This is the Dream.13 live blog for KJ Noons vs. Andre Dida, a lightweight bout on this morning's Dream.13 card from Yokohama, Japan.Noons, who signed with Strikeforce this past December, represents the American promotion in his first trip to Japan.
The live blog is below. Dida out first wearing his usual pro wrestling mask (Tiger Mask?). Noons is repping Strkeforce with his clothes all decked out in Clinch Gear attire with Rockstar energy drink logos. Noons also coming out to a song off Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 album. Can he follow the success of Jon Jones?
Round 1: Dida opens the fight with a kick -- that is low. Noons gets a break for a breather. Back on, Dida's next inside low kicks land on target. Noons content with jabbing. Noons switches to the body and Dida circles away. Dida turns it up with a huge overhand and a jumping roundkick. Noons doing a good job avoiding Dida's big shots but the boxer Noons keeps eating the lowkicks. Noons lands with lefts but Noons counters with a big left. Noons working on Dida's body. Good little boxing fight we have going on here. The referee keeps calling for action, but both fighters are active. Not sure why but with 3:30 remaining, the referee pauses the fight and warns them. No yellow card though. Noons lands with his right. Dida catches Noons with left. Dida with a knee to the body. Noons with more shots to the body. Dida swinging away but missing.
Both fighters kept it standing. Noons stuck to his boxing with no kicks. Dida mixed it up a little more, just barely. Tough fight to score, but advantage could go to Noons, who came alive during the second half of the round.
Round 2: Dida jumps out at the sound of the bell. Noons stalking Dida. Dida connects on a left. Noons pressing the pace here. Noons is atacking less in this round. He's covering and circling. Noons continues to jab to set up hooks. Dida pops a left but Noons is okay. Dida is bleeding from his nose. The referee pauses the fight to clean off Dida's nose. Noons turns it up. Dida calls him out, but Noons was the one pressing the action. Noons chasing Dida at this point. Noons' boxing is too much for Dida right now. Dida launches a Krazy Horse-like overhand right but misses. Noons starts throwing knees with just over a minute left in the fight. Noons lands to the body. Dida catches Noons with a counter right. Noons continues to press until the end of the fight.
Round two was much clearer than the first. It was all Noons.
Noons wins by unanimous decision
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