Josh Thomson might be retired if not fir Scott Cokers vision for Bellator

http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/9/16/9335103/josh-thomson-might-be-retired-right-now-if-not-for-scott-cokers


Josh Thomson has sat down on multiple occasions with Bellator MMA president Scott Coker and matchmaker Rich Chou. The talks mainly hinge around the future -- not just for Thomson, but the Bellator promotion.

Coker took over the reins last year and brought in Chou, his former right-hand man with Strikeforce. In the last 15 months, they have worked to lift Bellator to a higher level.


Thomson is a piece of that future as long as he fulfills his end of the bargain. The former Strikeforce lightweight champion came over from the UFC to Bellator last month and was immediately booked against Mike Bronzoulis at Bellator: Dynamite 1 on Saturday in San Jose.

After speaking with Coker and Chou, Thomson didn't want to waste any time. "The Punk," who once openly discussed retirement, is feeling reinvigorated.

"I probably wouldn't be as excited as I am if I didn't know something you guys don't know, if I didn't know the vision of what was planned to go on," Thomson told MMA Fighting. "I probably wouldn't be as excited. I may not even be fighting anymore, to be honest."

Thomson (20-8, 1 NC) has been one of the top-10 lightweights in the world for the better past of the last decade plus. There isn't much he hasn't experienced since his pro career began in 2001, the pre-Zuffa era. Thomson has fought for the UFC, PRIDE, Strikeforce and he'll add Bellator to the list this weekend. It won't even be his first time competing on a card entitled "Dynamite." Thomson fell to Tatsuya Kawajiri at Dynamite!! 2010 on New Year's Eve in Japan.

However, Thomson said he felt like just another cog in the wheel in the UFC. Those kinds of conversations he has had with Coker and Chou never existed with UFC brass. Thomson said his lone communication with execs were the calls telling him who he was fighting next and when.

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"When you know [the vision], when you can see what the picture is in front of you, it makes it a lot easier to get up and train," Thomson said. "When you're just given opponents, like, 'OK, you're gonna fight this guy.' Well, that guy is ranked like 20 spots behind me, why am I fighting him? 'Well, because we said so.' That, to me, doesn't give me any motivation. It just lets me know that either they're trying to get you beat or they really don't have anybody that's gonna fight you."

Thomson, 36, won't make the public privy to his private chats with Coker, but he will say that he's excited to be in a division with top talents like champion Will Brooks and former titleholder Michael Chandler. There is plenty to like about Bellator's 155-pound weight class, and Thomson has put that previous retirement talk to bed.

The only time the San Jose native really spoke about hanging up the gloves. was after a close split decision to Benson Henderson in January 2014. Thomson was supposed to fight Anthony Pettis for the lightweight title a month earlier before Pettis got hurt. Instead, he fell to Henderson in a bout many thought he won.

"I was obviously upset about the situation and I was going through some tough times at the moment, as far as my personal life and things like that," Thomson said.

Those things are in the rear-view mirror. Thomson is happy to be with Bellator and back with Coker. Though, he might still be with the UFC if not for the promotion's uniform contract with Reebok. With the new deal, fighters can only wear the Reebok logo in the Octagon and many athletes lost their sponsors because of it.

Thomson was only making $5,000 per fight in sponsorship money with the Reebok tiered, tenure structure. He said that three sponsors alone are paying him more than $35,000 for his Bellator debut and there are more to come. Thomson also said he was making up to $90,000 in sponsors per fight during his run as one of the best lightweights in the UFC and Strikeforce.

"I had no intentions of testing the waters in the free-market until I heard that we were about to lock down a sponsorship deal," Thomson said. "They took away our sponsors. That was the only deal."

Perhaps the chain of events was fortuitous: Bellator bringing in Coker, the UFC signing with Reebok and Thomson's contract expiring. Thomson will get another chance to help build up another promotion the way he did with Strikeforce.

"You see the overall picture and you see what the vision is, you see where this is all headed," Thomson said. "And the thing is, you don't want to be the person that lets it down. You need to win. There's things out there that you need to happen for the vision to come true -- for you, anyway. The vision is still gonna happen with or without you. Do you want to be a part of it or not? That's the thing. That's where the motivation comes from."

"I probably wouldn't be as excited as I am if I didn't know something you guys don't know, if I didn't know the vision of what was planned to go on," Thomson told MMA Fighting. "I probably wouldn't be as excited. I may not even be fighting anymore, to be honest."



What does he know?

He was on his way out with the UFC anyways

1. OLD
2. Didnt make dana big money
3. injury prone
4. losing streak
5. injury prone
6. injury prone
7. Did I mention he was injury prone?

Just another washed up UFC reject signed by Bellator....Who's he gonna face? Hermes Franca in a rematch LOLZ

Bellaturd sucks....Cokers vision of the sport is trash

Troll shit ^^^^^^^

Wow you sound more and more like a zombie every post stu..,

Glad thomson is speaking up about how shitty the reebok deal really is he was gettin 5000 now getting upwards of 35,000 in bellator sponsors.....THANK YOU BELLATOR FOR SPONSORSHIP FREEDOM!

was making 90,000 on sponsors as a top lw then down to 5000 ......surprised more fighters aren't making the jump.

fka wrote:Troll shit ^^^^^^^

UFC reject-a-tor

When's Kimbo next fight?

KIMBO VS HERSCHAL WALKER!!! OMG SCOTT COKER YOU ARE AMAZING

They shit all over that ufc wanbabe kunlun lol kunlun =cage wrasslin lol.

Bellator is the future hop on board....or get steamrolled.

fka wrote:They shit all over that ufc wanbabe kunlun lol kunlun =cage wrasslin lol.

Bellator is the future hop on board....or get steamrolled.

future of what? until they challenge UFC in any way they aint doing shit. ZUFFA owns the market....zuffa can treat fighters and fans like utter shit and they keep coming back for more abuse. Until Bellator pulls away legit top 10 fighters from the UFC then it aint doing nothing.


kunlun has caged mma and mma in a ring also....whats your point? north america dictates to the rest of thw world how to have their rules...it's a sad state of affairs....

They are challenging ufc....they offer up a different style of mma and have a tv deal instead of ppv.

They also give fighters out to orgs and are giving fighters the freedom ufc denies them.


My point with kunlun is everything you cry about bellator doin with cage they do.....so your funny as fuck but thats not new knowledge.

fka wrote:They are challenging ufc....they offer up a different style of mma and have a tv deal instead of ppv.

They also give fighters out to orgs and are giving fighters the freedom ufc denies them.


My point with kunlun is everything you cry about bellator doin with cage they do.....so your funny as fuck but thats not new knowledge.

They aint doing shit

even UFC's worst Fox shows do better than Bellator...... UFC = MMA

I dont even care for kunlun mma I skip every MMA fight because im a kickboxing fan ...again whats your point?

Love your backtracking.....its oh cage fighting is dog fighting and blah blah but when your org does the same you run like a mother fucka ha ha.

Ummm Phil Davis top 10 dude.

Chandler vs Thomson is the perfect Title Eliminator bout.
And just a good fight.

Heart says Thomson, brain says Chandler.

Offense_Wins_Fights wrote:Chandler vs Thomson is the perfect Title Eliminator bout.
And just a good fight.  

Heart says Thomson, brain says Chandler.

I agree with all this.