Fighters Only

Issue 041

September 2008

Despite the limp in his stepand the less obvious pain in his shoulder, Josh ‘The Punk’ Thomson was beaming as the Strikeforce lightweight title belt was strapped around his waist. Up until now, a title had been just out of his reach - even this Strikeforce belt that seemed to have been created for him over two years ago.

To top it off, to take the belt he defeated top-ranked Gilbert Melendez, a one-time training partner whose own rise leapfrogged that of Josh. He explains, “I didn’t think it was going to mean much. It is always nice to fight for the title but it doesn’t mean as much to you before you get it. Now that I have it and I started thinking about it, it means a lot more to me.”

Josh’s story is stereotypical of fighters who have dragged themselves up from humble beginnings. “I grew up on the east side of San Jose, which is predominantly a poor neighbourhood, mainly Mexicans and blacks. I’m half Mexican and half white. I was picked on a lot for being as white as I am. My dad always told me to stick up for myself, ‘defend yourself, don’t come home if you don’t.’ There would be opportunities for me to stick up for myself. My dad made me who I am today and this is what I live my life for now. I’m very happy and wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Fans have expected great things from Josh ever since his UFC run in 2003 and 2004, during the post-Pulver period where there wasn’t a lightweight belt but there were still plenty of high profile fights, such as that of Josh versus Yves Edwards. “That was really the last fight in the lightweight division they had, until recently,” explains Josh. “The UFC had shut down the division and I was fighting kickboxing fights just to pass the time and keep my skills up. There were no big-name MMA fights going on. I felt I was in the top rankings and on top of my game, so only wanted to fight the best. I felt I deserved a certain amount of money and the only organisation that could really pay that was Pride. I wasn’t going anywhere else because I didn’t want to settle for less.” Unfortunately this meant Josh only fought twice in 18 months before signing with Strikeforce, a promotion based almost in Josh’s backyard.

Strikeforce is run by Scott Coker, K-1’s US promoter. Josh’s coach, Javier Mendez (himself a K-1 vet and kickboxing champion) of the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), was the original matchmaker and ‘consultant’. Many thought the inaugural Strikeforce lightweight title was created for him; the opponent, a then unknown Clay Guida, was little more than an afterthought. Guida went on to win the fight by decision, and now nobody accuses Strikeforce of padding the records of AKA fighters.

Josh has his own thoughts on that fight, not entirely complimentary towards Guida. “I think it was a learning lesson. There were other issues involved as well, animosity towards Clay with that fight. To be honest I look past that fight now. It is done, over, and behind me. I’m not really into rematches. I had a lot more respect for Gilbert. I didn’t have to worry about if he was greased up, if he’d stick his fingers in my eye. I never worry about him trying to rip my cut open…” Three months later, in his first defence of the title, Clay lost to Gilbert Melendez. Between his appearances in Japan, Gilbert defended the title once while Clay moved on to the UFC. Josh kept busy by winning his next five Strikeforce fights.

A fight between Thomson and Melendez was the logical next step, but it had a surprising personal angle. “He is a great person, one of my closest friends as a fighter, and trained with me for a couple years.

It is like the big brother thing, nobody wants to lose to their little brother. We came in together, knew each other pretty well, and we would look at each other and say ‘next time we see each other, one of us is going to have a notch in the bedpost’. That was the biggest thing. He is definitely a top contender, ranked in the top three or four. It was a good situation for us because we were able to hype up the fight over the last year and there was a lot of anticipation of us fighting.”

Both fighters stated their game plan would be to put the other on his back, but Melendez was simply unable to take Josh down, while Thomson succeeded with all of his takedown attempts. “I found my range on him and was able to start boxing and staying out using a whole lot of movement from left to right. As he started getting frustrated I was pot-shotting him and reaching a lot more. I didn’t plan on kicking as much as I did but when I realised he wasn’t countering with much, I did.

“When I trained with him before he used to counter the kicks by throwing heavy leather. In this fight he wasn’t letting it go and was hesitating with the push kicks keeping him at bay.” After a solid five-round domination, Josh won the unanimous decision.

Thomson has three more fights on his Strikeforce contract, and insiders are whispering one of them could well be against KJ Noons for the third and final EliteXC / Strikeforce co-promotion, while others are pointing to a headline bout at the next Strikeforce show at the Playboy Mansion. Whatever happens, Josh has gone from a name on the horizon to a star in the sky in all of 25 minutes.

Owner of an English bulldog named Brady, Josh Thomson is one of the spokesmen for anti-dog fighting charity For Pit’s Sake. He and fellow American Kickboxing Academy fighters have given their backing to efforts to stamp out the illegal activity. “When the story of (former NFL Quarterback) Michael Vick’s dog fighting business came out, the general public was given a glimpse of the sadistic world of dog fighting. They had known there were evil people out there who trained dogs to fight, but it took a big media event to take the barbaric practice of dog fighting to the forefront of their consciousness,” says Kris Crawford, founder of For Pits’ Sake and Knock Out Dog Fighting.

“When Vick was arrested, many of his buddies defended him by saying dog fighting is no different than boxing or mixed martial arts, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Millions of kids view these fighters as role models, so that’s why I’ve asked for their help in teaching them that dog fighting is for losers.”

“MMA is a competition between two willing participants. In dog fighting they have no choice and they’re forced to fight until the death. It’s a no-win situation for the dog, and this is no way to treat man’s best friend,” says Josh. “Dog fighting is animal abuse, plain and simple. Torturing animals is not cool or a sign of being a real man. Real fighters stand up for what’s right and protect those who are unable to do so.”

For more information on Josh’s work go to www.knockoutdogfighting.org