Josh Thomson on his injury and looking for big name fights

Published on: 21st November, 2008

Josh Thomson on his injury and looking for big name fights  | read this item

Thomson looking to fight big name fighters once he comes back from his toe injury

The Strikeforce: Destruction event which will take place in the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California tonight will not have it’s Lightweight champion Josh ‘The Punk’ Thomson competing tonight in his originally scheduled title defense against Yves Edwards who has given Thomson one of his two career defeats. Thomson was pulled from the card due to tearing a ligament in his big toe while training for his fight with Edwards.

In his talk with MMAjunkie.com, Thomson talks about how he hurt his big toe and who he wants to face upon his return to action.

“I threw a push kick right into someone’s elbow,” Thomson said. “It jammed the big toe (on my right foot) and bent it all the way back. It’s like turf toe. So I jammed it so hard that it caused turf toe in the joint. And then as well, by bending it all the way back I had a partial tear in one of the muscles that leads into your arch — from the big toe to your arch. So it’s like a double whammy.”

Thomson says that he wanted to go on to face Edwards by trying to take a cortisone shot, but the doctor said that although the swelling would have subsided he would risk damaging the toe even furher.

“I was seeing a therapist twice a day,” Thomson said. “I was really even considering getting a cortisone shot to see if it would help. The cortisone they said only would have aggregated the muscle, or it would have brought the inflammation down and the joint possibly could have damaged some more and put me out longer once the cortisone wore off. So with having the belt now, I’m really looking forward to a long career. I really want to just focus on my next fight instead of this one.”

Will Strikeforce let Thomson face Shamrock?

So now that Thomson decided to take the time off to heal the injury he is adamant about wanting to face Frank Shamrock and other well known fighters in the sport.

“If we can find a way to do a catch weight at like 177 (pounds), I would do it all day long,” Thomson said. “He weighted in at 183 (pounds) against Cung Le, and I know that he doesn’t cut a whole lot of weight. He walks around at about 195 or 196 (pounds). Jon Fitch makes 170 (pounds), and he walks around at 196 (pounds).

“It really comes down to whether Frank wants to fight. I love the way he fights. I think he’s a great fighter, always have. We’ve had our differences, but I think it’s going to be a great fight.”

Thomson also has other lightweight fighters that he feels deserve a shot at his title right away as well.

“I’m looking for big fights,” Thomson said. “I’d love to fight Ralph Gracie. I’d love to fight Frank Shamrock. I’d like to fight Eddie Alvarez. I’d like to fight those guys. And those to me, and (Joachin) Hansen, they warrant coming in off the street to get an automatic title shot — or like a union fight or superfight.”

Although it would be great for Thomson to fight the likes of Eddie Alvarez and Joachim ‘Hellboy’ Hansen his best bet may be to fight elsewhere, but for right now a catchweight bout with Shamrock could make sense given the back and forth trash talking that has been dished out by the two. In the end though ‘The Punk’ still has not defended his title and once coming out of injury that is exactly what he must do before moving on to bigger and better opponents.

 Nelson Rodriguez AKA: Nelo2.0 is the Co - Owner of URDirt.com who is also an Editor and Author on the site. Read more from this author

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