| EliteXC: Return of the King | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Promotion | EliteXC | |||
| Date | June 14, 2008 | |||
| Venue | Neal S. Blaisdell Arena | |||
| City |  Honolulu, Hawaii, USA | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
EliteXC: Return of the King was a mixed martial arts event promoted by EliteXC that took place on Saturday, June 14, 2008 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. [1]
The main card aired live on Showtime and drew an estimated 350,000 viewers. [2]
A Welterweight title bout between champion Jake Shields and Drew Fickett was removed from the original card when Fickett sustained an injury. [1]
Nick Diaz showed up for his 160-pound lightweight fight at 169 pounds which led to it becoming a catchweight bout. [3]
| Main card (Showtime) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Lightweight | K. J. Noons (c) | def. | Yves Edwards | TKO (punches and elbows) | 1 | 0:48 | [a] |
| Catchweight (169 lbs) | Nick Diaz | def. | Muhsin Corbbrey | TKO (punches) | 3 | 3:59 | |
| Middleweight | Murilo Rua | def. | Tony Bonello | KO (punches) | 1 | 3:15 | |
| Heavyweight | Dave Herman | def. | Ron Waterman | TKO (punches) | 1 | 2:19 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Rafael Cavalcante | def. | Wayne Cole | TKO (punches) | 1 | 2:47 | |
| Preliminary card (Proelite.com) | |||||||
| Middleweight | Bubba McDaniel | def. | Kala Hose | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 0:41 | |
| Bantamweight | Mark Oshiro | def. | Chris Willems | Submission (triangle choke) | 1 | 2:12 | |
| Lightweight | Mike Aina | def. | Kaleo Kwan | Decision (unanimous) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | P.J. Dean | vs. | Dean Lista | Draw | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (135 lbs) | Russell Doane | def. | Dwayne Haney | TKO (punches and elbows) | 1 | 2:54 | |
| Middleweight | Carl Barton | def. | Kepa Madeiros | TKO (punches) | 1 | 0:55 | |
Tatsuya Kawajiri is a Japanese mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division. He is a former Shooto Lightweight Champion, and has also competed in the UFC, PRIDE, DREAM, Strikeforce, ONE FC, and Rizin Fighting Federation. Kawajiri also participated in the Yarennoka! event as well as Dynamite!! 2009 and Dynamite!! 2010, representing DREAM in both events.
Nickolas Robert Diaz is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Diaz is a former Strikeforce, WEC and IFC welterweight champion and a UFC title challenger. He also notably competed in PRIDE, EliteXC, DREAM, and Shooto. Nick is the older brother of former UFC fighter Nate Diaz, with the pair of brothers being one of the biggest influences in the sport of MMA.
James Thompson is an English professional mixed martial artist who competes in the heavyweight division. A seasoned professional competitor since 2003, Thompson has also formerly competed for PRIDE FC, Bellator MMA, Cage Rage, EliteXC, Sengoku, DREAM, KSW, Rizin, and the SFL. He last fought for Bellator in 2017.
Murilo Milani Rua, also known as Ninja, is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He is the older brother of former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio Rua. He was the inaugural EliteXC Middleweight Champion and also competed in Pride Fighting Championships.
Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States–based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on December 14, 2006. It was headquartered in Los Angeles.
UFC 73: Stacked was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). It took place on July 7, 2007, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California and featured a total of nine bouts: four on the preliminary card and five on the main card.
Ido Pariente is an Israeli mixed martial arts fighter and trainer. His nickname is "The Hebrew Hammer". He is one of Israel's top fighters.
EliteXC: Destiny was the inaugural mixed martial arts event by the mixed martial arts organization EliteXC. The event took place on Saturday, February 10, 2007, at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi. The main card aired on Showtime, with the undercard was streamed live on the Proelite.com website.
EliteXC: Uprising was a mixed martial arts event promoted by EliteXC and co-promoted by Icon Sport and Rumble World Entertainment. The event took place on Saturday, September 15, 2007 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Oahu, Hawaii.
EliteXC: Renegade was a mixed martial arts event promoted by EliteXC that took place on Saturday, November 10, 2007 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. The main card aired live on Showtime.
Karl James Noons is a retired American professional mixed martial artist, as well as a former professional boxer and kickboxer. Noons competed for UFC, Strikeforce, DREAM and EliteXC. He is the former EliteXC Lightweight Champion and runner up for the StrikeForce title.
EliteXC: Street Certified was a mixed martial arts event promoted by EliteXC that took place on Saturday, February 16, 2008, at the BankUnited Center in Miami, Florida.
Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le was a mixed martial arts event co-promoted by Strikeforce and EliteXC. The event took place on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
Eddie Alvarez is an American professional mixed martial artist and bare-knuckle boxer who most recently competed in the Welterweight division of BKFC. He also formerly competed in the UFC and Bellator MMA, and also One FC winning world titles in each of the first two: the UFC Lightweight Championship once and the Bellator Lightweight World Championship twice. Alvarez was the first Lightweight champion in Bellator MMA. He has also competed for the Japanese DREAM promotion, where he fought in their inaugural Lightweight Grand Prix. Alvarez also fought once for ProElite's EliteXC.
EliteXC: Primetime was a mixed martial arts event promoted by Elite Xtreme Combat taking place on May 31, 2008 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
EliteXC: Unfinished Business was a mixed martial arts event held by EliteXC on July 26, 2008 in Stockton, CA at Stockton Arena.
Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC) is a premier international mixed martial arts (MMA) organization based in Spring Lake, Michigan, with offices throughout the United States and South America. The XFC showcases both male and female fighters, advocates young MMA fighters, and produces stadium fight cards in various locations in the United States and South America, including Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, São Paulo, Campinas, and Araraquara.
EliteXC: Heat was a mixed martial arts event held by Elite Xtreme Combat on October 4, 2008, in Sunrise, Florida, at the BankAtlantic Center. The event was scheduled to be headlined with a heavyweight fight between Ken Shamrock and Kimbo Slice, but Shamrock had to pull out due to an injury and Seth Petruzelli was called up to replace him. Petruzelli delivered a shock win by knocking out Slice, but the fight was overshadowed by accusations that Petruzelli had been offered a payment by EliteXC's promoters to not fight Slice on the ground. The event also featured a heavyweight match between Andrei Arlovski and Roy Nelson in a cross-promotional event, and drew an estimated 4,560,000 viewers on CBS.
Prior to the closure of parent company ProElite on October 20, 2008, EliteXC: A Night of Champions was to be a mixed martial arts event held by EliteXC that would have taken place on November 8, 2008 in Reno, Nevada at the Reno Events Center. The event was scheduled to include two title fights and would have aired on the Showtime cable network.
The year 2008 is the 2nd year in the history of the Elite Xtreme Combat, a mixed martial arts promotion based in The United States. In 2008 Elite Xtreme Combat held 12 events beginning with, ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series.