UFC 166 results and photos: K.J. Noons gets past George Sotiropoulos

HOUSTON – After four exciting finishes in the first four fights of the night, the fans in Houston were spoiled.

They had to wait about four minutes into the fifth fight, but they finally got some action as K.J. Noons got past George Sotiropoulos with a unanimous decision in a fight that turned out to be a bit of a slugfest after a slow early pace.

The lightweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 166 event at Toyota Center in Houston. It aired on FOX Sports 1 after additional prelims on Facebook and ahead of the pay-per-view main card.

Sotiropoulos circled outside with his hands up, and 40 seconds in, without any action, the fans grew restless. After a minute, the only activity was a few pawing jabs from Noons. Noons was able to land a couple punches to the body, and halfway through the round, Sotiropoulos finally threw his first punch – a right counter. As Sotiropoulos showed his jab a little more with 90 seconds left, Noons landed a good left. But with about 40 seconds left, Noons caught a left finger in the eye and needed some time to recover. On the restart, Sotiropoulos was more aggressive – but so was Noons, and he landed some solid flurries, one of which took Sotiropoulos off his feet.

Things started out cautiously in the second, but Sotiropoulos fired off a head kick that Noons had to block. Two minutes into, Sotiropoulos went after his first takedown, but quickly backed out when Noons easily stuffed it. A Noons uppercut was just off the mark seconds later. With two minutes left, Sotiropoulos again took the fight to the ground, but Noons was back up without taking any damage. The two traded punches and kicks as the round wound down, and Sotiropoulos nearly landed a kick to the face.

Sotiropoulos was more aggressive early in the third. Noons continued to land, but it was Sotiropoulos who was landing in bigger bunches. Sotiropoulos showed more damage with a cut over his left eye and one on his forehead, and 90 seconds into the round, Noons landed a major-league right hand that wobbled the Aussie. Noons stayed patient and didn’t move in for the finish. Noons’ offense appeared to be in counter-attacks, and when he landed, he landed big. But Sotiropoulos stayed active with the kicks – and the strikes to the legs set up a solid right kick to Noons’ head. But Noons walked through it, and with 40 seconds left, Noons landed a big left.

When the scores were read, they were unanimous for Noons with a pair of 29-28s and a 30-27.

Noons (12-7 MMA, 1-1 UFC) snapped a three-fight skid and won for just the second time in seven fights. Sotiropoulos (14-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) lost for the fourth straight time and hasn’t won since November 2010.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 166 results include:

• K.J. Noons def. George Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Adlan Amagov def. T.J. Waldburger via KO (punches) – Round 1, 3:45
• Tony Ferguson def. Mike Rio via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 1, 1:52
• Andre Fili def. Jeremy Larsen via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 0:53
• Kyoji Horiguchi def. Dustin Pague via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:51

For complete coverage of UFC 166, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Houston.