Nick Thompson, a former Wisconsin resident, successfully defended his BodogFight Welterweight Title two weeks ago with a rear naked choke victory in the first round over John Troyer. It was the final fight on his contract with BodogFight and it was speculated that Thompson was in search for greener pastures and better opponents.
BodogFight had restructured their organization in the last twelve months since the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Lindland bout in April of 2007. They held one more pay-per-view in New Jersey last July that was largely unsuccessful despite having a well-rounded cast of experienced and recognizable fighters. They began to stop doing their own events and lost their TV deal with Ion. Next they would begin to sponsor small events and loan their talent out to these small organizations. After that it was all downhill, most of the top talent the organization had so carefully gathered to stock it’s divisions began to leave including Chael Sonnen, Eddie Alavarez, and now Nick Thompson.
It was rumored that Thompson was going to sign with new upstart World Victory Road as I stated in my previous Nick Thompson article. Thompson has indeed signed with WVR and will be fighting on March 5, 2008 in Tokyo, Japan. This is only one month since his last bout.
Nick Thompson who sports a (34-9-1) record according to Sherdog has 10 straight wins and not a single bout has gone to the judges. In addition, he has won 18 of his 19 bouts which date back to 2005. His only stumbling block was a fight to Karo Parisyan at UFC 59 in April of 2006.
Thompson will take on Fabricio “Pitbull” Monteiro who is (16-6) according to Sherdog in his next bout. Monteiro is Brazilan fighter who is part of the Gracie Barra Combat Team. He is currently riding a two-fight losing streak although he was riding five straight wins prior to that. He has fought in Japan and Brazil in notable organizations such as Deep and Shooto.
World Victory Road
This will be the first card for World Victory Road and they have signed some serious talent that has been on the shelf for a long time since the UFC ruined Pride. The biggest names include Takanori Gomi, Josh Barnett, Hidehiko Yoshida, Kazuyuki Fujita, Kazuo Misaki, Duane Ludwig and others. That is enough classic names to make any Pride fan happy and WVR is set to take on new upstart Dreams which is a collaborative effort between K-1 Hero’s and former Pride management DSE. Rumors are floating that Kevin “The Monster” Randleman is also signed to the organization.
The card according to MMA Weekly thus far:
World Victory Road: SengokuNational Yoyogi Stadium
Tokyo, Japan
03/05/2008
Takanori Gomi vs. Duane "Bang" Ludwig
Kazuo Misaki vs. Siyar Bahadurzada
Josh Barnett vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Nick Thompson vs. Fabricio Monteiro
Makoto Takimoto vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos
Ryo Kawamura vs. Antonio Braga Neto
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. TBA
Stay tuned to Wisconsin Combat Sports for all news related to Nick “The Goat” Thompson. Previous news is located below:
Nick “The Goat” Thompson Successfully Defends His Title, Will He Vacate It?
Nick “The Goat” Thompson to Defend His BodogFight Title
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