The press conference for EliteXC’s Return of the King took place at King Street Café at 2:00 p.m. today.

The fighters were greeted with leis, and at their tables sat strategically positioned cans of event sponsor Rockstar Energy Drink, and bottles of water. Wayne Cole, Ron Waterman, and Muhsin Corbrrey were the first to take their seats. Muhsin fell back and off the stage in his chair. He seemed unscathed, but no doubt a little embarrassed by the incident. Yves Edwards sat patiently listening to his iPod while Rafael Feijao chowed down on a large bowl of salad. Nick Diaz and Tony Bonello, rumored to be stuck in traffic, arrived about 30 minutes late. They were soon followed by KJ Noons, who arrived fashionably late, dressed in a three-piece suit, a plastic maile lei, and dark sunglasses which he coolly wore until he took to the podium.

Anderson Silva and Scott Smith were also in the crowd today.

First up to the podium was Chairman of ProElite, Doug Deluca to give homage to their fighters: “We believe in our fighters. We stand behind our fighters. We promote our fighters, and we’ll take them to the end of the earth.” Deluca spoke a bit about MMA in general, and credited some of the sport’s success to fans in Hawaii: “While the U.S. mainland was just gaining momentum, Hawaii was light years ahead in terms of a market for MMA.” Deluca officially announced that ICON Champion Kala Kolohe Hose’s newly scheduled opponent will be Bubba McDaniels (11-4) from Wichita Falls, Texas. Hose was earlier set to fight against Geoff Bumstead, who withdrew for an unknown reason. McDaniels expressed his excitement, saying, “I’m just ready to get out there and get it on. I know Kala’s got a devastating right hand, and I’ll be doing my best to avoid that.”

Jeremy Lappen, the Head of Operations at EliteXC introduced the fighters.

Wayne Cole, a wrestler from Oklahoma, recently dropped to the 205 weight class. He says his bout against Rafael Feijao, who recently knocked out John Doyle in Miami, will be “the fight of the night”.

Dave “Pee-Wee” Herman, an up-and-coming undefeated wrestler will be facing off against veteran Ron Waterman. Jeremy Lapin said of Herman, “this will be the toughest test of his career” and praised Waterman’s fit physique, saying “Ron looks in the best shape that I’ve seen him in a long time; he looks fantastic”. This is Waterman’s first fight with EliteXC.

KJ Noons wished his father a happy birthday today. He said this fight has particular meaning to his family, as his father fought in Hawaii in the 1970s, and KJ himself had his first MMA fight at the Neal Blaisdell Arena. KJ turned to his opponent, Yves Edwards, and said “If you think you’re just gonna walk into my hometown and take my belt away from me, it’s gonna be a lot harder than that.” Edwards, a former UFC lightweight champion with approximately 50 recorded fights, said “I know I’m not the local guy...please don’t boo me too much—that s**t hurts.”

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