K.J. Noons

Karl James Noons (born December 7, 1982) 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.

K.J. Noons is hapa—mixed ethnicity of native Hawaiian (from his mother's side) and European-American (from his father's side).

Born and raised in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Noons comes from a family history of fighting.

His father Karl was a professional kickboxer and was a top contender during the time he fought.

Karl's passion for fighting and competing in combat sports influenced him to introduce his son to martial arts at a young age.

At the age of five, Noons started training in martial arts.

Often getting disqualified for fighting too hard in karate tournaments, Noons eventually started training in boxing and Muay Thai at the age of eight out of interest for full contact fighting.

Noons competed as an amateur fighter and became the first student in the state of Hawaii to earn a junior black belt under Ed Parker at the age of 11.

During his high school years, Noons moved to Houston, Texas, due to the location of his father's job.

While continuing to compete as a fighter, he also started playing football at Clements High School.

At age 17, Noons won the ISKA Super Middleweight International Championship as an amateur in Sanshou.

After winning the title and graduating from Clements High School, K.J. decided to pursue a career in combat sports, rather than go to college and continue with football.

In 2005, Noons won the PRIDE Fighting Championship's "Best Striker" auditions.

Although, he never fought for the promotion, he fought for PRIDE's subleased promotion called SuperBrawl.

Noons chose not to fight for PRIDE Fighting Championships because the promoters wanted to feature him in bouts against the top lightweights in the world, such as PRIDE's reigning Lightweight Champion, Takanori Gomi, and top contender, Joachim Hansen.

Noons felt he was not ready to compete at the highest level that early in his career and chose a more conservative route.

After three combined wins under the ICON Sport and SuperBrawl banner, Noons would move on to compete in bigger promotions.

In 2006, Noons signed a deal with promoter Gary Shaw that allowed him to participate in both boxing and mixed martial arts.

While Noons was still competing in professional kickboxing as a teenager, he previously fought for Strikeforce on their kickboxing fight cards before Strikeforce became a mixed martial arts promotion in 2006.

Soon after, Noons was set to face former PRIDE veteran Charles Bennett in EliteXC's inaugural event in February 2007.

Bennett won the bout via KO three minutes and forty-three seconds into round one, giving Noons only the second loss of his professional mixed martial arts career.

Noons rebounded from his loss to Bennett with a KO win over James Edson Berto at EliteXC's first ShoXC event.

He then faced Nick Diaz for the promotion's first ever lightweight championship at EliteXC: Renegade.

Noons dominated the fight using his outstanding boxing and striking against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert.

Diaz attempted to take the fight to the ground but was unsuccessful with his takedown attempts and was also countered with a knee strike to the face on one occasion.

Midway through the first round, Diaz was finally successful with a take down, but Noons got back to his feet instantly.

Moments later, the referee would halt the fight and send Diaz to his corner to check on his cuts over his right eye.

Diaz was given the o.k. and continued to fight.

Noons would keep the fight standing and dropped Diaz with a straight right punch around the 2:07 mark of the round.

After round one ended, the doctors in Diaz's corner stopped the fight due to how badly his face was cut.

Noons was then declared the winner of the fight by way of TKO due to cuts, and would become the new EliteXC Lightweight Champion.

On June 14, 2008, Noons was successful in his first and only title defense with a TKO win over Yves Edwards in Hawaii at EliteXC: Return of the King.

Following the fight, Nick Diaz, who fought on the event's co-main event, stepped into the cage to confront Noons for a rematch during K.J.'s post-fight interview with Bill Goldberg.

After Noons asked the fans if Diaz deserved the rematch, Diaz grabbed a hold of Goldberg's microphone and said "Don't be scared homie", which resulted in an in-cage brawl.

About two months later, Noons would be stripped of the title for refusing to rematch with Diaz.

The promotion would then go defunct before a new champion could be crowned.

On December 2, 2009, Noons signed with mixed martial arts promotion, Strikeforce.

In March 2010, Noons made his Japanese debut as he represented Strikeforce at DREAM 13.