Din Thomas: “Fighting Ricardo Mayorga Will Probably Be The Easiest Fight I’ve Had In 5 Years”

UFC Vet Din Thomas pre-fight interview for upcoming fight with Boxing Vet Ricardo Mayorga.  Shine Fights presents Worlds Collide: ‘Mayorga vs. Thomas’ on Saturday, May 15th, Live on PPV.

Ricardo Mayorga Predicts First Round KO Against Former UFC Vet Din Thomas On May 15

Din Thomas Plans On Standing And Picking Ricardo Mayorga Apart

The former UFC lightweight contender Din Thomas is  excited to have the opportunity to stand up against a former Boxing legend Ricardo ‘the Madman from Managua’ on May 15th.  Their bout was recently organized by Shine Fight Promotions as part of a pay-per-view event in North Carolina.

Thomas respects the always dangerous Mayorga, but he strongly feels that he’ll have the edge when it comes to mixed martial arts experience.  He plans to stand up with ‘the Matador’ if he has to, but the main difference in this fight as that he’ll be able to mix it up with not just punches but also with kicks and possibly takedowns.

From Din Thomas:

“I’ve already signed with (Shine Fights)…I’m already studying his (Ricardo Mayorga’s) films, studying what he does, and I’m already training for him. I’m just telling everybody it’s going to happen so hopefully he doesn’t back out and definitely steps up.  I wouldn’t stand and bang with Steve Urkel, that’s just not my style…I pick people apart. To say that I won’t stand with him is crazy because I will stand with him, but to stand and bang with him is even crazier than that, because I don’t stand and bang with anybody. I’m going to stand and pick him apart…If I’m going to go in there and stand with him, at least give me the option to kick.  I’m definitely going to be kicking and kneeing and elbowing him. I mean, welcome to MMA, I’m sorry. If he wanted to box we would have put on eight ounce gloves and boxed, but this is MMA so everybody wants me stand with him, at least give me the option to kick him and I’m going to…That’s what makes this fight so compelling because we’re both crazy…This fight, if it happens, it will be a little bit heavier, probably some where between 55 and 70. I fought as high as 70 before, so I don’t really care about that.  You’re going to see a lot of different things in that fight. I mean, that’s just a dream-come-true matchup for me.”

Boxing Legend Ricardo Mayorga Ready To Destroy Din Thomas In MMA Fight On May 15

On May 15th, boxing legend Ricardo ‘The Madman  Mayorga will officially make his mixed martial arts debut against UFC veteran Din Thomas.  Shine Fight promotions presents an MMA pay-per-view event scheduled for May 15, 2010 in the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

From ‘El Matador’ Ricardo Mayorga:

“I conquered the world in the boxing ring all the while I was puffing cigarettes and drinking beer. I won three world title belts and I stood toe-to-toe with so many legends, beating some of them. Vernon Forrest, God rest his soul, was a great boxer yet I beat him back twice. I cannot be denied as I am a force of nature. Now I will shock the MMA fans and I know so many of my fans from boxing will follow me as I expand my repertoire. They can’t deny me in MMA and I will destroy Din Thomas. I am going to smash him the way I smashed all the big superstars of boxing. To me, a fight is a fight in a ring, in a cage or on the street. Fighting is my middle name.”

Din Thomas Plans On Moving Down To 145 Pounds

Din Thomas is thinking of a possible drop in weight class after recently losing to Josh Neer at the UFC Fight Night 13 event. 

Thomas has now lost 2 fights in a row and he still feels that he is one of the best UFC fighters in the lightweight division.  Either way, Thomas wants to try out something different as he is now considering dropping from 155 lbs to 145 lbs.

Here’s a snip from the Florida native as he talks about his previous fight with Josh Neer:

“For me, I try to be realistic about a fight…While I felt that it was close, I actually felt I was losing the fight.
I was pretty comfortable on the bottom. My game has always been to look
for the submission from the bottom and if they give me enough space,
get up. But if they don’t give me enough space, I can stay on my back
all day and hope to catch something…Truth is that I was in pretty good shape for the fight…Fatigue wasn’t the biggest factor for me in the fight. I was in a war.
After checking so many leg kicks, the impact of them did a number on me
to where I couldn’t stand up. Most fights you don’t feel the pain until
after the fight is over. This is one fight I can honestly say that I
physically felt pain and affected me. Josh fought a good fight. No big
deal. The earth still spins and I’ll move on"

Regarding his future plans of moving down to 145:

“The UFC’s lightweight division is the most complex division in the world…There’s like four different roads to a title shot going on right now
and within any of the roads, no one can afford to lose. While I know I
can win against any lightweight in the world on a given day, I fell
twice in a row. Therefore, I’m going to bow out. Good luck to those
guys. I’m going to drop down to 145 lbs and see if those guys down
there will embrace me.”

He’ll be a great fighter no matter what division he decides to pursue.  His MMA record stands at an impressive 22-8-0 record and he is only 31 years old.  There’s still a lot out there for him to accomplish, so we’d like to wish Din Thomas the best of luck on his future decisions.

Charges against Din Thomas are dropped

Din Thomas had all of his charges dropped!!!

Din Thomas was arrested on October 19 of this year by Florida police officers after having a
non-licensed mixed martial arts event held in Port St. Lucie.  According
to the police report, Thomas promoted a small event, where he charged fans a
$10 USD entrance fee and sold raffle tickets within the venue. 

The event consisted of 7 fights and all fights were regulated by one referee
using all MMA rules.  A warrant was issued by officer Brian Kenny to
arrest Thomas for the non-licensed event.   Prior to his arrest,
Thomas had pointed out that the event was made to help out his student fighters
gain experience and raise money.

Thomas was told that the case would be dropped due to the fact that Thomas’ goal of the event only involved his student fighters and the money charged at the entrance would strictly be used only for raffles.  Thomas was in danger of receiving 5 years in prison, but he can now forget about this whole mess and continue training for the UFC at the lightweight level. 

Here’s Din Thomas’ explanation:

“Three (police) cars rolled up, and two of them came up on bikes…They stuck around for the duration of the event…In my eyes, if they thought we were doing something wrong, they could have told us right there…At the event, there was actually another police officer from another
department trying to explain all the rules and that it was a legit event…We were willing to fight (the charges accused on Thomas) it to the end…I’m rehabbing and just returned to training this week…I’m hoping to return (to the octagon) sometime during the first quarter of ‘08."

UFN 11: Re-Airs on Spike TV

The UFC Fight Night 11 that was aired last Wednesday night (September 19) on Spike TV was one of the best Fight Night events  in a long time. 

The event included the fight between Kenny Florian and Din Thomas, the battle of the Lightweights! 

If you didn’t get a chance to watch UFN 11 or if you would like to see it again, Spike TV will be re-airing the entire event tomorrow (Friday night-September 28) at 9pm ET. 

The UFN 11 Fight Card looked like this:

Main Fight
Card:

Kenny Florian Vs. Din Thomas

Chris Leben Vs. Terry Martin

Nathan Diaz vs. Junior Assuncao

Nate Quarry Vs. Pete Sell

Preliminary Fight
Card:

Edilberto Crocota de Oliveira Vs. Luke Cummo

Leonard Garcia Vs. Cole Miller

Gray Maynard Vs. Joe Veres

Kuniyoshi Hironaka Vs. Thiago Alves

Dustin Hazelett Vs. Jonathan  Goulet

For more information on this event:
Betting Odds
Results (Do NOT click here if you haven’t seen the event-**Spoilers**)