"I mean, basically they wanted me to fight a guy that I already beat for three times less money. Okay, if I'm fighting him for three times less, what is there to gain for me? There is nothing for me to gain financially or in the fight game because I'm not winning financially because I'm getting three times less than what he is making and even if I beat him, it doesn't help my ranking. Obviously, the higher your ranking is, the more respected you're going to be. It wouldn't do anything for my career. That's why I asked for somebody like Eddie because he's a respected guy. If I were to fight Eddie, I would fight for what's on my contract because if I beat him, I get the respect in the rankings," stated former EliteXC lightweight champion KJ Noons as he spoke in detail about what went wrong with EliteXC and why he considers himself to be a free agent. You don't want to miss what else he had to say as he talks about his future plans in boxing and explains why he thinks Nick Diaz is acting like a "scared little kid". Check it out.
PC: You're a free agent now. Tell us about how it worked out to where you became a free agent?
KN: Well, a couple of things happened. I told them I would give them the belt back in a written document about 5 days before they stripped me, saying that I would give the belt back. I was looking to become a free agent and instead of talking and negotiating, they stripped me 5 days later without even telling me. I don't know if they did it to prove a point or something like that, but nobody knew that I told them I would give them the belt back earlier. After that, they asked us to come and try to work things out and we did. By stripping me, that made me a free agent. So we talked about different scenarios and how we could make it work and have them resign me and we couldn't come up with anything so I waited until after we negotiated, hoping that November 8th was going to happen, and they announced it on Saturday night that it was going to be Eddie against Nick and that obviously let me know I wasn't going to be fighting on that card. They think they're going to keep me in the closet and be waiting forever so right nowm I'm going to fulfill my dream and box and hopefully EliteXC will see my value in the future and if not, I'm sure another promotion will. Until then I'll just box and hopefully I could get an MMA fight here in the future.
PC: You're also a free agent with your boxing career as well, right?
KN: Yes, I am!
PC: What was your take on Saturday night's card?
KN: Saturday night's card...no comment!
PC: What weight class will you compete at in boxing and when can we expect to see you?
KN: I will be fighting at 154. I have a November 13th fight in Los Angeles somewhere. It's not going to be against a big name. I just want to build my record and go the respectful way. I don't want to jump in there and try to go against the best. I want to build and polish my skill and fulfill one of my goals to see if I got it or not. We'll find out real quick and if I don't, then hey, I'll go back to MMA.
PC: EliteXC is saying you have 3 fights left under contract with them. Explain why you feel as though you are a free agent?
KN: I owe them 2 fights as the champion. To make it real simple, if you strip me of the belt, what am I fighting for? I'm not the champ no more. I don't owe you as the champion so I'm going to go somewhere else, you know?
PC: Have you heard anything from EliteXC since you put it out that you're a free agent?
KN: No, they haven't contacted me. They knew we were going to come out and say this stuff weeks ago. I waited patiently. I didn't say anything when I got stripped. I didn't badmouth them and I still haven't badmouthed them. I just waited, hoping that they would be fair and not pay me three times less than Diaz and make that fight happen. I even gave them an ultimatum and said I would fight Eddie. Oddly, they stripped me and gave it to Nick. Then they give Eddie and Nick that fight. Like I said in the interview, whenever they are ready to treat me like a champ the correct way...if they want to make that fight happen or whenever one of them guys want to fight the world champion and EliteXC wants to make it fair, we'll do it.
PC: People are going to come with opinions from all over. Could you explain...was it money, fighting Diaz or lack of respect?
KN: It was a lot of small things that I dealt with from this company over time. A promotion will manipulate whatever they want however they want to and that obviously showed Saturday night. I don't know. I guess they just didn't want me to be the champ or...I don't know man! That's the way some of the things they did made me feel. I'm making a stand for myself. I didn't want to get paid three times less for a guy I already beat and I'm the champ. Then I said if I'm not going to get paid, give me a worthy opponent. I wanted the guy ranked #2 or 3 in the world, like Eddie Alvarez. Eddie Alvarez is a much harder opponent than Nick Diaz. Instead, they strip me and turn around and give those guys the opportunity so whatever.
PC: How do you see the fight between Alvarez and Diaz playing out?
KN: I see Eddie winning!
PC: Could you explain the offer that was made for Diaz a little better?
KN: Yeah, I mean, basically they wanted me to fight a guy that I already beat for three times less money. Okay, if I'm fighting him for three times less, what is there to gain for me? There is nothing for me to gain financially or in the fight game because I'm not winning financially because I'm getting three times less than what he is making and even if I beat him, it doesn't help my ranking. Obviously, the higher your ranking is, the more respected you're going to be. It wouldn't do anything for my career. That's why I asked for somebody like Eddie because he's a respected guy. If I were to fight Eddie, I would fight for what's on my contract because if I beat him, I get the respect in the rankings. You would think a promotion would want that because that's what's best, but obviously they want the views. I do get some of the most views with that company so you have to pay for what you want, right?
PC: And I know you don't feel he's a bigger draw than you are as far as ticket sales are concerned.
KN: If you want to talk about draws, I had the 3rd biggest draw in that company when I fought Yves Edwards and that fight wasn't even promoted. Who knows if they're going to bring me back or not, but they think Nick Diaz is this huge draw, but he's not. They couldn't even give away tickets in Stockton. That Stockton card had the worst ratings on CBS.
PC: A lot of people feel like he put fear in your heart when he came inside of the cage after your fight with Edwards. Could you eliminate this whole thing about you being scared of Nick Diaz?
KN: I beat him the first time and to me, he acts like the scared little kid. He's so immature man. This is a business and the sport that I love so for somebody like that to be disrespectful and clown, more power to you. If you want to be portrayed as a clown, then he could go right ahead.
PC: It's weird because at first, it appeared they wanted you to be the poster boy of their lightweight division.
KN: I lost, I got knocked out and I'm sorry to spoil the plans, but that's what true champs are all about. It's not about how many times you lose, it's how many times you get back up and go for that gold, you know what I mean? I'm not saying that I'm going to have a perfect record for the rest of my life. This is fighting. You're going to lose. It's just how are you going to come back? There is always a better fighter out there than you, but it's all about how you come back. Are you going to come back and fight hard or give up? That's the true testament of a champion. We'll see how it pans out.
PC: Is the UFC an option?
KN: I really just released this today, actually late last night. All I'm doing is moving forward, staying busy and trying to stay in shape and do my boxing and go from there. I would love a Gomi fight or any of the lightweight champions, but until then, I'm just going to try and stay busy and box.
PC: In this time when you will be boxing, do you plan on training MMA as well or just boxing?
KN: I'll just stick with boxing. I will roll here and there just to keep my skills sharp, but just try to focus on one thing.
PC: Are you searching for a boxing promoter as well or not right now?
KN: To sign with a boxing promoter right now is not really a problem, but I want to just build myself and make my value a little more and hopefully get signed. Maybe I could get a little sweet moolah for a signing bonus.
PC: I wish you the best of luck in this process. I think you've handled this entire ordeal with class. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
KN: I just want to thank my family, my friends and all of the people that's been behind me and supported me through these tough times when a lot of things have been said about me. I don't say anything, but I got reasons for it and when I come out, it makes a lot of sense.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]