Nick Diaz’s story about KJ Noons throwing the first metaphorical blow that led to the in-cage fracas at the last EliteXC show just got a lot more credible. Diaz suggests that Noons encountered him at the hotel and did some kind of arrogant tough guy act. Initially, that sounded like Diaz trying to rationalize his behavior but check out this transcript of Noon’s on ‘Inside MMA’:

After the post-fight confrontation turned into a shoving match between the two fighters’ camps at “EliteXC: Return of the King,” the organization appeared to have box-office gold. However, earlier this week, EliteXC confirmed that Diaz will next fight King of the Cage veteran Thomas Denny — not Noons — at the second EliteXC-CBS event, which takes place July 26 in Diaz’s hometown of Stockton, Calif.

It’s assumed that Noons and Diaz will meet again sometime this year, but when hosts Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten asked Noons about it, he brushed aside the fight.

“I was thinking about this earlier,” Noons said. “Does he deserve a rematch? No. Is he the number-one contender? No. I want to fight other guys out there. But do people want to see the rematch? Of course.”

However, Noons admits that it’ll probably make sense, financially, to go through with the bout. But he doesn’t think things will go any differently for Diaz the second time.

“What it boils down to is I need to take care of myself,” he said. “Money talks. I think a lot of people forget what happened the first time. … I think a lot of people want to see the rematch, (but) I destroyed this guy in five minutes.

While watching clips of their first fight — Diaz was cut badly with a barrage of punches, and the doctor halted the bout after the first round — Noons took umbrage when McCully mentioned Diaz’s scar tissue.

“That’s another thing, too,” Noons said. “A lot of people say scar tissue. [Diaz is] not a professional boxer. He hasn’t had any real pro fights. He hasn’t taken a lot of damage on his face, so I don’t know where they come up with (this idea) of all this scar tissue.”

Then, to add insult to injury, Noons pulled out a photo taken of Diaz’s face after their first meeting, and he asked the cameras to zoom in on it.

Diaz’s swollen, bloodied and bruised mug filled the TV screen.

“Zoom in real close,” Noons instructed. “You see this? This took five minutes. My name is KJ, so I’m going to do a little trash-talking now for you guys. I’m going to make it a little fun. … They’ve come up with nicknames for me for each (one of my fights). For this one, I think I’ll be called ‘The Artist’ because this right here, it’s a masterpiece. I painted this.”

Diaz has his share of issues that we’ve discussed at length here at SavSci, but once he steps between the ropes or inside the cage he’s everything you want a fighter to be and then some. In addition to his insane skill set–how many pro level boxers who are also Cesar Gracie BJJ black belts do you know of?–he’s one of those fighters that doesn’t have the word ‘quit’ in their vocabulary. His fight against Takanori Gomi–where he submitted the last PRIDE lightweight champion–is one of the best MMA fights in history, with a bloody Diaz repeatedly absorbing a beating to dish one out. At one point, Gomi practically begs the ref to stop the fight due to Diaz’s bloody face–only to be on the wrong end of a gogoplata a few moments later.

Noons, meanwhile, has a lot to learn about conducting himself like a champion. He’s apparently channeling Ric Flair circa 1984 with his tirade. The only difference is that Flair was knowingly putting on an act for the benefit of promoting himself. Noons may or may not be trying to hype a rematch. In any case, he’s running the risk of making himself the ‘heel’ and making Diaz the fan favorite.

Video of the Noons trash talking below. Hat tip to MMAJunkie for this info: