K.J. Noons

Noons faced Josh Burkman on February 6, 2016 at UFC Fight Night 82. He lost the fight by unanimous decision.

Noons was released by the company on April 14, 2016.

Noons faced Sam Stout in a welterweight bout on April 16, 2014 at The Ultimate Fighter Nations Finale. Noons won the fight via knockout in the first round, earning him his first Performance of the Night bonus award.

Noons next faced Daron Cruickshank on December 12, 2014 at The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale. After a back-and-forth first round, the fight was stopped in the second round when Cruickshank received a second inadvertent eye poke from Noons and was unable to continue. Because they had not reached the third round, the fight was declared a No Contest.

Noons made his film debut in the 2014 comedy Mantervention playing himself.

Noons returned to face Ryan Couture at the final Strikeforce event, Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine, on January 12, 2013. Noons lost the fight via highly controversial split decision. All but one media outlet scored the fight for Noons, with a majority giving him every round. Couture admitted to being surprised by the verdict. Despite the loss, Noons still moved over to the UFC.

In January 2013, the Strikeforce organization was closed by its parent company Zuffa. A list of fighters scheduled to be brought over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship was released in mid-January and Noons was one of the fighters listed.

In his UFC debut, Noons faced Donald Cerrone on May 25, 2013 at UFC 160. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

In his second UFC fight, Noons faced George Sotiropoulos on October 19, 2013 at UFC 166. He won via unanimous decision, earning his first win under the UFC banner.

Noons next faced Josh Thomson in the co-main event at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey in March 2012. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Noons then faced Billy Evangelista at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal in December 2011. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

In March 2010, Noons made his Japanese debut as he represented Strikeforce at DREAM 13. In his first MMA fight in nearly two years, Noons defeated Andre Amade via unanimous decision. Noons was the aggressor for the duration of the fight, and was visibly frustrated with Amade's uncharacteristically tentative fighting style throughout the fight, which seemed to be based on a counter punching technique.

Noons next faced Jorge Gurgel on August 21, 2010 at Strikeforce: Houston. At the weigh-ins, the day before the bout with Gurgel, Noons weighed in at 156.25 pounds, a quarter of a pound over the maximum weight limit. Gurgel accepted the fight and waived off the extra weight, so the fight was continued as a lightweight bout. As the final seconds of the first round were coming to an end, Gurgel threw a flurry of punches while Noons responded with a left hook that landed and dropped Gurgel just a split second after the bell sounded at the end of the round. The crowd reacted to what appeared to be a late punch while a wobbled Gurgel was struggling to find his corner. Right at the opening bell for round two, Noons landed a right hand followed by a left hook that dropped Gurgel to the canvas once again. Noons looked to the referee expecting a stoppage and received no response. As Noons then continued to land punches on Gurgel, he threw a knee that appeared to land to the head of a still downed opponent, finally prompting the referee to stop the fight. Replay showed that the knee Noons threw did not land, although Noons's foot tapped Gurgel on the chin as it followed through. Noons was declared the winner by TKO at 0:19 of round two.

Noons moved up one weight class to fight Nick Diaz in a grudge rematch for the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship on October 9, 2010. Noons and Diaz previously fought at EliteXC: Renegade where Noons won by TKO due to cuts. Noons lost by unanimous decision (48-47, 49-47, 49-46), giving Noons his third career loss and first loss by decision, and beginning a losing streak for years to come. After the fight Noons revealed that he had sustained a broken jaw in the first round and a broken hand in the second.

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

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.

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

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.

Karl James "K.J." 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.