Suddenly everybody and their mother can defeat Sherdog.com columnist Mike Sloan in the popular Great Sherdog Debate. Case in point: Beatdown Radio host TJ De Santis has crawled out of the cellar and snagged two consecutive wins. This time around, the two fierce competitors go toe-to-toe to see who will win between EliteXC lightweight titlist
KJ Noons and challenger
Yves Edwards (Pictures).
I can now proclaim my level of suckiness has hit an all-time low. I can't remember the last time I scored a win in this debate, something I created a few years ago. I'm supposed to win these things! I thought for sure
Matt Hughes (Pictures) would have shown a little more than he did during that awful outing against
Thiago Alves (Pictures) at UFC 85 last week. It looks like yours truly is cursed. Any fighter I put my stamp of approval on also becomes ensnared by the Mike Sloan Jinx, so I feel it necessary to apologize to
Yves Edwards (Pictures) in advance.
Why? Let's face it: Edwards will probably get caught in some sort of flying reverse gogoplata 30 seconds into his EliteXC lightweight title shot against champion KJ Noons.
Naturally, I don't really believe that because I don't believe in curses, voodoo, the Lochness Monster, alien abductions or black helicopter conspiracies. What I do believe in, besides the prophetic verses of
Phil Collins (Pictures)' "Su-Su-Sudio," is that Edwards will trounce the Hawaiian and capture the 155-pound title.
And he'll do it in spectacular fashion.
Noons is a good fighter. He has explosive striking power, solid technique and he's quick. But I've never been sold on the guy for a few reasons:
1) He's still relatively inexperienced in mixed martial arts.
2) His only win over a top contender was stopped due to a cut (
Nick Diaz (Pictures) last November)
3) He was blasted out of the cage by perennial slacker Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett at EliteXC: Destiny in February 2007.
Aside from Diaz, Noons has never faced anybody in the same league as Edwards. The Bahamian has refocused his energy into his fighting career and he has been on a tear lately. Though his three straight wins haven't come against A-Level comp and he dropped five of his previous six bouts, Edwards is hungry for a title. He struggled with personal issues for a while and lost his passion for the sport -- and it showed -- from 2005-07.
After speaking with Edwards on numerous occasions lately, it's obvious his psyche is back to where it was in 2004 when he blew apart
Josh Thomson (Pictures) at UFC 49. You know, the period of time where Dana White promised Edwards a title shot, then (temporarily) abolished the lightweight division due to poor cash flow and then crowned him UFC's "uncrowned champion."
Edwards is back, he's been back, and Noons will pay the price for the doldrums the Thug Jitsu master fell into for almost two full years. Yves will avoid Noons' strikes, score a takedown, administer a beating and when the Hawaiian scrambles back to his feet, Edwards will detonate a pipe bomb onto his jaw. It'll be relatively quick and it will loop on highlight reels for years to come.
Yves Edwards (Pictures) will win the EliteXC lightweight title via knockout less than four minutes into the first round.
Honestly, I like Yves to win this fight. But I have no issues taking Noons for a few reasons. One of them is I am on a hot streak. When good things happen they come in threes. This Saturday night, KJ Noons will beat the more experienced Edwards and I will extend my win streak to three straight, .500 in my Great Sherdog Debate career. So now that you have cast the curse of failure on the Thug Jitsu expert, let me tell you how Noons will get this done.
Funny instances in sports occur from time to time. Being a Minnesotan I have seen many follies turn in to disaster for my beloved sports teams. I would go in to examples, but I really can't stomach talking about my four-time-Super-Bowl-failure Minnesota Vikings or my small market Twins disasters. However, one small disaster in Noons' career was an upset knockout loss to part-time fighter, part-time prisoner Bennett. Pro Elite and EliteXC had set Noons up to be a star in the upstart promotion. Bennett crushed those ideas with a knockout at 3:43 of the opening round.
Since then Noons has picked up solid wins over
James Edson Berto (Pictures) and a decisive stoppage over PRIDE and UFC veteran Diaz. Noons peppered Diaz' face and cut open the
Cesar Gracie (Pictures) fighter causing a stoppage after the opening round. I like Noons to follow the same strategy to stop Edwards in the second round.
Edwards is a more complete fighter than Noons is at this point. However, Edwards will look to stand for the first five minutes, but that will ultimately lead to his demise. Noons' quick hands have netted him six MMA victories and seven professional boxing wins. Edwards will taste the power of the Hawaiian early and often.
After five minutes of stiff jabs and hard crosses Edwards will go back to his corner frustrated. The frustration will carry over in to the second frame and will come to an end when Edward loses consciousness at the three minute mark. Noons will solidify his rank as champion, and the Hawaiian fans will erupt.
Corbbrey has displayed some solid submissions thus far in his still-blossoming MMA career. However, he hasn't fought anybody near the B-Level of the fighter spectrum and that inexperience will cost him dearly against Diaz. This is designed as a showcase fight for Diaz and he will prevail via triangle late in the first.
You may be wrong about Noons and Edwards, but you're spot on for this one. Diaz will pepper Corbbrey and put him down in the first round. Diaz will set himself up for a rematch with Noons.
Ah, "Ninja," whatever happened to you? At one point you were labeled as "the Next Big Thing" but then your losses started piling up. Once he lost to
Kevin Randleman (Pictures) at Pride 32, Rua became inconsistent and lost almost half of his fights. With that said, I think this will be a perfect springboard fight for Bonello. He hasn't quite toppled a top-level fighter, but he has the experience. I like the virtual unknown to pull off what many might consider an upset. Bonello by guillotine in the second.
Was it Bonello's win over "T-Bone" that made you pick him? Bonello does have a nice record. But that won't help him against the PRIDE veteran. Rua will embarrass Bonello with better strikes and a better ground attack. I like "Ninja" by TKO early in the second.
Not quite sure who I like in this one. I've only seen the two men fight a handful of times and neither blew me away. Cole has more experience, but Feijao is bigger and stronger. I'm leaning toward the Brazilian to win a decision.
This fight is hard to pick. I like Feijao by submission. Why… because he is Brazilian, duh!
Sure, Herman holds an unblemished professional record, but he hasn't faced anybody above
C-Level. Waterman, on the other hand, is a guy I liken to
Jason Lambert (Pictures). He scores some good wins along the way and snags a minor belt or two but just can't seem to pull over the ledge. Herman is still unproven in my book and this would be a huge win for him, but I don't see it happening. Waterman by kimura sometime in the second.
I love your pick. Waterman loves to try and get that arm lock any chance he can. Unfortunately for him, and the fans really, the submission will not come. Instead we will see a gassed Waterman take Herman down and lay on him for 15 minutes.
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