Thomson battled multiple issues heading into his showdown with the Brazilian, including lingering injuries.
“This was the worst camp ever. I had ankle injuries, a partially torn MCL and hand and wrist problems,” said the American Kickboxing Academy standout. “I’m not going to go on a vacation, but I’ll probably take a month to get healed up. I’ve never lifted weights in my life. I think maybe I need to start, so I’m holding my joints and ligaments together a little better. Things are breaking on me, I think, because I train too much.”
Thomson was seen coughing for two days leading up to the fight and was asked whether or not he was battling a cold or some other illness.
“No, [it’s not a cold]. I actually have something called athlete’s asthma,” said Thomson. “I’m coughing and [dealing with a lot of] phlegm. I’ve had to get an inhaler just to get to the fight. I’m going to see a doctor and have it checked out.”
Thomson earned a unanimous victory over “JZ” in the co-main event, with scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27. A competitive first round saw both men mount serious offense, including attempted submissions. The second frame appeared to go to Thomson, but the third seemed just as one-sided for Cavalcante. The 30-27 score had many, Thomson among them, scratching their heads.
“There’s no way I won that fight 30-27,” said Thomson. “I thought that I won the fight, for sure, but I felt like I lost the [third] round by just being on bottom. You guys have all learned that I call it like it is. If I felt like [I lost], I would have said so, but I do feel like I won.”
In that tumultuous first period, the two lightweights traded submission holds. First, Cavalcante pulled an arm-in guillotine choke after dropping Thomson with an overhand right. Thomson rallied back later, reversed the position and cinched an arm-triangle choke in the waning moments of the round.
“I got head butted, but it was in combination with the punch. I got rocked a little bit, and I jumped into that [single leg takedown attempt],” Thomson said. “The guillotine he put on me wasn’t really tight. [I think that my submission] did more damage. I’ve been in Jake Shields’ guillotine, so [I wasn’t concerned]. What I was worried about was that I was in it for a minute or so. How do the judges see that? I’m just chilling, letting him burn his arms out, but how are they seeing it?”
Prior to the matchup, “The Punk” threw nothing but compliments his opponent’s way. The same held true after their 15-minute encounter was complete.
“He’s still the man,” Thomson said. “Like I said, the inactivity hurt both of us in the rankings, but I knew that when he came back in, he’d be just as dangerous as when he left.”
Though he burns for a rubber match with Melendez, Thomson may have to remain patient. If all goes according to plan, Melendez could rematch Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki on New Year’s Eve in Japan, pushing back a matchup with Thomson until 2011. When asked if a potential bout with current Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight Roger Huerta interested him in the interim, Thomson did not hesitate.
“I’d love to fight Roger,” he said. “I have nothing but respect for Roger. The real winners would be the fans.”
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