Honesty may not always be the best option. At least that may hold true if Josh Thomson loses his lightweight tilt with former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson at UFC on Fox 10.
Thomson recently gave some details to MMA Junkie about his current training camp in the lead-up to the Henderson bout. Spoilers: It’s not good.
Falling into focus, falling out of focus, falling back into focus. This has quite possibly my worst camp ever in my whole career, but before people want to criticize and say I’m looking for a way out, you’ve got to remember, I said the same thing about the first time I fought Gilbert Melendez. That was the worst camp I had up until this time.
If you’ll recall, Roy Nelson recently said the same thing about his bout with Daniel “DC” Cormier. Nelson then went on to look absolutely terrible against Cormier.
Although the talent gap may not be as large as the one between Cormier and Nelson, nobody would want to have a bad camp in preparing to fight the second-best lightweight on the planet.
Yet that’s where Thomson finds himself heading into Chicago.
Thomson has had durability issues (in regards to injuries) in the past but is in prime position to reach a UFC title shot with only two fights in his Octagon return. He also has the reassurance of training with one of the best camps and groups of coaches at American Kickboxing Academy.
If Thomson wins, you can bet the UFC public relations machine will go into full overdrive in showing Thomson as a guy who overcame the odds. If Thomson loses, fans will be quick to point out the fact Thomson was already “making excuses” prior to the fight.
Even if it turns out to be Thomson making an excuse, I like that a fighter is being open and honest with fans. It’s a nice change from the politically correct mundane responses we’ve become accustomed to.
Despite the fact it’s not good for a fighter in terms of PR, I hope more competitors are just as honest in the future.
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