EliteXC returns to Hawaii June 14

March 29, 2008

Former Big Island resident KJ Noons will headline the June 14th EliteXC event at the Blaisdell Arena when he defends his world lightweight title against Yves Edwards.

The fight was officially announced during tonight’s EliteXC/StrikeForce co-promoted event in San Jose, Calif. The Hawaii show will be broadcast on Showtime and also features the crowning of the promotion’s first welterweight champion as Drew Fickett and Jake Shields will fight for the title. That fight was supposed to take place tonight, but Shields suffered a back injury in training and had to pull out.

It’ll be the second show for EliteXC in Hawaii. Robbie Lawler knocked out Murilo “Ninja” Rua in the main event of the first one last September. EliteXC is the same organization that recently signed a deal with the CBS network. Saturday Night Fights will debut May 31 with Lawler defending his middleweight title against Scott Smith, a heavyweight fight featuring internet legend turned MMA superstar Kimbo Slice and Phil Baroni against Rua.

In a memorable main event last night on Showtime, Cung Le stopped Frank Shamrock in three rounds to become the new Strikeforce middleweight champion in front of a packed house at the HP Pavilion. The fight was billed as a battle for San Jose and is an early candidate for fight of the year as Shamrock stayed true to his word and engaged in a striking contest with a world renowned kickboxer in Le. Le controlled the first two rounds, but a series of hard right hands had Le in trouble near the end of round 3. After the bell rang, Shamrock slumped to his knees in his corner and couldn’t continue as one of Le’s powerful kicks broke Shamrock’s right arm.

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