Fireworks in Hawaii

It was a night of TKOs in Hawaii on Saturday.

Aside from the Diaz-Corbbrey tilt, not one fight on Elite XC’s “Return of the King” main card made it past the first round.

While brutal stoppages were the theme of the night, a confrontation between Diaz Brothers Nick and Nate and KJ Noons and an apple-faced man old enough to know better (Noons’ father) left the most lasting impression.

The explosive action started early, with destroyer of Mike Kyle and thus folk hero Wayne Cole, taking on Casa Preta light-heavyweight prospect, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. With Anderson Silva in “Feijao”’s corner, and commentators Stephen Quadros and Mauro Ranallo recounting stories involving other noted training parter Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the contrast in training regimes looked stark. It wasn’t long into the fight that this difference became further apparent.

“Feijao” stormed his opponent with big shots before taking down the former NCAA wrestler. Cole was able to get the fight back to the feet, where the two clinched against the fence. After a knee to the weak spot, Cole took time to recover, and the action continued on the feet. “Feijao” got the better of the exchanges, and after more action in the clinch, the Brazilian landed a series of vicious knees and strikes, finally forcing referee Mario Yamasaki to save Cole.

Dave Herman exploded on Ron Waterman, who looked outclassed in every sense of the word against his younger and faster opponent. After an early takedown by Waterman, Herman was able to get the fight back to the feet, and rock the H20 man with strikes, before pounding him out from the mount. While Jesus wept softly somewhere, Bill Goldberg took great pleasure in hearing Herman announce his new nickname, “The Blueberry Muffin”.

Up next, fans were treated to what was, for all intents and purposes, a public whipping of make-believe fighter Tony Bonello, at the hands of actual fighter Murilo “Ninja” Rua. Bonello courted disaster during the stare down, unleashing a torrent of expletives at the Brazilian, and tempting the universe to help ensure his inevitable defeat was as violent and embarrassing as possible.

Enter the rape choke.

Bonello, a self-professed ground fighter, jumped guard as the two tied-up, and “Ninja” was free to showcase his little-seen and oft-underrated ground game. It was complete domination, as “Ninja” moved from half-guard to side control, from knee-on-belly position to full mount, and then back to side control, finally trapping Bonello in a crucifix position. Elbows were the tool of choice as the former chute boxe representative rained down myriad unanswered blows. For his part, Bonello looked helpless, unable to improve his position, defend from strikes, or show any semblance of offense. In the coup de grace, “Ninja” borrowed a page from former teammate Wanderlei Silva, applying the dreaded, and unfortunately named “rape choke”, punching Bonello into unconsciousness. Sherdog himself, Jeff Sherwood succinctly predicted the outcome to this fight: “”Ninja” by real-fight-fighting.”

The next bout saw Nick Diaz, fresh off his destruction of Katsuya Inoue at DREAM.4, take on the underrated Muhsin Corbbrey. The first round proved competitive, as Corbbrey was able to defend Diaz’s takedown attempts and land effective strikes. Diaz showcased more of his awkward striking, opting to stand with Corbbrey after his first takedown attempts proved futile. Corbbrey was effective in the clinch and arguably won the first round, avoiding most of Diaz’s strikes while landing effective combinations.

The second round saw Diaz begin to take over. Diaz landed more strikes to the body and head, with Corbbrey landing sporadic shots, but for the most part avoiding contact. In the wake of boos, Diaz began to talk to his opponent, and with less than 20 seconds left in the round, took Corbbrey to the mat for the first time in the fight. Corbbrey, however, was able to ride out the short time remaining in the round.

In the final round Diaz immediately looked for the takedown. After failing in his initial attempts, Diaz was able to throw his opponent to the mat with authority, and quickly moved from half-guard to side control. After failed kimura and armbar attempts, Diaz mounted Corbbrey, and was able to pound his opponent out. The stoppage came at 3:58 of the third round. Despite the loss, Corbbrey raised his profile with an impressive performance against a much more experienced opponent in Diaz.

The main event saw the night’s trend continue. Elite XC lightweight champ KJ Noons defended his title for the first time, and in extremely impressive fashion, against outstanding competition in Yves Edwards. Edwards was favored by many going into this fight – myself included. The discrepancy in experience as well as competition seemed vast, and for many, Noons’ knockout loss to Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett seemed too recent to ignore. All of that proved meaningless, as just seconds into the bout Noons smashed Edwards with a straight right. From there, Noons pounced on the downed fighter, and forced the referee to stop the fight after dropping a series of unanswered elbows.

What followed Noons’ impressive victory was a cringe worthy exchange between the camps of Noons and vocal challenger Nick Diaz. In an obvious staged attempt to have Diaz challenge Noons and setup a rematch for the two, Nick and camp entered the cage following Noons’ win – that’s when things turned ugly. Nick and brother Nate taunted Noons and camp, with Nick offering a challenge and Nate offering some easy-to-understand hand gestures. Proving that you’re never too old to be an ass, Karl Noons Sr. escalated the situation to a physical altercation by charging and attacking Diaz, forcing security and police to intervene. While undoubtedly baited by the foul-mouthed Diaz and his younger brother, Noons Sr. seemed oblivious to the concept of taking the high road. Still filled with vitriol, the elder Noons spouted off to Sherdog.com in a video interview. There was no comment on the altercation from the Diaz camp.

Despite the asinine behavior at the end of the evening, it was an excellent show put on by Elite XC. One can’t help but wish – save for the final moments of the evening – that CBS was present to broadcast this card. Broadcast team Stephen Quadros and Mauro Ranallo did a fine job, and Bill Goldberg further dumbfounded fans with ridiculous statements, backhanded insults, and all-around nincompoopery. Additionally, It was announced that Scott Smith will rematch Robbie Lawler at Elite XC’s next show on CBS, tentatively planned for July 26.