By Micheal Owens
The announcement that Gilbert Melendez would be fighting Anthony Pettis for the UFC lightweight belt has given MMA another gift. Lightweight veteran and fan favorite Josh Thomson seems to have had a fire lit under him to put thoughts of retirement on the back burner.
“It made me kind of sick to my stomach,” he told MMAjunkie Radio on Monday. “I think it’s a good chance I’ll be back.”
Thomson was dejected following a controversial decision loss to Benson Henderson in January which had the unfortunate effect of ending his title hopes for the time being. He teased his retirement from the sport in the post-fight press conference, but given the time to think, he could be on his way back.
“I’m not concerned about [my] legacy,” the former Strikeforce champion added. “What it is is that I know it’s right there within my reach of grabbing it, and that guys that I know I can beat and should have beaten are already getting those shots, and not just once, but twice.”
With the title out of reach until at least early 2015, he had some ideas about who might make a good opponent in the mean time now that Pettis won’t be taking on a certain Brazilian featherweight champion.
“Hopefully, there’s a chance to welcome Jose Aldo to the lightweight division, and we’ll make a case from there,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Thomson has been unfortunate in recent years. First he was forced to vacate his Strikeforce belt after a lengthy spell on the sidelines through injury. He lost in his return fight to Melendez but many thought he deserved the nod when the pair had their rubber match. He was inches away from a title shot this year after the Henderson performance – which was set up by the the biggess ass-kicking of Nate Diaz’s career – but the judges were there to deny him once again. That was made even more crushingly disappointing considering Thomson had done so well despite having a broken hand for the majority of the contest.
Few could argue ‘The Punk’ has a legitimate case to be held in equally as high regard as Tony P and Gil Melendez and he could be forgiven for having bitter thoughts as he watches his peers fight for UFC gold while under mega-contracts. However, true to form as one of the classiest pros in the game the 35-year-old holds no grudge against his old rival and has vowed to persevere back to the top.
“I’m happy for Gil that he got a good contract; I’m happy that Gil still is with the UFC,” he said. “It just gives me one more person to get through to get to the title. I’m just sick to my stomach that it should have been me there. [Melendez] got two title shots in the amount of time that I should have gotten one.
“I’m just a little upset, that’s all. It just gets me re-motivated and focused on what needs to happen.”
