cuts and the co-main event ends in 19 seconds.

    Despite the setbacks, I still think more MMA is more gooder.

  • The post fight comments backstage by Diaz were something along the lines of:

    “I’ll f***ing beat the **** out of Noons…”

  • Vampslayr says:

    …just like he’ll beat the **** out of Parisyan, Diego, Riggs & Sherk.

  • GIP says:

    fedor would destroy kimbo slice. to even think he has a chance against fedor is crazy. fedor beat mark hunt not to long ago. mark hunt has better stand up and just as much power as kimbo. quick sub for fedor over kimbo slice. not every champ has lost: fedor emelianenko.

  • ravine says:

    good point but that title should no longer belong to him cuz it was property of PRIDE and now PRIDE and everything that is pride besides the fighters all belong to Dana and the Fertitta’s…dont be to surprised to see him stripped of that title

  • GIP says:

    really could care less about titles. fedor isn’t even one of my fav fighters but untill someone beats him i still think he’s the man. i don’t easily forget the guys he’s fought and beat. yes… there are guys he has not beat like couture, sylvia, gonzaga, arlovski. but there are guys couture has not beat also like fedor, big nog, crocop.

  • Vampslayr says:

    Fedor v Couture could still happen in 2008 (not in the UFC of course). That would determine the #1 HW. Dana won’t strip Emelianenko because he will no longer acknowledge him.

    Kimbo is to MMA what Butterbean was to boxing. I think he’ll do great against MMA guys that just do stand-up. Get him on his back though and I’ll bet he resembles Kongo a few fights ago.

    He’ll do really well at Elite-XC and may even win their belt, he just doesn’t belong in the same sentence right now as Fedor though, in my opinion.

  • scotchydow says:

    I am with Vamp here. I think the only reason the UFC is acnowledging the PRIDE light heavy, and middlweight titles is pomotional value twords Henserson. PRIDE is dead, as much as it sucks it;s true. I also agree about “Kimbo” Slice. The guy throws bombs, but get him in there with a true MMA fighter (compareable in size) he will loose. I think Antonio Silva would trash him.

  • Vampslayr says:

    scotchydow, we may not agree on Lytle, but I knew we’d find common ground somewhere.

  • scotchydow says:

    Right on slayer, I just thought you were trashing on his skills. I see now you are basing it on his record (which doesn’t match his skills) I still think he would tap Swick out, and I think it would be an insult to put him in there with Leben (though I was impressed with the change Leben underwent before his last bout, he looks much better than he used to)

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