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“Josh was the better man today. I did the best that I could do today." Gilbert Melendez |
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By: Jeff Townsend, Boxing/MMA writer of Bayareasportsdrive.com 6-29-08 Bruised and battered, one-by-one, the fighters slowly made their way into the post-fight press conference to share their thoughts on the fight. The outcome of the main event - Josh ‘The Punk’ Thomson (15-2) won a five round unanimous decision and the Strikeforce Lightweight title against Gilbert ‘El Nino’ Melendez (14-2) at Strikeforce 10 which took place on Friday night at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. Despite both MMA fighters being very well-respected for their skills and talent, this was an upset win for Thomson. Here is what the fighters had to say at the post-fight press conference. Gilbert Melendez
(photo left- (right) Introduction: “Josh was the better man today. I did the best that I could do today. I think I am a better fighter than that. Josh threw me off my game. He fought his fight. He was the better man today. I wouldn’t mind running it back. I tried my best. I am a little hurt right now. I left it all out there. I have no shame in that. It was pretty packed in there. I want to thank everyone for coming out and watching” - On his game plan: “Put him on his back and ground-n-pound him. I tried a takedown or two and, for some reason, I couldn’t grip it. On the first lock, when I locked him, I couldn’t lift it up and slam. Maybe Josh had a good defense. Something was up. I didn’t feel confident in it. Maybe I didn’t work on it enough. Maybe I should have focused on the ground-n-pound a little more. He had amazing footwork, kept it outside, good kicks, Josh did awesome. - On taking a hard knee in the second round: “I recovered from it. At the quick moment, you see a little blurry. Every fight I get a little stunned like that. He had a little flurry that stunned me. I recovered from it, I kept fighting. I don’t feel like it threw me off. I felt like I couldn’t get on my game at all today. I have had better practices than that. No excuses, he was the better guy.” - On training together that potentially gave Thomson an advantage: “Maybe but I should have had the same advantage, right? There are no excuses. I trained with him and he trained with me. Maybe he learned more from it. Maybe he was the smarter guy about it. He fought good. He knew what to expect from me and I knew what to expect from him. He just fought his game and I didn’t fight my game. He had his game plan that worked and my game plan didn’t work. - On an immediate rematch with Thomson: “Yeah, I would like to run that back. Definitely. Josh is cool. We will talk about it. If he wants to do it, of course. I want my belt back. I don’t like losing.” - On his hands going into this fight: “My hands are fine. Everything was fine. 100%.” - Final thoughts: “Thank you guys. I am going to go grab a beer.” |
Josh Thomson - On how it feels to be the Lightweight champ: “It feels awesome. It is a lot more satisfying fighting Gilbert and winning the title than if I had beat Clay (Guida). It would not have meant as much. This means so much more beating someone like Gilbert. He is obviously a close friend of mine. I respect and admire him a lot.” - On what he is most proud about regarding his performance: “That I am still standing after five rounds. Honestly, that I stayed relaxed the whole fight. This fight was all about having fun. There was no pressure on me to win. It was all on him. I was a 3-1 underdog. I came in, smiled, had a great time. If I would have lost this fight, I would have walked away with my head held high knowing that he is a great person and great champ. Today was my night.
What is next in his career: “What is next is having a beer. I have not drank since January…..I am going to have dinner with close friends and family. No idea what is going to happen, fight-wise. Whatever Strikeforce puts in front of me. I was really looking forward to Yves (Edwards) beating KJ Noons so we can hopefully have a rematch and unify the titles. He has been holding off on his end of the bargain.” - On Thomson’s shoulder (that required surgery back in January): “Shoulder was great. I prepared myself mentally for that. What I was not prepared for was getting sick during training camp. I got a staph infection and got sick two weeks in a row. I am still sick right now. I was on antibiotics all this week. Three weeks of my training camp, I was on antibiotics. - On his game plan: “Javier Mendez, my coach, really works out game plans for his fighters. When I listen to him, I win. You saw a little bit of that with Cung Le and Frank (Shamrock). He gave Cung the game plan, Cung stuck to it and he won. I came out with a game plan. I stuck to it and won. It is really hard to lose when he is in your corner. I didn’t listen in the Clay (Guida) fight and it cost me the fight. I tell everyone that I lost that fight because I didn’t listen. I regret that moment to this day. - On his perspective going into this fight: “There was no way I was going to lose this fight. I trained too hard for this fight. When I was sick, I trained. When I had staph, I trained. I wasn’t going to lose as long as I stuck to the game plan and had fun. Once I got serious and started thinking about the pressure he was putting on me, I would have lost this fight. This was my fight. You could see the smile on my face. I said no matter what, I am going to come out and fight to the end. - On staying loose and relaxed: “That was Javier (Mendez). He told me to go out there and have fun. I was smiling, laughing at the crowd, giving them winks. This is a fight but this is a sport too. Once it becomes a job for me, I will quit doing it. I have fun with these guys. I have the top guys in the world at my gym – Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Phil Baroni. We joke around and have a great time. We just happen to get paid. |
- On the importance of the jab: “I didn’t figure it out until the second round. It was working so I kept throwing it. He caught me with some overhead rights. Look at my eye. The whole game plan was to stay on the outside, make him reach and get a takedown. I worked a lot on my wrestling. Josh Koscheck helped me a lot on my wrestling. I owe a lot of this fight to him. If I wouldn’t have listened (to Javier), I would have lost. I listened, I won. - On why Melendez didn’t shoot for takedowns more often: “In the first round, he shot for takedowns twice and I stopped them. Both times when he shot, he backed out and I caught him with good knees. One of the two weapons that I have is my knees. I got bony-ass little knees because I am so small and they find the mark. He remembers that. He knew that if he jumped in, he was going to get caught with something. That was why he stayed on the outside. He overcommitted once in a while and I made him pay. - On the crowd reaction: “A lot of them rooted for him because of his last name. They forget that my last name is Vasquez. My mom’s last name is Vasquez. I am half-Mexican. My whole family was there. That is all that matters. - On a possible rematch with Melendez: “Anytime he wants. I would fight him next fight. I have so much respect for him. Plus, I wasn’t happy with the turn-out. I think that next time we will a bigger crowd. It is hard to sell lightweights. Everyone knows that. That is why the UFC dumped the lightweight division.” - On his foot (Thomson was limping a bit): “I kicked his elbow four or five times. It’s not broken. We took x-rays.” Josh Thomson summed up the press conference by discussing how he is refocused on fighting and his intense dedication to the sport. “I spent all last year in a bar and all I ended up with is a bar tab. I trained my ass off for this fight. I have three fights left on my contract with Strikeforce and I only want to fight Top 10 guys. Thanks for your time.” Email Jeff with questions or comments at jtownsend@bayareasportsdrive.com
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