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Bo Knows He’s Got Nothing On KJ Noons

Bo Jackson…Deion Sanders…Their whole “one day I’m a football star the next I’m a baseball player” routine was definitely impressive. But, let’s be real, they don’t hold a candle to what KJ Noons is trying to accomplish.

Noons is one of the few professional athletes that is actively competing on the boxing AND mixed-martial-arts stage. When it comes to the sweet science, he holds a 7-1-0 record with 5 KOs. In the MMA world, he is currently 5-2-0. Not a bad start. Noons focuses his training on whichever sport he will be competing in next. And, boy, does he have a big fight on his hands in just a few days.

Noons will be facing Nick Diaz for the first-ever Elite XC 160 lbs Lightweight belt this Saturday night at Elite XC:Renegade. Diaz is coming off a hard-fought victory over Mike Aina in his Elite debut in September. And while this fight appears to be a mismatch between a fighter (Diaz) who has fought in over twice as many MMA bouts as his opponent, Noons doesn’t seem phased in the slightest:

“You’re going to see the belt around my waist, man…”

Interestingly enough, in my interview with Noons (found below), he also said that this is the last fight on his Elite XC contract. However, one has to figure that a deal is already in place for an extension given the fact that he is fighting for a title. I mean, Gary Shaw wouldn’t give him a title shot before resigning him, would he?

Take a listen as Noons discusses his upcoming title fight, his boxing career, Kimbo Slice’s debut and his future in Elite XC.

KJ Noons – 11/07/07

Posted in Boxing, Elite XC, Interview, KJ Noons, MMA | 3 Comments »

Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number

Most boxing experts and fans seem fairly confident that Miguel Cotto (30-0-0) will defeat Shane Mosley (44-4-0) come this Saturday night. However, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in my discussion with Larz from No Mas, something is stopping me from betting the house on the Puerto Rican sensation. Not surprisingly, it appears as though Mosley’s trainer (and father), Jack, is not favoring Cotto either:

“I don’t know what Bob Arum was thinking about when he said ‘we’ll fight Shane.’ I mean, he’s thinking about age but that’s not going to work. Shane is just tremendously too powerful for Cotto. All the big people that he’s fought and sparred with right now don’t compare with Cotto…”

Needless to say, Jack’s pretty riled up about this whole age thing. More from the elder Mosley:

“…Cotto is worried sick about fighting Shane I already know. You look in his eyes and tell…And, Cotto hasn’t faced anybody like Shane, period…Cotto is one of the smallest guys he’s fought in a long time. Everybody he’s fought, they’re much bigger… So Cotto’s going to be in for a rude awakening and Bob Arum and all the rest of the camp that believe his age is going to be a factor. It’s not going to be a factor.”

For the record, Shane Mosley is 36 and Miguel Cotto is 27. Pretty big difference but stranger things have happened.

[credit: Swanson Communications] 

Posted in Boxing, Jack Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley | No Comments »

The Jarry Park MMA Awards

Yeah, that’s right – we’ve been around a month and have already decided to create our own award ceremonies. We begin with The First Annual Jarry Park MMA Awards (catchy title, eh?)…

What a year it’s been in the world of Mixed-Martial-Arts. Huge upsets, great fights, dream match-ups, contract disputes…definitely one to remember. Sure there are still two months left in the year but I wanted to get a leg up on the competition and break out our awards. (Our Boxing and Wrestling “ceremonies” are on the way.)

So, I rounded up the hosts of Fight Opinion Radio, Jeff Thaler and Zach Arnold, to hand out the awards. For the record, our categories are:

• Fight of the year in each of the five major weight classes
• Fighter of the year in each of the five major weight classes
• Promotion of the year
• Biggest headline of the year
• Best event of the year
• Most disappointing fighter of the year
• Most disappointing fight of the year
• Most anticipated fight of ’08

The Jarry Park MMA Awards

Posted in Awards, Interview, MMA | 3 Comments »

Kimbo & Bas: A Match Made In MMA Heaven

Bas Rutten is no spring chicken. The former UFC Heavyweight champion and three-time King of Pancrase has been arould the world of Mixed-Martial-Arts longer than most. So it made perfect sense when I first heard that Rutten (aka El Guapo) would be training Kimbo Slice as he enters the world of MMA.

Surely by now you’ve heard of Kimbo. Internet sensation, street-fighting legend, huge guy who dismantled former boxer Ray Mercer – for better or worse, the man is the talk of the combat sports world.

When I spoke with fellow Elite XC fighter, Jake Shields, he had this to say about Kimbo’s Elite debut:

“It’s a little goofy to give him so much hype right away”

Shields may have a point but one can’t deny the intrigue surrounding Saturday night’s fight and who better to give us the real low down on how Kimbo preparing for bout against Bo Cantrell than his trainer, Bas Rutten.

In our interview, Rutten talks about how he first met Kimbo, his prediction for this weekend and the negativity surrounding his MMA debut.

Bas Rutten – 11/06/07

And, finally, one last Kimbo video for all his fans out there in street-fighting land.

Posted in Bas Rutten, Elite XC, Interview, Kimbo Slice, MMA | 9 Comments »

Bas Is Coming and He Might Bring Kimbo, As Well

Who knew that putting up a Kimbo Slice video would illicit such excitement. I received more mail about that video than any interview posted on this site thus far.

That said, I am working diligently in getting an exclusive interview with Kimbo before his Elite XC debut this Saturday night but in the meantime we will have to settle on his trainer, MMA Legend Bas Rutten.

My interview with Rutten should be up later today. In the meantime, enjoy a video of Rutten training Kimbo. Could you imagine being in the gym with these two?

Posted in Bas Rutten, Kimbo Slice, MMA | No Comments »

Respect Has Been Earned: Ring Of Honor Is Here to Stay

Bored by the soap opera-like product being churned out by the like of World Wrestling Entertainment and/or TNA Wrestling? Well, you need to check out Ring of Honor pronto. A throwback wrestling promotion if there ever was one, ROH continues to produce the best matches of the year and are manufacturing the same kind of loyal fan base the orginal ECW was known to have.

For the last five years, ROH was a nice little independent wrestling promotion that relied on its DVD sales to stay afloat. However, this past summer things began to change. ROH made its pay-per-view debut and to say the show was widely accepted by the wrestling community would be a major understatement.

Clearly, WWE and TNA have taken notice of ROH since they keep plucking away their talent. What do Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Homicide and Jay Lethal (to name a few) have in common? They all made their initial name in ROH. (Maybe we like ROH so much because they kind of remind us of the Montreal Expos. We know all too well about losing homegrown talent to the big bucks).

Coming off a huge weekend in the Northeast in which the promotion presented Glory By Honor VI, I reached out to ROH owner, Cary Silkin, to discuss how he got involved with ROH, their initial foray into the PPV world and what lies ahead for everyone’s favorite “independent” wrestling promotion.

Cary Silkin – 11/05/07

Posted in Cary Silkin, Interview, Ring of Honor, Wrestling | No Comments »

Jake Shields Simply Wants To Fight The Best

Jake Shields has fought, and defeated, some of the best MMA fighters in the world. He holds victories over the likes of Carlos Condit, Yushin Okami, Hayato Sakurai and Jeremy Jackson. It’s a wonder his name doesn’t come up more often when discussing the top Welterweights. That’s all starting to change, though.

Since winning his Elite XC debut against Ido Pariente in June (Shields is in the midst of an impressive eight-fight winning streak), Shields has become a mainstay on everyone’s top 10 Welterweight list. Ho-hum, Shields is not content. He is itching to fight the absolute best and wonders if that can truly happen in Elite XC.

Just a few weeks ago, Shields said he was looking forward to testing his skills against the best the UFC has to offer. I don’t blame him. Clearly, the top Welterweights are fighting in the UFC. Naturally, though, Gary Shaw and the folks at Pro Elite weren’t that pleased with Shields’ comments. And while everyone seemed to have been on the same page during last week’s press conference, one has to wonder if this Saturday’s fight against Mike Pyle will be Shields’ last for Elite (his contract expires after this fight).

I asked Shields about his upcoming bout against Pyle, his future in Elite and his place in the Welterweight division. He definitely had some interesting things to say about the his 170 lbs contemporaries, Kimbo Slice’s budding MMA career and when we could find out about his MMA future (might be sooner than we think).

Jake Shields – 11/05/07

Posted in Elite XC, Interview, Jake Shields, MMA | 3 Comments »

Elite XC: Renegade Preview

This Saturday is a huge night for combat sports enthusiasts. Not only will HBO PPV be televising the highly-anticipated Miguel Cotto vs. Shane Mosley bout but Showtime will also offer up a great Elite XC card for the MMA lover in all of us.

Elite XC is less than a year old but they are quickly establishing themselves as a viable player in the world of Mixed-Martial-Arts. Most of their events have been met with great fanfare (we won’t discuss the Los Angeles Coliseum debacle) and this Saturday’s show from Corpus Christi, Texas is shaping up to be a great one.

The main fights on the card are:

Elite XC 160-Pound World title
Nick Diaz vs. KJ Noons

Kimbo Slice vs. Bo Cantrell

Jake Shields vs. Mike Pyle

Seth Kleinbeck vs. Kyle Noke

Antonio Silva vs. Jonathan Wiezorek

Obviously, the main questions leading up to this event are whether or not boxer/MMA fighter KJ Noons has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with Nick Diaz, will this be Jake Shields’ last fight for Elite XC and can Kimbo Slice’s “success” in the world of street-fighting translate into a prominent MMA career.

I invited one of the country’s best MMA journalists, Sam Caplan of proelite.com, fiveouncesofpain.com and cbssports.com, to preview this card and also discuss other Elite XC issues. Our discussion can be found below.

Sam Caplan – 11/05/07

Posted in Elite XC, Interview, MMA, Sam Caplan | 12 Comments »

This Week’s Probables

Here’s what’s in store for us at jarrypark.com this week. We’re working on much more but this is what we can confirm, thus far:

• MMA journalist, Sam Caplan, he of fiveouncesofpain.com, cbssportsline.com and proelite.com, will stop by to break down this Saturday’s Elite XC: Renegade event. Should be interesting to hear his thoughts on Nick Diaz vs. KJ Noons, the future of Jake Shields in Elite XC and Kimbo Slice’s debut on the national stage.
• Speaking Jake Shields (who can be seen choking out Ido Pariente to your right), we’ll sit down with the Welterweight fighter to discuss his upcoming fight against Mike Pyle, his status with Elite XC and whether he is still interested in signing with the UFC.
• Fresh off a huge weekend in the Northeast, Ring of Honor owner, Cary Silkin, will update us on the state of ROH, how the world of pay-per-view has treated them and what the future holds for everyone’s favorite independent wrestling promotion.
• Jeff Thaler of whaledog.com and Zach Arnold of fightopinion.com will invite ME onto their daily podcast to interview THEM. Pretty cool, eh? We’ll talk all things MMA and look back at the best and worst of 2007.
• Former WWE and WCW star, Shawn Stasiak, will talk about his career after wrestling and a new documentary released on his life entitled “Shawn Stasiak: Determined.”
• I’ll be hanging out at all the Mosley-Cotto press conferences this week (it’s so nice to have a big fight in your backyard) so expect some great audio previewing on the most anticipated fights of the year.

Also, we’ll be sure to hear from several IFL World Grand Prix winners, the fallout of Calzaghe-Kessler and all the news leading up to TNA: Genesis.

If you’ve never heard of Kimbo Slice you might want to watch the video below:

Posted in This Week | No Comments »

Benji Radach Is A Man On A Mission

What a year its been for IFL Middleweight fighter Benji Radach. After suffering a devastating jaw injury in a loss to Chris Leben in 2004, Radach disappeared from the world of MMA for almost three years. Then, just nine months ago, he reappeared in the International Fight League and proceeded to go on a four fight winning streak.

Radach (16-3-0, 1 NC) enters the IFL Grand Prix as the number one ranked Middleweight and many pundits even have him slotted as one of the ten best Middleweights in the world. I spoke to his opponent in this Saturday’s GP Semifinals, Brent Beauparlant, but I was curious to hear about how Radach is dealing with the pressure of rising up the Middleweight rankings so quickly and if he truly believes his string of success will last through the first-ever IFL Grand Prix. Oh, and for anyone who believes one can’t apply the lessons learned inside a ring or cage to their everyday life listen to Radach’s story on how he foiled a robbery attempt with the help of some ground-and-pound.

Benji Radach – 11/01/07

Posted in Benji Radach, IFL, Interview, MMA | 1 Comment »