Filed under: Fighting, FanHouse Exclusive
On Monday morning, Nick Thompson was at his desk at O’Flaherty, Heim, Egan and Birnbaum, a Wisconsin law firm in which he specializes in criminal and personal injury law. Less than 36 hours earlier, Thompson was in a cage, fighting the former Olympic wrestler and current Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren. Upon losing a unanimous decision, Thompson, a 29-year-old who once held a place among MMA’s top 10 welterweights, retired from competition.
For a fighter who had competed in nearly every top organization including the UFC, Strikeforce, EliteXC and Sengoku, it was a surprising decision, but one that was a long time coming.
Thompson says the beginning of the end came in July 2008, when he fought for a championship and passed the Minnesota bar exam in a one-week span. At the time, he had just just turned 27 years old and was in the best stretch of his career, winning 20 of his last 21 fights. He had just completed the best training camp he’d ever experienced as a pro, had cracked the top 10, and took that wave of momentum into an EliteXC championship match with Jake Shields. Everything suggested he was in the prime of his career and would give Shields a run. But when the fight came, Thompson was overwhelmed, and tapped out to a guillotine choke in just 64 seconds.
In the aftermath of the loss, Thompson faced the reality of what happened.