The Superfight Series opener between Mancha and Thompson started slowly, but by the end was the toe-to-toe slugfest it promised to be on paper.
Thompson, making his first GLORY appearance since ## and riding a losing streak, was very tentative in the beginning. He spent most of the first round backing up, onto the ropes and into corners, allowing Mancha to control the ring and look dominant.
Despite this, Thompson probably landed the two best shots of the round. Mancha's output was much higher but landing almost entirely on Thompson's guard, whereas found two clear blows ā one of them a head kick - which went Mancha's guard and had visible effect.
Once the first round was out of the way Thompson loosened up more and the fight developed into a scrap, though he still spent too much time moving backwards in the second round and allowed Mancha the appearance of dominance, even if much of the Californian's output still wasn't getting through cleanly.
Those of Mancha's shots which did get through the guard looked heavy. His stiff left hand rocked Thompson's head back more than once and these shots probably won him the round. Under fire Thompson reverted more to his brawling mode and opened the fight up more. It allowed him to land a couple of nice counters, taking advantage of Mancha's habit of dropping his hands after landing.
Mancha looked a little tired in the third and final round but did some good work, landing some great left knees to the body which looked like they hurt Thompson. He did eat some more counters from Thompson and there were some great, if wild, exchanges. Thompson gave a good account of himself in the third but not enough to win the round.
A decision win for Mancha seemed obvious as the fight went to the scorecards and so it proved to be, a unanimous decision for him by way of scores of 29-28 on all three judges' cards. He now goes 2-0 in GLORY while Thompson, who does not train full-time, is yet to find a win. Thompson hit the scales four pounds under the light-heavyweight limit and would probably be better suited boiling down to middleweight.
