Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons 2 Results - Nick Diaz Retains His Title with a Unanimous Decision Victory Over K.J. Noons

Once again, just going to copy and paste my live blog and I might start doing this for each of the results for the major shows. If you don't want me to do that then just say so and I'll figure out a better way.

Crowd really pumped. Noons comes running out. Diaz has his hands down. Noons throws a big hook and misses. Both guys doing a bit of taunting. Diaz with a couple of kicks. He's using his reach to stay out of range. Diaz popping the jab a bit. Noons trying to respond with power punches. Noons jumps in with a big left hook and Diaz answers with a big shot that drops him to a knee. Diaz follows down into side control. He's not doing much with it though. Looks like he's working for an arm triangle. Diaz trying to pass but Noons doing great. He pushes off with his legs and gets back to his feet. They reset with two minutes left. Diaz taunting him by leaving his hands down. Noons telegraphing his punches now. Diaz throwing his usual pittar patter punches. Noons throws a combo one two and Diaz shoots but can't get the takedown and they reset. Diaz coming in on him now and Noons going to the body. Both guys are standing right in the pocket. Noons throwing with a lot of power but not setting anything up. As the round comes to a close, Diaz starts jogging backwards and doing more taunting. Close round that probably goes to Diaz 10-9.

Diaz starts the second throwing a few head kicks. Noons lands a big shot that doesn't faze Diaz. He lowers his hands and they start talking to each other. The announcers say Diaz is cut but I can't see it. They're really starting to exchange now. Diaz shoots in but Noons avoids. K.J. is landing a lot better in this round. He's using solid head movement to avoid when Nick comes in on him. They're both staying in tight. Diaz throws another kick and Noons answers with one of his own. Noons throws a knee but doesn't even come close. Both guys with their hands up now. Noons throwing wild with uppercuts and missing badly but Diaz isn't making him pay for it. Both guys just missing with some big shots. Diaz is bleeding but still can't see where the cut is. Under a minute left in the round and Noons throws another knee. After a big exchange, Diaz tries to clinch but Noons backs away. As this round comes to a close it's been a great one for K.J.  He seems to have found his rhythm. 10-9 round for Noons to even things up.

Diaz with a shot that Noons avoids by throwing a knee that just misses. The reach advantage for Diaz is evident when Noons is throwing these big uppercuts and hooks. When Diaz pushes in he's not doing enough to make him pay for it. Again they stand in the pocket and trade but no one is landing anything of signifcance. I'm really glad this fight is going 5 rounds instead of 3. It's been an even affair with Diaz gaining the lone knockdown. Two minutes to go and this is a very close round. It's looking like whoever wears down first will be the guy to lose. They both look great right now in terms of cardio. Diaz is doing much better with his kicks while Noons is still looking to hit power shots. He's working the body while Diaz attempts the Thai clinch. Mauro tells us that Diaz is landing at 52 percent rate and Noons is landing at 44 percent. The round comes to an end and it was really close but I think Diaz did enough to take it 10-9. Wouldn't want to have to score this one.

First time in the 4th round for both fighters throughout their careers. We'll see how they both react to it. Diaz is asking Noons to attack but he doesn't bite. Diaz throwing his shots and Noons looking to counter. He's been looking for that big uppercut all night and it just hasn't been there. If the rest of the fight looks like that, and it sure seems to be going that way, Diaz is going to take a decision. Diaz is managing to avoid all of the power shots Noons is throwing. Both guys are landing glancing blows but Diaz is doing more damage. He's also landed more kicks. Diaz switches to a southpaw stance and he's starting to land now. Noons is trying to stick the jab now but he can't get in close enough. Diaz is turning up the heat now. Noons is just throwing wild now and he's starting to look tired. He doesn't have the same amount of snap on his punches. Diaz trying to clinch and Noons catches him on the chin. A nice knee from Noons now and Diaz answers with a strong left. Noons was trying to pour it on there and got caught. Noons is really tired and Diaz knows it. Another close round but thinking it's another one for Diaz 10-9.

Diaz looking for the takedown and Noons avoids in the early going. Diaz looks fresh still while Noons is noticeably slower. Diaz landing his small shots that are making all the difference in these later rounds. He knows he's winning and he's having a good time in there. Noons needs a stoppage here but he's still trying to work the body. They go up against the cage and Diaz tries to clinch up with him again. K.J. trying to throw more in this round but he's still missing badly. Diaz is winning on sheer volume of punches, which is exactly what he always does. The cut has had no effect on him. Under a minute to go and Diaz is the one pouring it on. He clinches up and is throwing knees. They end the fight with a big flurry and Diaz should take this one 4 rounds to 1. Noons is walking around with his hands up but there is no way he won this fight. The compustrike numbers show that Noons landed more shots and not only that but landed a bigger percentage of his punches. It looked to me like Diaz won the fight though. We'll see what the judges say.

48-47, 49-47 and 49-46 were the scores, all in favor of Nick Diaz. That was the right call. Even with the stats, he rightfully won the fight. Diaz explains that he wanted to show his skills to the world and do it all in the fight. He said he beat him standing and on the ground. Can't disagree with him too much. It did great and his cardio held up great while Noons faded late. Noons was respectful in the post fight interview, saying he lost fair and square and they teased a third fight.