Thomson vs. ‘JZ’ Official for Oct. 9 Strikeforce
Sherdog.com Staff Sep 10, 2010
Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson
will fight Gesias "JZ"
Cavalcante on the Oct. 9 Strikeforce card at the HP Pavilion in
San Jose, Calif., the promotion announced Friday.
“Fans expect me to fight guys the caliber of JZ and so do I,” Thomson said in a news release. “I want to fight all the best lightweights. Right now Strikeforce has a bunch of top fighters at 155 pounds. There’s always going to be talk about a third fight with Gilbert (Melendez), but that will come when the time is right.
“In the meantime, I need to keep taking it one fight at a time and
I need to continue to win. There are plenty of great fights out
there for me, and this is definitely one of them.”
Thomson defeated Gilbert Melendez to claim the Strikeforce lightweight title in June 2008. However, Melendez won the rematch last December. Thomson then rebounded with a submission victory over Pat Healy in June.
Like Thomson, Cavalcante is a former top 10-ranked lightweight who maintains the potential to climb the ranks again. The Brazilian twice won K-1 Hero’s lightweight tournaments. He suffered consecutive losses to Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri before outpointing Katsunori Kikuno in July.
“I train very hard against very good guys every day,” said Cavalcante, whose win over Kikuno was his first fight in more than 13 months. “I think I could have performed better in my last fight, but it was my first in a long time and ring rust was a factor. But, now, I feel great and I’m excited to be able to get back to doing what I love to do.”
In addition to Thomson-Cavalcante, the Oct. 9 card will feature a rematch between Nick Diaz and K.J. Noons as well as a title defense for Sarah Kaufman against Marloes Coenen and a middleweight matchup between Luke Rockhold and Matt Lindland. The event will air live on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast.
“Fans expect me to fight guys the caliber of JZ and so do I,” Thomson said in a news release. “I want to fight all the best lightweights. Right now Strikeforce has a bunch of top fighters at 155 pounds. There’s always going to be talk about a third fight with Gilbert (Melendez), but that will come when the time is right.
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Thomson defeated Gilbert Melendez to claim the Strikeforce lightweight title in June 2008. However, Melendez won the rematch last December. Thomson then rebounded with a submission victory over Pat Healy in June.
Like Thomson, Cavalcante is a former top 10-ranked lightweight who maintains the potential to climb the ranks again. The Brazilian twice won K-1 Hero’s lightweight tournaments. He suffered consecutive losses to Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri before outpointing Katsunori Kikuno in July.
“I train very hard against very good guys every day,” said Cavalcante, whose win over Kikuno was his first fight in more than 13 months. “I think I could have performed better in my last fight, but it was my first in a long time and ring rust was a factor. But, now, I feel great and I’m excited to be able to get back to doing what I love to do.”
In addition to Thomson-Cavalcante, the Oct. 9 card will feature a rematch between Nick Diaz and K.J. Noons as well as a title defense for Sarah Kaufman against Marloes Coenen and a middleweight matchup between Luke Rockhold and Matt Lindland. The event will air live on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast.
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