HOUSTON -- This is the Strikeforce: Houston live blog for KJ Noons vs. Jorge Gurgel, a lightweight bout on tonight's Strikeforce card on Showtime happening from the Toyota Center.

Noons will look for his sixth straight win against jiu-jitsu expert Gurgel and the winner Saturday could be in contention for the title.

The live blog is below.

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Round 1: Noons sprints across the cage at the sound of the bell, so maybe Gurgel won't need his running shoes tonight. Gurgel is circling and letting Noons come to him, landing a nice right hand and a body kick. So far Gurgel is having success on his feet and hasn't even considered a takedown attempt. Noons fires off a combo, and it seems like maybe he's finding his range. Noons ducks under a Gurgel combo and hammers him with a hard right hand. Two leg kicks by Noons echo through the arena. With a minute left in the round, Gurgel attempts his first takedown. Noons has no trouble stuffing it. They go toe-to-toe in the final ten seconds, with each man landing hard. The bell sounds, and Noons fires a vicious left hook that floors Gurgel. That was clearly a late blow, and Gurgel looks dazed going to his corner. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Noons.

Round 2: A bloodied Gurgel comes out for round two, and Noons comes right at him. Gurgel throws a right hand, but Noons slips it and fires off a right of his own that freezes Gurgel. A left follows and Gurgel is down again. He scrambles up and Noons glances at the referee before continuing the assault. A few more punches and the ref moves in to stop it, at which point Noons appears to fire off a totally illegal knee aimed at the downed Gurgel's head. This is not going to make Noons a fan favorite.

K.J. Noons def. Jorge Gurgel via TKO (punches) at 0:19 of round two.


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