From Dream Stage Entertainment
November 4, 2005
LOS ANGELES, California –
Karl-James Noons and Nick Ring, two of the four winners selected from the PRIDE FIGHTING U.S. AUDITIONS last November, were victorious at the ICON Sports “Opposites Attract” event, held last Friday, October 28th at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Noons faced off against one of Hawaii’s top lightweight fighters in Harris “The Hitman” Sarmiento.  Fighting out of Waipahu, Hawaii and representing the 808 Fight Factory, Sarmiento proved to be a difficult challenge as he withstood repeated striking barrages by Noons before succumbing by TKO at 4:37 of round 3.  Noons improved his record to 4-1.

Calgary, Alberta’s Ring took on Mike Malone of Waimanalo, Hawaii (representing the Eastsidaz Gym).  At the previous Super Brawl event, Ring choked out Malone’s student, Kimo Woelfel.  Coming off a big win at the K-1 World Grand Prix, Malone was looking to avenge his student’s loss.  Ring, however, had different plans and scored the TKO at 3:04 of round 1.  Ring’s record now jumps to 5-0.

 
KJ Noons                           Nick Ring

Noons was raised in Kona, Hawaii.  During his amateur career, he was the ISKA amateur international title winner and as a boxer went to the semi finals of the western trials for the Olympics in 2004.   In addition, he is black belt in American Kenpo Karate.  Noons currently trains and fights out the City Boxing gym in San Diego, California.

Nick “Wonder” Ring was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but now fights out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  He is the Intercontinental Muay Thai Champion (WKA) and boasts a record of 23-4 in Muay Thai competition. 

The auditions were held on November 20th, 2004 from the UCLA campus in Los Angeles.  Contestants attended from all over the world and were given an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of PRIDE’s judges and main decision-makers.  Final decisions were made based upon each participant’s audition, interview, and highlight reel.  Besides Noons and Ring, the other selected winners included Tyrone Glover from San Diego and Jake Draves of Ohio.

For more information on PRIDE FC, please visit pridefc.com.

For more information on SUPERBRAWL, please visit superbrawl.tv.