By Robert Rousseau
The main question coming into this event was, would EliteXC: Return of the King turn out to be an early Father's Day present for everyone out there, or would staying up for it serve as just another reason to be tired when the big day came? Coming to us all live from the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 14th, we were all hoping for the former.
So let's see what happened Submit To MMA style.
Rafael Feijau vs. Wayne Cole : Landing a knee while someone holds the other leg in their hand
Here was the bottom line on this fight: Rafael Feijau, a training partner of Anderson Silva's, is for real.
In sum, as soon as the bell tolled Feijau came forward, landing hard leg kicks and executing some nice dirty boxing in the clinch. However, after a low blow by Feijau gave Cole a five minute reprieve, the Brazilian came out even more aggressively, landing another hard leg kick before Cole grabbed a leg looking for a takedown.
And that's when Feijau actually connected with a hard knee to Cole's face despite the fact that Cole was still holding his other leg. From there, Feijau connected with some more hard knees inside in the clinch that eventually dropped his opponent.
Then came the punches in bunches as Cole turtled up. The referee had no other choice but to step in.
Rafael Feijau wins by way of TKO at 2:47 of round one. Afterwards, Feijau said that, "everything, I give to this guy," in reference to what UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva had done for him.
Dave Herman vs. Ron Waterman : A new heavyweight to watch
Waterman took Herman down early, with the wrestling skills and power that has served him so well over the years. However, Herman got up.
And that's when we were really introduced to what may be one of the young faces to watch in the division.
In sum, Herman hit home with a spinning roundhouse and then defended the takedown while connecting with several damaging elbows to his opponent's head. When Waterman fell to the canvas on all fours, Herman slammed a knee into his ribs and several punches into his face.
And that was all she wrote.
Dave Herman wins via TKO at 2:19 of round number one.
Murilo Rua vs. Tony Bonello : Staredown of the Night
"I hope he has trained hard, because I'm here to win," said Rua coming in. Of course, Bonello wanted to win too, as evidenced by the verbal output he offered to his adversary during the prefight staredown. Would he regret all the talking?
In a word, yup.
Rua took Bonello down after his opponent started out aggressively. From there, he moved to side control. And then came some devastating elbows, the likes of which he was never allowed to use in PRIDE. Rua then achieved the crucifix position where those elbows continued.
However, it wasn't until he put a knee on Bonello's belly and started raining down rights that the referee had to put an end to things.
Murilo Rua wins via TKO at 3:16 of round number one.
Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey : The Diaz's are as tough as they come
"I think my boxing will definitely help me out a lot," said Corbbrey before the fight.
In the end, Corbbrey was wrong.
The first round was close, with both fighters landing some good shots on one another. Further, Corbbrey did a good job of defending the takedown. However, in the second, the head movement that Corbbrey showed in the first stanza was lacking, allowing Diaz to begin to do much more damage on his feet. At the end of the second, Diaz finally managed to take him down, albeit briefly.
It was a glimpse of things to come.
In the third, Diaz achieved a takedown early on. From there, he moved slowly and methodically until he gained the mount position. Several unanswered punches later and the referee had to stop things.
Nick Diaz wins via TKO at 3:59 of round three.
KJ Noons vs. Yves Edwards for the EliteXC Lightweight Championship
"I'm really excited to be back home in front of my family and my friends and to be fighting a fighter of such high caliber-Yves Edwards-who has so much talent and who has been in this game for so long," said K.J. Noons coming into this fight. Would he have the same respect for his former training partner after the fight?
Probably. But that doesn't mean he isn't willing to knock him out in 48 seconds.
In the end, Edwards landed some nice shots off the bat on the feet and tried to follow that up aggressively. Noons fired off a huge right as he did this, flooring his former training partner.
From there it wasn't pretty, as Noons landed several strikes in succession on the ground without any answer from his opponent.
By the way, afterwards Diaz was invited into the ring as he will likely be Noons' next opponent. Both camps nearly got into a scuffle there. Nice backdrop for what should be an interesting upcoming bout.
