EliteXC Better Hope Smith vs. Lawler Brings the Ratings

No one knows this but EliteXC held an event last night in which KJ Noons successfully defended his title against Yves Edwards.

Noons (7-2), defending his title for the first time since upsetting Nick Diaz for the first-ever EliteXC 160-pound belt in November, stormed through veteran Yves Edwards (34-14-3), flooring his opponent with a stiff right and following with a frantic barrage of punches and elbows to force a TKO stoppage just 48 seconds into the opening round.

Noons landed a right hand flush to Edwards' jaw, and after an explosive follow-up of strikes, the stoppage came just seconds later. Edwards had no excuses for the lightning-quick loss.

"He's the man; there's not much I can say," Edwards said. "He just whooped my ass. He dropped me, and I was out. I don't remember [anything]."

Immediately after the fight, EliteXC officials brought to the ring Nick Diaz (17-7), who used a boxing-heavy game plan to score a third-round TKO of Muhsin Corbbrey (8-3) in the preceding fight. Not to mention Diaz came into the fight 9 pounds overweight. After announcing the two fighters would meet again at a future event, the trash-talking and shoving began. Noons charged after Diaz, and then members of the two camps (including Noons' father and Nick's brother, Nate Diaz) briefly clashed before security restored order.

Gary Shaw wants EliteXC to turn into the WWE with more story lines and soapbox drama than actual fighting. I was really looking forward to this organization bringing some good fights but Shaw is more interested in playing a game with Dana White than taking his product seriously.

It's a mockery of discipline. Gina Carrano comes in 4.5 lbs overweight 2 weeks ago and now Nick Diaz shows up 9 lbs overweight. This organization is an absolute carnival and charade, not MMA. Once their poster boy Kimbo Slice loses the organization will be done.

Kimbo seems to be a good guy and is really trying but he's not good enough to carry an entire organization, especially when all the other fighters are other companies cast offs.

Good luck EliteXC, you're gonna need it.

Smith vs. Lawler II to Headline July 26th 'Saturday Night Fights' on CBS

EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler (15-4) and Scott Smith (13-4) will meet in a rematch -- less than two months after their initial meeting -- and they'll do it again on network television.

Their first bout at "EliteXC: PRIMETIME," which served as a co-main event to Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson's third-round TKO of James Thompson, ended in anticlimactic no-contest after Lawler caught Smith with an inadvertent eye poke in the third round. Smith maintained he was OK to continue, but officials refused to let the bout go on.

Championship bouts that are stopped early due to injury require the completion of at least three rounds. Because the stoppage came halfway through the second, no victor was declared, and Lawler got to keep his belt.

"Neither one of us wanted the fight to end that way, so we definitely have some unfinished business we need to take care of," Smith said during Saturday's broadcast.

Smith said his eye is fine, and though he initially thought he had broken his foot in the fight, he said it, too, is completely healthy.