San Diego will be well represented in the world of mixed martial arts during the month of March thanks to the likes of KJ Noons, Dominick Cruz and EPIC Fighting.

The excitement begins on Saturday, March 3, on Showtime as former EliteXC Lightweight Champion KJ ‘King Karl’ Noons battles former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh ‘The Punk’ Thomson in the co-main event of Strikeforce: Tate vs Rousey.

Noons, 11-4 (8 KO’s, 3 Decisions, 0 Submissions) returns to the cage fresh off a unanimous decision over Billy Evangelista last December at the Strikeforce: Melendez vs Masvidal card. Thomson, 18-4 (4 KO’s, 5 Decisions, 9 Submissions) has trained with Evangelista and hopes a victory over Noons will get him a title shot against current Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez – against whom he both won the title (2008) from and lost it (2009) to in the rematch.

On Friday, March 9, the FX reality television series The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15 returns and will feature Cruz as a coach of a team of mixed martial artists pitted against another team coached by Urijah Faber.
What makes this season special is the series will be shown live (previous seasons were tape delayed), and when the tournament is over, Cruz will put his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight Title on the line against the number one rated Faber at UFC 148 in Las Vegas on July 7, in a highly-anticipated rubber match between the two rivals.

Cruz, who was given the nickname ‘The Dominator’ in high school while playing defensive back on the football team, sports a record of 19-1 (6 KO’s, 12 Decisions, 1 Submission), while Faber, known as ‘The California Kid,’ has a record of 26-5 (7 KO’s, 14 Submissions, 4 Decisions).
With the only loss of his MMA career coming at the hands of Faber back in 2007 for Faber’s World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) Championship, Cruz avenged that loss with a unanimous five-round decision over Faber last July at UFC 132.

For all the fans who want to see a fight card in person, come watch EPIC Fighting 11on Friday, March 23 at 4th&B in downtown San Diego. Headlining the night will be Francisco Castro (7-4-0 USMC) vs Marcus Aven (3-2-0 Team Right Cross) fighting for the Interim 145lb EPIC Title. In the co-main event, Lena Helvest (0-1-0 Team Victory) faces Debbie Micev (4-0-0 Undisputed) in a battle of females at 115lbs.

For ticket information contact WWW.EPICFIGHTING.COM or (619) 800-OMMA.

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