Thomson Plans on Forcing Mistakes from Healy, Wants JZ, Kawajiri

Josh Thomson knows he shouldn’t go in looking for the knockout Saturday against Pat Healy, but he also knows he shouldn’t let Healy stay in the fight too long.

“Every second I don't put him away, there's a potential of him putting me away,” Thomson said recently on the Sherdog Radio Network's Beatdown show. “He'll grind on you and he'll wear on you and he's a tough kid, man. He's super tough. He's got some skills. I feel like I'm better than him in all areas, but I definitely can't let him linger around. If I let him linger around, it could be a loss coming out.”

Thomson and Healy square off in a lightweight bout on the main card of Strikeforce/M-1 Global “Fedor vs. Werdum” at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The match is Thomson’s first since losing his Strikeforce lightweight title to Gilbert Melendez last December. Healy has won three straight dating back to October 2009. His grinding style is one Thomson is familiar with: The American Kickboxing Academy-trained fighter said he used a similar approach himself in the Melendez rematch.

“The first time I fought Gilbert, I considered myself more of a technician trying to side step (and) move,” Thomson said. “The second time I wanted to push the pace because he was training at a slower pace. I saw the way he had fought before. I didn't think his conditioning was going to be like it had been before when he was constantly pushing on people. With the way he had been fighting lately, it was going to be stay in the center of the ring and not use a lot of energy, so I knew he trained that way. When you train that way, you really don't get a chance to get pushed a lot in training. I was hoping to push him and push him and push him and get him to tire out. I was trying to consider myself a grinder in that fight, and it cost me.”

Healy is a different opponent, however. Even though he’s a veteran, Thomson believes he can impose a style that will force Healy to make mistakes.

“He'll start giving me things that he won't realize by putting the pressure on him and really never letting him settle in,” Thomson said. “That's really what I'm looking to do. I'm not looking to let him set his feet and be comfortable with me. I'm looking to take advantage and make him work. I'm not going to let him establish what he wants.”

The bout will be Thomson's first this year. He also fought only once in 2009 thanks in large part to a slew of injuries. Those were the result of going 100 percent all the time in training, Thomson explained, against world-class teammates who outweighed him like Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick. Now for an older Thomson, it's just as important to train smart as it is to train hard.

“I'm learning a really good camp is sitting back and if I'm really beat today, I'm going to take the day off,” he said. “I'd just do bag work instead of sparring hard and grappling. … I would cut it back to basically a third of what it would be. I think that's why I was able to get through this camp so well. … I was able to work on some new things on mitt work and on some new things with my coaches because you're not so tired. Before I'd have Javier Mendez holding mitts for me, and after 15 minutes he'd say, ‘You're shot, just go home.’ You have no snap in your punch, no bounce in your step. You have no power when you throw the jab or the right hand.”

With a revitalized training regimen at AKA and a clean bill of health, Thomson is looking toward top-notch competition after the Healy fight.

“These fans have been waiting for me and Gilbert to fight JZ (Cavalcante), to fight KJ Noons, to fight Kawajiri, and they've been waiting for me to fight these fights for the longest time,” Thomson said. “I'm looking forward to that. JZ signed with Strikeforce. KJ has been with Strikeforce. I'm just sitting here just waiting. Hopefully after this next fight I come out on top and then we move on to the next step. Everyone keeps talking about the next match and the trilogy with Gil, but honestly I want to take a break from training for Gil. I think Gil wants to take a break from training for me. I've got other fish to fry. I've got other people I'd like to fight, and so that's where I'm at right now.”