Former Strikeforce lightweight champion and three-fight UFC veteran Josh “The Punk” Thomson (18-3, 1 NC) has an interesting take on the UFC-WEC merger.

Speaking to the Las Vegas Sun, Thomson said,

“They made it sound so great that a company went under. The simple fact of the matter was that the WEC failed and they put it with the UFC to carry it.”

Ouch.

Is that really what happened or is this just sour grapes from a former UFC fighter whose last fight in the Octagon in 2004 ended with him getting knocked out via flying head kick by Yves Edwards?

Thomson does not seem to think much of the WEC lightweight division and uses some MMA math to prove his point:

“To compare WEC lightweights to Strikeforce and the UFC is not fair because if they were that good, they would have been fighting for the UFC. I think the world of (Jamie) Varner, but I beat Hermes (Franca) and Hermes beat Varner. Varner was the WEC champ for awhile. So, where does that leave us?”

Thomson is coming off back-to-back wins against Pat Healy and Gesias Cavalcante, both in 2010, and is hoping for a fight against Japanese star Tatsuya Kawajiri (26-6-2) sometime next year.

The article also makes it sound like Thomson is becoming a bit bored with fighting and may be approaching retirement. Read the entire interview here: “At 32, Josh Thomson admits he’s thought about life after fighting.

2 thoughts on “Josh Thomson: “The simple fact of the matter was that the WEC failed and they put it with the UFC to carry it””
  1. Sure he won the fight against Hermes Franca, but he didn’t do it by much at all. He outpointed him in the first, and just got the second on workrate vs Franca rocking him. In the third he got blasted harder, and even went limp face first into the canvas at one point. It was damn close to being stopped, and he got lucky to get a split decision. That was even before Franca reached his peak.

    He still sour he got his ass spanked by Clay Guida.

  2. Thomson is approaching Frank Shamrock territory. Pretty soon, he is going to be the only person talking about how good he is. He lost to JZ by the way…

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