By Robert Rousseau
Coming into his fight against former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Gilbert Melendez, the man they call “The Punk” had a 17-2 overall MMA record with six (T)KO’s and eight submission victories to his credit. Of course, Melendez had certainly earned the high level status that many afforded him coming into that fight; he’d defeated Clay Guida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Tetsuji Kato during his career.
But when you throw together Thomson’s stellar record and past victories against Duane “Bang” Ludwig, Hermes Franca, and “Razor” Rob McCullough, shouldn’t we all have given him a little more credit as well?
Well, since defeating Gilbert Melendez on June 27th Thomson has certainly earned a higher status amongst MMA fans and a championship belt to go along with it. And if you’re wondering if he has some strong feelings regarding the next fighter he takes on, you better believe that he does.
Can you say Frank Shamrock? Josh Thomson sure can.
MMAFighting.com: How’s it going, man?
Josh Thomson: It’s going good.
MMAFighting.com: I know it’s a little while back, but I wanted to say congratulations on your win over Gilbert. You looked great in that fight against some stiff competition.
Josh Thomson: Thanks.
MMAFighting.com: You’d won six straight coming into your fight against him and your only losses were to upper echelon fighters. Do you think people underestimated you coming into that fight, and if so why did they?
Josh Thomson: I had shoulder surgery and was injured since September (of) last year. There were a lot of things going on. I hadn’t fought in nine months and so I think that was another reason. Gilbert always is a top guy. He was ranked higher than me. He’d beaten some top guys; he’d also beaten someone that I had lost to you. So I think that (was it).
For the rest of this interview, check out MMAFighting.com
