The Triangle Choke: Josh Thomson Interview
Josh Thomson holds a career record of 16-2 and is the Strikeforce Lightweight Champion. He trains with one of, if not the top, MMA gyms in the nation, American Kickboxing Academy. He hasn’t lost since March of 2006. With all that, The Punk doesn’t get the national fame and exposure of far less talented fighters. In fact, in June of 2008, various gambling sites had Thomson a 4-1 underdog against Gilbert Melendez. Of course, Josh was victorious, dominating all 5 rounds. Perhaps with Strikeforce being broadcast on Showtime, Thomson will get the credit he deserves. Josh took some time to discuss his various injuries and his upcoming rematch with Melendez.
SD- You have had a lot of injuries lately. Talk about the injuries, the rehab and how you are feeling right now.
JT- Right now I’m probably about 60%. With 10 weeks of training combined with therapy, hopefully I’ll be 100% by the time of the fight (August 15th). We are working on it but I cannot really say how I’ll be until its fight time. Injuries are really just part of the sport. You just have to take care of yourself and try to get back as quickly as you can.
SD- You are on an impressive run not losing since 2006 to Clay Guida. Talk about the streak you are on and the rematch with Gilbert.
JT- I really don’t think about the streak. Recently people have been telling me what kind of streak I’m on and how long it’s been since I lost. Other than people telling me I haven’t really thought about it. I just look at one fight at a time. Everyone is going to lose eventually. All the best guys have all lost at some point. Anderson Silva, GSP, myself, Gilbert we all have lost at some point. I guess with the exception of Cung Le (laughs). You just have to learn to deal with it and come back.
SD- You were at the Shields vs Lawler event in St. Louis. How was the atmosphere there?
JT- I didn’t go there with high expectations. I had never been to St. Louis When I got there I heard they had already sold like 10,000 seats and ended up around 13,000 in attendance. I was shocked really. What I couldn’t believe was how the fans were, maybe it’s because in the bay area people are used to seeing me out and about but so many people recognized me. Given the fact that Strikeforce had never been on Showtime only late night NBC and HDNET it was very surprising to see how many fans knew who I was. There were fighters there who didn’t get a whole lot of TV time before but the fans knew who they were. A guy like Trevor Prangley who has fought a lot overseas in places like Russia and Costa Rica, I swear you would have thought he was the world champion. Everybody knew who he was and was trying to get pictures of him. The same with myself and Gilbert, every time we would walk by some people would want autographs, photos and want to talk to us. It was amazing there.
SD- Strikeforce has done an excellent job of operating in a niche in California, now they have exploded on the national scene with the Showtime deal and hopefully a deal with CBS as well. Showtime will broadcast the event featuring the rematch between you and Gilbert along with Gina Carano vs. Cyborg Santos. How excited are you to be on Showtime on what will no doubt receive?
JT- I’ve never really looked at it being on TV or anything like that. What it does is help me with sponsors and all the people that have helped me along the way. I don’t fight any harder because I’m on TV. For me, I just go out there and try to get the win. It is good for sponsors to get them more exposure on a national level and all of my coaches as well.
SD-I have interviewed several guys from the American Kickboxing Academy. To a man, each of them has talked about the level of competition on a day to day basis. The hard part really isn’t the fight, it’s the training. Talk about AKA and what it takes to be successful in training.
JT- The level of competition is extremely high. We have three of the top Welterweights in the world. They are the main guys I work out with in terms of training and sparring partners. When it comes time to fight I have already worked out with guys who are bigger than me and very talented. We all are pretty much equal but excel in different areas. Koscheck is the best wrestler we have in the gym, Fitch probably puts it all together the best, I’m more the well rounded fighter I guess you would say, Swick is just Swick with great punching power and extremely fast. The four of us have just fed off of each other. That is why we are the best in the game right now.
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SD- In the last matchup against Gilbert Melendez you were a heavy underdog yet dominated the fight. How do you think the strategy will be different this time and what do you think will happen?
JT- He is obviously going to come out with something different. To lose every round like he did, his mentality is going to be that something has to change. He knows he cannot beat me using the same strategy he had last time. The only thing is if he doesn’t beat me this time like everyone said he should have, then everyone is going to know if wasn’t just him off his game. The first thing the press said after I beat him was that Gilbert didn’t look like himself. Why couldn’t have been I was good and I threw him off his game? That is what happens when you take someone out of their game, they look sluggish and off. That is what good fighters do; they take opponents out of what they like to do. All I need to do is come out and win. He needs to come out and dominate me like everyone thought he was going to do last time. He needs to get his confidence back. Remember he just didn’t lose to me; he lost every round. I didn’t really know it until I got in the back of the arena that night, I was a 4-1 underdog the day before the fight and 3-1 by the start of the fight. For me to go out there and do what I did was really unheard of. It would be crazy to think it’s going to be the same fight this time. I expect him to really push the pace. I think that is going to get him in trouble. If he thinks he is going to stalk me down and kick me around, he is going to walk into something he wants no part of. He is saying that he is training harder and he didn’t train hard enough last time; it’s not about training harder it is about training smarter. My game plan will be to shut him down and fight my fight.
SD- The media as a whole seems to do that in all sports, make excuses if the favorite looses, they didn’t bring their “A” game and all the other nonsense clichés they can throw around.
JT- I find it is the biggest in MMA. You don’t really see that in boxing. In boxing they give the winner credit. The MMA writers tend to take away something away from the victories. It is very annoying.
SD- Final question, putting you on the spot, what do you think of your teammate Cain Velasquez vs Cheick Kongo (at UFC 99)?
JT- I’m going to pick Cain. I think Cain has all the attributes to beat him. This is a big step up in competition for Cain. Heath Herring (withdrew due to injury) wasn’t as big of a step up as Kongo is. We all were 100% on board for Cain to fight Heath Herring. When the fight was switched to Cheick Kongo the mentality of the gym changed. The trainers and everyone were more focused and disciplined. I think he has proved he is ready for it. We would have probably liked for him to have one more fight before this type of fight. Heath Herring was the perfect fight. We knew Cain could go out there and take care of Herring. Herring is dangerous because he is so awkward and spastic. We knew that Cain could stand with him. Herring would not quit and would make it a tough, long fight; those are the things we knew. These are the things we were looking to prepare Cain for. It just so happens we bypass the level and fight Kongo. I think Cain is ready for the fight. He was healthy leaving and is in great condition. I don’t think people realize how well conditioned Cain is.
SD- Thanks a lot Josh and we look forward to the battle with Gilbert.
By Scott Dryden
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer & Editor-in-Chief
Photo courtesy of Josh Thomson