Tag: Josh Thomson

Ex-Strawweight champ ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas slams critics claiming she’s too small for flyweight

Namajunas‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas‘ move to flyweight has been heavily criticized by a plethora of fighters and fans. You can now add former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson to that ever-growing list. Despite capturing the strawweight title on two separate occasions and owning two wins over the division’s current queen, Zhang Weili, Rose Namajunas opted to […]

Namajunas

‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas‘ move to flyweight has been heavily criticized by a plethora of fighters and fans. You can now add former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson to that ever-growing list.

Despite capturing the strawweight title on two separate occasions and owning two wins over the division’s current queen, Zhang Weili, Rose Namajunas opted to move from 115 to 125 for her long-awaited return at UFC Paris on Saturday. She immediately jumped into the flyweight fire, taking on No. 2 ranked contender Manon Fiorot in the co-main event of the evening.

Namajunas came up short, suffering a unanimous decision defeat with many suggesting that the sheer size difference between the two women played the biggest factor.

“I thought Fiorot was just the bigger fighter and all of her shots had a lot more impact on Rose,” Thomson said on his Weighing In podcast. “I feel like Rose Namajunas is sabotaging her career. Like, what are you doing? She is so talented, and you are considered to be one of the best in the 115-pound division. Why are you going up?

“Maybe it was for one fight — I hope you go back down,” he continued. “You could be the champ again. I mean, if you wanna get motivated, stay motivated, whatever it is. I just feel like she’s sabotaging herself. She doesn’t know how to handle this success or she just doesn’t want to have success around her” (h/t MMA Mania).

Namajunas Snaps Back at Manon Fiorot’s Post-Fight Comments

Rose Namajunas’ UFC Paris opponent, Manon Fiorot, echoed similar sentiments during her post-fight interview.

“I’m pretty sure she wanted to wrestle me, but for her, it’s impossible to take me down,” Fiorot said. “I think it’s not her category. The flyweights are too strong for her.”

With criticism flying at her from every direction, Rose Namajunas snapped back in a video clip shared by her manager.

“I’m not too small for Flyweight — there’s no way,” a fired-up Namajuas claimed. “I dropped her a**. How am I too small? Maybe I had some moments where I was, like, stumbling over, or I wasn’t totally in position. But I’m like, ‘Dude, you felt no stronger than Weili. You felt no stronger than Weili, and I beat her a** twice.’ So shut the f*ck up. I’m not too small for flyweight.

“You can say anything else,” she added. “You can say you beat me on points, okay? But you can’t say I’m too small for flyweight. And you can’t say that I didn’t win a round because I for sure won at least one round if not two. But, that’s up for debate, right?”

Josh Thomson makes an emotional plea to Tony Ferguson: ‘You need to have a reality check’

Tony FergusonFormer Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson is pleading with Tony Ferguson to take a long hard look in the mirror before continuing his mixed martial arts career. Tony Ferguson is currently riding a six-fight losing streak, with four of those losses coming by either submission or knockout. It all started in 2020 when ‘El Cucuy’ […]

Tony Ferguson

Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson is pleading with Tony Ferguson to take a long hard look in the mirror before continuing his mixed martial arts career.

Tony Ferguson is currently riding a six-fight losing streak, with four of those losses coming by either submission or knockout. It all started in 2020 when ‘El Cucuy’ suffered a brutal one-sided defeat at the hands of current BMF titleholder Justin Gaethje at UFC 249. Since then, Ferguson has fallen to Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, and most recently, Bobby Green.

Despite the string of defeats, Tony Ferguson has insisted that his career is far from over, a sentiment that many fans and fellow fighters tend to disagree with. That includes ex-Bellator standout Josh Thomson, who looked back on his own setbacks in MMA and offered some words of advice for the struggling lightweight.

“When I lost two in a row, I had never lost two in a row,” Thomson said on the WEIGHING IN podcast. “I was like ‘What the hell is going on?’… it baffled the sh*t outta me. This guy has lost six in a row. This sport, like any sport, is about confidence. That confidence is what gets you to the next fight, makes you push a little harder when you’re behind on the judges’ cards.

“You need to have a reality check. You have to understand how to reel it in, because you’re the only one in charge of your relationships with everyone…I’ve had those conversations with myself a lot, because you don’t realize it. I become a little emotional, it’s a little f*cked up, but I care about all these fighters” (h/t MMA News).

More than four years removed from his last win, Tony Ferguson is still a big fan favorite which is likely why the UFC hasn’t cut ties with the former interim world champion. But at some point, either ‘El Cucuy‘ or his employer will need to make a very tough decision about his future in the fight game.

Josh Thomson: Jon Jones Not The GOAT Because He Didn’t Fight In Talented Enough Weight Class

Josh Thomson thinks that the talent available in Jon Jones’ weight classes holds him back from being named the greatest fighter in MMA history. “Bones” already held the distinction of being considered the GOAT by many fans and peers, but the 35-y…

Josh Thomson thinks that the talent available in Jon Jones’ weight classes holds him back from being named the greatest fighter in MMA history. “Bones” already held the distinction of being considered the GOAT by many fans and peers, but the 35-year-old only added to his case by claiming a second UFC title in the…

Continue Reading Josh Thomson: Jon Jones Not The GOAT Because He Didn’t Fight In Talented Enough Weight Class at MMA News.

Josh Thomson: Jon Jones Not The GOAT Because He Didn’t Fight In Talented Enough Weight Class

Josh Thomson thinks that the talent available in Jon Jones’ weight classes holds him back from being named the greatest fighter in MMA history. “Bones” already held the distinction of being considered the GOAT by many fans and peers, but the 35-y…

Josh Thomson thinks that the talent available in Jon Jones’ weight classes holds him back from being named the greatest fighter in MMA history. “Bones” already held the distinction of being considered the GOAT by many fans and peers, but the 35-year-old only added to his case by claiming a second UFC title in the…

Continue Reading Josh Thomson: Jon Jones Not The GOAT Because He Didn’t Fight In Talented Enough Weight Class at MMA News.

Ariel Helwani Assesses Josh Thomson’s ‘Media Responsibility’ Rant

MMA reporter Ariel Helwani has provided his take on comments made about the sport’s media by former fighter-turned-analyst Josh Thomson. Last week, news emerged that Bellator will be teaming up with Asia’s Rizin promotion for a blockbuster …

MMA reporter Ariel Helwani has provided his take on comments made about the sport’s media by former fighter-turned-analyst Josh Thomson. Last week, news emerged that Bellator will be teaming up with Asia’s Rizin promotion for a blockbuster head-to-head event, set for New Year’s Eve at Japan’s Saitama Super Arena. The main card will see five…

Continue Reading Ariel Helwani Assesses Josh Thomson’s ‘Media Responsibility’ Rant at MMA News.

John McCarthy, Josh Thomson Criticize ‘Clickbait’ Stephen A. Smith ‘Go Back To Basketball’

Stephen A. SmithFormer Bellator lightweight contender, Josh Thomson and current promotional color commentator, John McCarthy have both taken umbrage with recent comments from analyst, Stephen A. Smith following UFC 272, urging the ESPN reporter to revert to covering basketball rather than mixed martial arts. Smith, who has received his fair share of criticizm since his transition to […]

Stephen A. Smith

Former Bellator lightweight contender, Josh Thomson and current promotional color commentator, John McCarthy have both taken umbrage with recent comments from analyst, Stephen A. Smith following UFC 272, urging the ESPN reporter to revert to covering basketball rather than mixed martial arts.

Smith, who has received his fair share of criticizm since his transition to analysing mixed martial arts, infamously received major flak after he claimed Donald Cerrone quit and turned in an “atrocious performance” during his UFC 246 loss to former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor in January 2020. 

Reacting to last weekend’s UFC 272 headliner between former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington, and Jorge Masvidal – Stephen A. Smith claimed Masvidal’s lack of wrestling defense was “inexplicable” as he eventually gave up six total takedowns over the course of five rounds en route to his loss to Covington in a unanimous decision display. 

Sharing their thoughts on Smith’s comments, former referee, McCarthy, and former UFC lightweight contender, Thomson both criticized Smith’s take on Masvidal’s performance.

“The reason you (Stephen A. Smith) don’t understand, is because you never wrestled a day in your f*cking life,” John McCarthy said on Weighing In. “And to not understand – Jorge (Masvidal) was ready for the wrestling, it’s just that – hey, Colby (Covington) brings a pressure that wore him down. Go back to basketball.”

“Yeah, go back to covering sports where you think you know so much about,” Josh Thomson said. “Countless, countless other athletes have just talked sh*t about you. And this is why – it’s ‘cause you’re clickbait. You are the epitome of what it wrong with social media right now, and the news, and sports talk and all this other crap. Your show, ‘First Take’ all this other sh*t that you guys do, is f*cking trash. It’s always been trash. And ESPN continues to tell you guys you’ve been doing a good job, it’s garbage. You guys are all clickbait, you and all the other guys that you work with, it’s all trash.”

Josh Thomson called for ESPN to part ways with Stephen A. Smith when it comes to UFC coverage

Thomson further claimed that Smith should not cover the sport anymore in tandem with the UFC and their broadcast partners, ESPN.

“It’s really sad that the UFC has to use you (Stephen A. Smith), because you work for ESPN,” Josh Thomson said. “And it’s a slap in the face to our athletes and our fighters. It’s embarrassing and I think, I honestly believe they need to get rid of your ass, working with the UFC at all. ‘Cause everytime, you put your foot in your mouth and say sh*t like this – it adds to the clickbait material you are used to doing from your other shows, and it’s trash…”