Josh Thomson fight against KJ Noons reportedly in the works for Strikeforce on April 11
by James Iannotti on Feb 10, 2009 7:55 PM EST
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During a conference call today to promote the upcoming Strikeforce event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on April 11, which will air on on Showtime, the promoters hinted at a possible title fight between its 155-pound champion Josh "The Punk" Thomson (16-2) and former Elite XC lightweight title holder KJ Noons (7-2).
Thomson captured the Strikeforce world title in June with a unanimous decision over then champion Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez at Strikeforce: "Melendez vs. Thomson." He's fought once since then -- a non-title bout against Ashe Bowman (first round technical knockout win) at "Strikeforce at the Mansion II" in September.
"The Punk" is a worthy champion with an extremely versatile attack. Twelve of his 16 career wins have been by some form of stoppage (four technical knockouts and eight submissions). He holds notable career wins over Duane "Bang" Ludwig, "Razor" Rob McCullough, Hermes Franca, Nam Phan and Melendez.
The predicted match with Noons would be his first official title defense.
Noons became the first ever Elite XC 160 pound champion in November of 2007 with a first round technical knockout win over Nick Diaz at Elite XC: "Renegade." He successfully defended his belt seven months later at "Return of the King" with a first round stoppage over experienced veteran Yves Edwards.
The powers that be at EliteXC decided after that match to book a rematch between Noons and Diaz for the title, but Noons felt that Diaz was undeserving of another shot at his gold, as well as the fact that he felt disrespected by the organization for the way he was being treated.
After weeks of disagreement between the two sides, the promotion decided the best thing to do was to strip Noons of his belt and move in another direction.
"King" Karl was rumored a few weeks back to be signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championships, but that rumor was put to rest with Strikeforce acquiring Noons' contract from the defunct Pro Elite. KJ hasn't competed in a professional mixed martial arts match since then.
However, he did take a pro boxing match in November and scored a decisive unanimous decision victory over Alejandro Bogarin. He's currently riding a three fight winning streak in MMA with all three bouts ending with a (technical) knockout.
Nick Diaz and Frank Shamrock will face off in the main event of the night at a catchweight of 179 pounds. Gilbert Melendez, Scott Smith and Benji Radach are all expected to be in action on the card as well.
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Thomson wins with wrestling. His striking/speed might not be on par but he wins everywhere else.
by NameNotRequired on Feb 10, 2009 8:05 PM EST up reply actions
Anyone know if it is true that Strikeforce is trying to get Manhoef to lock down Robbie? coz, i would look forward to that more than anything on the horizon so far.
by NameNotRequired on Feb 10, 2009 10:39 PM EST up reply actions
Actually they are trying too work with Dream/Seg for some super fights and yes that one was mentioned.
Manhoef would ko him and I love Lawler .. Their striking is on completely different levels.
by dayzah on Feb 11, 2009 2:24 AM EST up reply actions
I havent heard anything about them working with DREAM, but I would love to see it!
Manhoef vs. Lawler would just be AMAZING!!!!!! Yes Manhoef would end up taking his head off!
I would also love to see Manhoef vs. Cung Le!
by john on Feb 11, 2009 10:48 AM EST up reply actions
hell yeah it’s sweet. if noons wins then strikeforce will have a champion that’s afraid to fight people. sweet!
by jj on Feb 10, 2009 9:03 PM EST up reply actions
Noons all the way! KJ is tougher than you guys think. “Afraid to fight people” LMFAO! KJ whooped Diaz, get over it
by JV on Feb 10, 2009 9:53 PM EST up reply actions
is that you noons?? K.J Im wondering How come you wouldnt fight Nick agian?? I laughed when they stripped you of your belt and sent you packin to go be a boxer. You Ducked Nick Diaz . You Knew you got lucky the first time
by Sham WOW! on Feb 11, 2009 5:45 AM EST up reply actions
Leave it up to dumb ass JV to root for KJ noons! This is an all-time low even for you Mr. Junior Varsity!
Let me pat myself on the back! I told you guys about all these fights on Monday, and every single one turned out to be true!
Doers anyone actually believe KJ has a shot against THomson? I sure dont! Josh is going to take him down at will, beat the snot out of him and grind out a TKO win! No chance in Hell that KJ takes his title!
by john on Feb 11, 2009 9:12 AM EST up reply actions
Get over yourself john. I think you have some daddy issues. Go get some counseling. Seriously.
by wAyNe on Feb 11, 2009 10:28 AM EST up reply actions
Wayne, I would like to personally welcome you to my fan club! U r like the 26th member on this site! Congratulations, I will put u on the “I hate on John, but I am secretly on his nuts” Mailing list!
by john on Feb 11, 2009 10:50 AM EST up reply actions
I don’t hate you john. I just think you have issues. But you do have high entertainment value. So I guess sign me up for that fan club.
by wAyNe on Feb 11, 2009 1:56 PM EST up reply actions
yo! U r stretching out my nut sack! Take a break from swinging!
by john on Feb 11, 2009 4:29 PM EST up reply actions
I hope Thomson knocks this woman out.
by El Mexicutioner, formerly The Mexicutioner on Feb 10, 2009 8:04 PM EST reply actions
me too…although imo the Shaws are equally to blame for the fiasco involving kj/diaz
by McArthur on Feb 10, 2009 8:31 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, but KJ was talking his shit too, hell I guess they all were. KJ is just an arrogant prick that thinks he’s better than he actually is. He doesnt have the resume Nick does.
by El Mexicutioner, formerly The Mexicutioner on Feb 10, 2009 8:58 PM EST up reply actions
He doesnt need Nick’s resume too talk shit too Nick , which is what this is all about … Hes got a W over Nick , thats all he needs too back up his shit talking too Nick.
He shouldnt have got caught , cut , bleed all over if he wanted too talk shit about KJ.
by dayzah on Feb 10, 2009 9:13 PM EST up reply actions
I agree dayzah. KJ was whooping on Diaz. Then Nick dumb@ss gets mad at KJ, for the doctor stopping the fight. WTF? Noons will KO Josh!
by JV on Feb 10, 2009 9:57 PM EST up reply actions
you cant talk shit and not take a rematch, especially if you didnt even win decisively… kj is a bitch and anyone who denies it is delusional
by brendan on Feb 10, 2009 10:33 PM EST up reply actions
Brenda,
1st: the win WAS decisive! KJ was dropping Diaz left and right. And the one time Diaz got KJ down, KJ just popped back up!
2nd: The one that started the sh*t talk was (who else) Nick. All KJ did was take offense and talked alittle sh*t back.
3rd: I would have wanted to see a rematch too. But it was funny to me to see KJ act like Diaz wasnt worthy. I mean KJ did whoop his @ss “decisively”
And 4th: The only one “delusional” is you with all your “nuthugger” talk! Im suprised the word “nut” didnt come out your mouth this time!
by JV on Feb 10, 2009 10:43 PM EST up reply actions
Couldnt help yourself huh Brenda? Nuts are just embedded in your head.
by JV on Feb 10, 2009 11:06 PM EST up reply actions
Yup, it’s become pretty clear that Brendan is obsessed with dude’s nuts.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
by Jeremyjackson on Feb 10, 2009 11:14 PM EST up reply actions
The point is this isn’t boxing. KJ Noons doesn’t have a choice of who he fights because its about the promotion and survival for that promotion. Plain and simple EXC was asking KJ Noons to fight Diaz to try and help keep the company afloat. Plain and simple, Noons said no and went into hiding… Here’s a good question tho, if KJ was able to outclass Diaz so bad in their first fight why wouldn’t KJ take a second fight, outclass him again, and get huge name value from being promoted on a free card on CBS and for beating the BA Nick Diaz? If KJ wasn’t afraid of Diaz then he for sure was an idiot for passing up such a sweet deal. KJ slapped his fans in the face when he opted to wait for Alveraz instead of fighting Diaz and then fighting Alveraz when he was available.
by Cogito Ergo Sum on Feb 11, 2009 10:22 AM EST up reply actions
Great post Cogito!
Did THomson fight Ishida yet? I dont even want to see KJ get a title shot, even though Josh would g n P KJ to a bloody pulp! If THomson hasnt fought Ishida yet, that would be a much better match up!
by john on Feb 11, 2009 10:52 AM EST up reply actions
i agree mex i hope Noons gets KTFO after all the nonsense we had to suffer through with nick diaz…Thompson is a solid guy too, Thompson all the way~!
by "I came, I saw, I conquered" on Feb 10, 2009 8:12 PM EST reply actions
Noons wont get knocked out. And if you suffered through the the whole fiasco then blame Diaz. Diaz was the one who couldnt take his loss like a man. KJ was completely outclassing Diaz!
by JV on Feb 10, 2009 9:59 PM EST up reply actions
If a bum like Crazy Horse Bennett can KO Noons, I think Thomson is more than capable of doing the same.
by El Mexicutioner, formerly The Mexicutioner on Feb 11, 2009 6:51 AM EST up reply actions
I am actually getting excited about strikeforce now.
by Amos on Feb 10, 2009 8:14 PM EST reply actions
Same here, and this event looks like it’s going to be excellent
by Budgell on Feb 10, 2009 10:28 PM EST up reply actions
Good fight this April 11th bout is looking AMAZING!
by Khaos_warrior on Feb 10, 2009 8:43 PM EST reply actions
No! Save some good fights for when they come to Seattle in May.
by Bluepit on Feb 10, 2009 8:45 PM EST reply actions
so the ufc 96 fight card is offically complete and up on the ufc’s website
by matt on Feb 10, 2009 8:57 PM EST reply actions
thnx bro..got to check it out to see if theres anything left in the ufc…got so many boring matches lately…
by gaara on Feb 10, 2009 10:14 PM EST up reply actions
not to many big names but i think some of the match ups will be exciting especially matt brown vs. pete sell
by matt on Feb 10, 2009 10:23 PM EST up reply actions
ohhh yeah this is going to be sweet. i can see either guy winning this one!
by shitleTOT.com on Feb 10, 2009 9:43 PM EST reply actions
aside from all the nonsensical noons hate banter, from a analytic view, josh thomson should own noons.
by Phil Baloni on Feb 10, 2009 10:59 PM EST reply actions
Remember when Noons wouldnt Fight Nick Diaz For the title so They stripped noons of his belt and then Noons said he was gonna become a pro boxer .. STOP bigging him up people.
Josh Thomson will own Noons. Remember Thompson vs Gilbert Melendez. .. Thompson is a machine.
by Sham WOW! on Feb 11, 2009 5:42 AM EST reply actions
Just got rid of showtime last month! def going to get it back though. $12 a month is much better than $45 an event. I wish the ufc were on HBO or some $hit.
by BOW on Feb 11, 2009 7:03 AM EST reply actions
I am probably the only one in this group that doesn’t hate KJ, but I think Josh is a legit top 8 lw and is probably going to win.
by Bill Maher on Feb 11, 2009 8:55 AM EST reply actions
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