Issue 072

February 2011

STATISTICS

Name: Josh Thomson  

Age: 32  

Height: 5’10”  

Category: Lightweight 

Record: 18-3-0 (1 NC):  4 (T)KOs (22.22%); 9 Submissions (50%); 5 Decisions (27.78%) 

Fighting style: Kickboxing

Fights out of: San Jose, California 

Active since: 2001 

Determination

Whatever the dangerous in-fight situation, Thomson will constantly look for a way out. In his June 2010 bout with the veteran Pat Healy, the striker found himself in a few precarious situations, not least when Healy took Thomson’s back in the second round. The Dave Camarillo-trained ‘Punk’ kept his cool, cleared a hook, turned Healy into his half guard and eventually regained full guard. 

Experience

Although Thomson’s official fight record starts in 2001 and shows 22 fights, the striker says a portion of his career is un-credited as “websites weren’t around when [he] first started fighting.” Furthermore Josh’s recorded fight experience means he’s undaunted by top-flight competition due to being well-versed with quality opponents (‘Kid’ Yamamoto, Glay Guida, Gilbert Melendez, ‘JZ’ Cavalcante) and quality organizations (UFC, Pride, Strikeforce).

Strikes

Working at American Kickboxing Academy for nearly ten years, combined with a prior background in the school’s namesake art has gifted Josh Thomson a fluid stand-up game. But, despite this acumen and having four strike-induced finishes, the AKA scrapper has actually mentioned multiple times he doesn’t believe he possesses knockout power. 

Being a Strikeforce fighter, Josh ‘The Punk’ Thomson gets less attention than his UFC peers, though being a constant inclusion in lightweight top-ten lists and a former Strikeforce champion of his weight means that shouldn’t be the case. A product of American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose for the majority of his nine-year career, he’s one of the best lightweights in the world not under UFC contract.

Thomson, who is of mixed Mexican and Caucasian ethnicity, has a kickboxing base that he uses to flow between multiple hand-and-foot combos – especially when he doesn’t feel threatened by his opponent’s upright attacks. Though these rarely result in a knockout, they’re always combined with the necessary angles and lateral movement to cause damage and score efficiently with the judges. His counterattack style often means he takes one to give one, however, which has seen him dropped by both ‘JZ’ Cavalcante and Gilbert Melendez but never (T)KO’d.

Although he’s known to have a penchant for keeping the fight standing, working with accomplished grappler Dave Camarillo at AKA for seven years has developed Thomson’s game and given him sufficient skills to deal with submission threats and dispense attempts of his own. The result is his very aggressive full guard, persistently working for armbars and triangles. Thomson’s confidence in his ground work was displayed in his 2005 Pride contest with BJJ black belt Daisuke Sugie, where he countered an extremely tight armbar by rolling out, stepping over, then snatching a kneebar.

‘The Punk’ (a nickname bestowed due to his “pretty brash and cocky” nature) has only three losses in his career: Yves Edwards, Clay Guida and Gilbert Melendez. The latter two he attributes to a divergence from game plan, a possible chink in his armor. The loss to Melendez in their second meeting was due to an over-focus on gaining a knockdown, and the ‘L’ to Guida was after becoming frustrated in the first round when ‘The Carpenter’ easily slipped out of submissions due to what Thomson said was body oil.

CAREER SNAPSHOT

2001

Thomson takes on a young ‘Kid’ Yamamoto in his third pro fight on a high-production card (for the time) in Hawaii. An accidental Thomson low blow means Yamamoto is unable to continue, declaring the result a no contest.

2004

Decisions Hermes Franca to go 2-0 in the UFC – a battle Thomson remembers as one of his toughest. Later in the year a sloppy Punk spinning back-fist is met with an Yves Edwards high kick to give him a knockout loss.

2006

Unexpectedly loses a decision to future UFC fighter Clay Guida. Controversy surrounds the result as Guida is deducted a point for eye gouging and is said to commit various other fouls such as trying to further open a cut.

2009

Handles Gilbert Melendez for five exciting rounds to win the Strikeforce lightweight belt in 2008. An ankle-break in training delays the rematch until late 2009 where he drops the title by decision.