KJ Noons Looks to Impress at MMA's Strikeforce: Los Angeles

In a rare mid-week fight card KJ Noons will kick off the televised portion of Strikeforce: Los Angeles as he takes on Conor Heun live on Showtime from the Nokia Theater.

It has been quite the roller coaster ride for Noons leading up to his bout with Heun. Originally he was on the Los Angeles card, then he was set to take on Charles Bennett on the undercard of Fedor-Werdum on June 26 in San Jose, CA.  Bennett was forced to pull out of their scheduled bout which left Noons to take on replacement fighter Conor Heun this Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Most guys would have gone insane with all of the inconsistencies leading up to his debut with Strikeforce.  Noons recently explained in an interview with Bleacher Report that that wasn't necessarily the case.

"Even with the date and opponent change my training camp has pretty much been routine.  As with every fight I push myself as hard as I can no matter who I'm supposed to fight.  I take my last performance and just try to continue to work on things to improve my overall game.

"If anything, what had me frustrated or disappointed was that I really wanted to get back in the cage and take on Bennett again since he's the guy that gave me the only loss of my career," Noons added.

The rematch will have to wait as he is now slated Heun who, with the exception of appearing on an episode of MTV's Bully Beatdown, has been on the shelf for nearly a year following his unanimous decision loss to Jorge Jurgel.

Heun sports a record of 11-3 with 5 of his 6 stoppages coming by way of submission.

"Heun's a good fighter and I know he comes from a good camp.  He's a good all-around fighter.  He's hungry and looking to make his name off of beating me, but I'm not going to let that happen. I plan on taking him out and giving the fans a good show," declares the Hawaiian born mixed-martial artist.

With a good chunk of Heuns wins coming via submission one would expect the superior striker in Noons to try to keep this fight on his feet and land some bombs to bring an early end to the night for Heuns.

"Obviously, I'm comfortable with my striking, but to be honest with you I work on everything when I'm in the gym and I feel my ground game is also right on par.  What's most important for me is just to put on an exciting show for the fans whether it's on the ground or on my feet, I want to impress them," Noons expressed.

Noons feels that an impressive performance could put him in a favorable spot in the loaded Strikeforce Lightweight division.

"A win over Heun will pretty much put me in the title mix.  There are so many good fighters and fights to be made in the lightweight division.  I'll just wait and see what Strikeforce wants to do.  Whoever they want me to fight, I'll fight.  I'm ready for anyone in the division.

"I was actually ready for a title shot my first time out, but I think Strikeforce wants to bring me along a little bit, which is fine.  I think Gilbert Melendez is a great fighter with a good all around game, but I think my style gives Gilbert problems," adds Noons.

Time will tell when Noons will get a shot at the coveted title.  Right now it's impossible to say.  Fact is, it was hard enough to secure an opponent for his debut.

With all the date, venue and opponent changes the one thing that has remained constant is Noons' desire to not only come through with the win, but to do so in impressive fashion.

More information on KJ Noons can be found on KJNoons.com .

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