Josh ‘The Punk’ Thomson will compete at the upcoming UFC 178 card against Bobby Green. He recently did an interview with FoxSports about why the lighter weight divisions are the most competitive in mixed martial arts. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Bad Decisions:
“It does now and it never had before. The Gil fight, yeah I felt like I won that fight, I felt like I definitely thought I did enough to win. I was upset that I lost, it was a split decision especially going into the UFC, I wanted the opportunity to fight for the title. Well I got that anyway, I knocked out Nate Diaz, I was supposed to fight Pettis, but that didn’t work out. The Benson (Henderson) fight, that’s the one that was really upsetting because I went back and watched the fight and I felt like I won four of the five rounds. I’d give myself three to two, but I felt like the judges could have given it four to one. I really don’t know. It does make me nervous now, the judges make me nervous now.”
The Middleweight, Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Divisions:
“This is what I say — when you go up in weight, you should be saying it to those guys. Because those guys all have weaknesses. You hit 185, 205, and heavyweight, those guys are always just good at like one thing, two things, but they’re not great all the way around. There’s ways to finish them. So if you’re a well-rounded athlete, you can finish those guys. You can find ways to finish those guys. You start getting in the 185’s, 205, heavyweight, they start being one-dimensional, two-dimensional fighters. They’re not mixed martial artists. They’re not as good as the 55-pounders and below. They’re just not. To me that’s just a fact.”
The Welterweight Division:
“170 is kind of like the limbo — like there’s some well-rounded guys in there. GSP was the champion so long because he was the most well-rounded and usually in the best shape. But that’s kind of like the whole new guy — that’s why Rory MacDonald does well. He’s in shape, he’s got pretty good jiu-jitsu, he’s hard to take down but he’s got good standup. He’s well-rounded with good shape. Those are the guys that are hard to beat.”
The Lightweight Division and Below:
“With 55-pounders and below, good luck, man. Everybody’s good all around — they’re good wrestlers, they’re good jiu-jitsu guys, they’re good standup guys, they’re game to throw down and they’re always in shape. So you want to tell me ‘don’t leave it in the judges’ hands’ but where am I supposed to take this fight where this guy isn’t good? He’s good at stopping submissions, he’s good at wrestling, he’s good as standup and he’s generally in great shape. Tell me how when we start talking 55 and below, these guy are phenomenal athletes and they’re almost impossible to finish. People knock us for it, but guess what? Our weight classes are so much harder than the guys that are above us. Finishes like that are few and far between and you’ve got to be happy when you get them.”
