He makes an effort to be diplomatic here and there, but EliteXC VP Jared Shaw is none too happy with “Nature Boy” KJ Noons–and with good reason. Fight Hype has an interview with Shaw, here’s a tasty excerpt:

PC: Are you anticipating a press conference from Noons' camp?

JS: Honestly, I don't care one way or the other. It's not on my mind. If they want to have a press conference, I find it humorous. Even if they had an allegation that was possibly true, which I find incredibly hard to believe, or they just have the rights and they want to go over them, nothing changes the fact to what this is really about. Yes or no, will you fight Nick Diaz? Do you want to defend your belt against a #1 contender? What ever your gripes are about boxing, money, who you do or you don't like with Pro Elite and EliteXC, let's focus on the situation here. You signed a contract. When you signed the contract, you knew what you were getting in your 3rd or 4th fight. You already knew and now it's time to fight again and not only is it time to fight again, you're given a golden opportunity. Look Percy, there is nothing that says I can't put KJ Noons on an undercard; off TV. He can be first fight of the night; champion or not. There is no rule to that so who is really threatening who here? Again, being a champion is a great thing, but if you are not around, having a belt doesn't mean anything because nobody knows who you are. Win or lose in a fight with Nick Diaz, I believe both of them come out stars. I don't think KJ is scared because, again, he's never backed out of a fight and he doesn't seem like the type of guy that would back out of a fight and he sure as hell went on HDNet and had plenty to say about Nick Diaz. I was reviewing the tape of the last fight last night just to enjoy it again because it was a great fight and at the end, KJ Noons is calling Nick Diaz the #1 fighter in the world. If he hasn't lost since then, he has to be the #1 contender in EliteXC.

PC: They think Eddie Alvarez is the #1 guy. What do you think?

JS: Yeah, pick on a guy that's unavailable.

There’s a lot of people that still don’t like Diaz. On balance, most of the SAVSCI staff is a fan of the tightly wound Stockton, CA native. He’s clearly got his out of the ring issues but he’s everything you want from a fighter when the bell rings. Kind of funny that Noons is doing a better job of “turning Diaz babyface” than anything else.

And assuming that Noons ever *did* fight Eddie Alverez, another SAVSCI favorite, he’d get taken to school. Alverez made it to the DREAM Lightweight GP Final round but was unable to face Shinya Aoki in that bout due to a nasty eye injury. Since he’s not a punk like Noons, he wanted to fight anyway but fortunately cooler heads prevailed. Alverez’s eye looked awful and the last thing we’d like to see is for him to suffer a permanent injury. Like Shaw notes, Alverez isn’t available at the moment which very likely has something to do with Noons’ calling him out. Don’t worry, Big Kahuna…uh..KJ…once his eye heals he won’t be hard to find…

Jared Shaw: ‘Yes or No will you fight Nick Diaz’ @ FightHype.com

Here’s the much discussed “Nature Boy” KJ Noons ‘heel interview’ from HDNet’s ‘Inside MMA’. This was vintage early 1980’s Ric Flair, which is why we’ve started calling Noons ‘Nature Boy’. If you’re a Noons fan and haven’t seen this, there’s a good chance you *won’t* be a Noons fan by the time its done: