Josh Thomson's UFC title shot

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JDSSafetyExpert

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Am I getting this straight? I mean, he's 2-2 in his last four, 4-3 in his last seven. He has one UFC win in the last...nearly decade, against a guy who got absolutely demolished by the former champion.

He's against a fighter who is looking like possibly the most dangerous lightweight ever in the UFC who could very well hold belts at 145 and 155, and to make matters worse Rafael Dos Anjos has five straight wins, really 7 if you count the shady split decision loss to Tibau as the win it should have been. None of this adds up to me. I know the division is weak right now (When it's been TJ Grant, RDA, and Thomson you know 155 has gone a little soft with the talent migration down to 145) but it's a little ridiculous when the show is free to pass up a fighter who earned the shot with a significant win streak. Is this all it takes to get a title shot anymore? They should just table it and do Pettis vs. Aldo on PPV and have Aldo vacate and move up.
 
Thomson just stopped a former title challenger with strikes for the first time and he's a California native on a California card. Marketability.
 
Hans Gercmiov said:
Thomson just stopped a former title challenger with strikes for the first time and he's a California native on a California card. Marketability.
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But you can't even begin to argue he earned the shot. As far as California goes...there's a million fighters from there. Just seems like they should do Dos Anjos now as this is not a PPV and it's getting very hard to deny that he's earned it.
 
Thomson should have been the last Strikeforce 155 champ if the judges didn't gift Gil with the split decision then he KO'd the previous number 1 contender. TS talks about people with win streaks, but who did those people beat during those win streaks?

Legit contenders with a loss or two against good comp > someone with a win streak that didn't beat any contenders themselves.

dos Anjos I agree with, dude is on a good run, but Thomson is a bigger name.
 
JDSSafetyExpert said:
Am I getting this straight? I mean, he's 2-2 in his last four, 4-3 in his last seven. He has one UFC win in the last...nearly decade, against a guy who got absolutely demolished by the former champion.

He's against a fighter who is looking like possibly the most dangerous lightweight ever in the UFC who could very well hold belts at 145 and 155, and to make matters worse Rafael Dos Anjos has five straight wins, really 7 if you count the shady split decision loss to Tibau as the win it should have been. None of this adds up to me. I know the division is weak right now (When it's been TJ Grant, RDA, and Thomson you know 155 has gone a little soft with the talent migration down to 145) but it's a little ridiculous when the show is free to pass up a fighter who earned the shot with a significant win streak. Is this all it takes to get a title shot anymore? They should just table it and do Pettis vs. Aldo on PPV and have Aldo vacate and move up.
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Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time. He wasn't a first choice, but no matter what, Zuffa wanted Pettis fighting on that card. Zuffa is gifting FOX with a card full of fights that are intended to deliver.

So I don't think it is what was accomplished as much as being in the right place at the right time, and being lucky enough to be in a division that has an exciting champ with no contenders (not already booked or injured) available.

Just accept that beating on off Diaz is worthy of getting a title shot. Thankfully we don't have to wait to see Pettis fight.

I get Dos Anjos deserves it, but whatever. Let him fight Grant. Give the UFC a chance to truly promote those two as #1 and #2 to the belt.
 
I agree it's a bit silly, would rather see someone on a nice win streak like RDA or Khabib
 
Thomson was the #2 guy available that wasn't coming off a loss. Would you like to see another massive gap between title defenses again? Thomson is solid.
 
Based God said:
Thomson should have been the last Strikeforce 155 champ if the judges didn't gift Gil with the split decision then he KO'd the previous number 1 contender. TS talks about people with win streaks, but who did those people beat during those win streaks?

Legit contenders with a loss or two against good comp > someone with a win streak that didn't beat any contenders themselves.
Click to expand...

I thought Thomson won that fight too but that's a fight in another promotion nearly two years ago. Just doesn't hold a lot of water now.

RDA has beat Sotiropolous (when that meant something), Cerrone, Dunham, and the criminally underrated Bocek and Njokouani. He hasn't been fighting scrubs.
 
J Danger said:
Thomson was the #2 guy available that wasn't coming off a loss. Would you like to see another massive gap between title defenses again? Thomson is solid.
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I would wait a couple more months for a better contender. Pettis just won the title in late August.
 
I dont mind Josh getting the shot.....he beat Nate by strikes a former title contender. And those losses to Gil were a bit iffy.
 
Should be a great fight...............how can anyone complain about this?
 
Jesus Christ have some respect.

Josh Thomson has been one of the best LW in the world for almost 13 years, and is now back in the UFC hitting his peak.

He deserves this shot without question.

It's also apparently OK to point that out now considering Dana was citing Baroa's record outside of Zuffa as a means to illustrate how incredibly awesome he is.
 
JDSSafetyExpert said:
I would wait a couple more months for a better contender. Pettis just won the title in late August.
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In the first round. Taking zero damage at all. Four months is plenty of time to get back in there. Six months is far too long, and more time for him to injure himself.

RDA fought on August 28th. (Has also won last four by UD - not "exciting"[At the very least, not as exciting as a single KO of a Diaz)

Khabib also JUST fought a week ago. Way too green, to boot.


Thomson is the only real option. And will make for a good fight.
 
He is a replacement. Any challenger (particularly top ten-ish)>>>champ waiting around
 
JDSSafetyExpert said:
I thought Thomson won that fight too but that's a fight in another promotion nearly two years ago. Just doesn't hold a lot of water now.

RDA has beat Sotiropolous (when that meant something), Cerrone, Dunham, and the criminally underrated Bocek and Njokouani. He hasn't been fighting scrubs.
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Nate Diaz is a far better win for Thomson than an arguable loss to Dunham and a nice Cerrone win.
Obviously there is no set criteria to get a Title Shot. Thomson's body of work is superior to RDA; and I like RDA. RDA needs a win from the upper tier in the Division.
 
willin said:
Nate Diaz is a far better win for Thomson than an arguable loss to Dunham and a nice Cerrone win.
Obviously there is no set criteria to get a Title Shot. Thomson's body of work is superior to RDA; and I like RDA. RDA needs a win from the upper tier in the Division.
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I think the main reason the UFC is reluctant to give RDA the shot is because he's cutting his fights really close. Cerrone completely took over round 3 in his last fight, and he arguably lost to Dunham.

I very much like RDA also.
 
TJ Grant is the only guy you can legitimately deserves the next shot more than Thomson. After you establish that, it then comes to marketability, which Thomson of course has Grant beat hands down. This is a shot coming off of being the only guy in the UFC to finish Nate Diaz, and the only guy to finish Diaz since 2006. This does not compare to Nick Diaz, Sonnen, Carmouche or the Meisha Tate rematch in any way shape or form in terms of undeserving title shots.
 
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