Warren 'The Destroyer' Thompson (14-8-1, 3 KO's) made his middleweight debut at GLORY 37 LOS ANGELES with a win over Mike Lemaire (18-4, 8 KO's) on the Superfight Series card.
The win snapped his light-heavyweight losing streak and was also his first win in the organization. Thompson says that his past losses often stemmed from taking fights on short notice and that now he is in his optimal weight category, he is looking to go on a title run.
“I needed the win,” he says. “I knew that no matter that he threw at me and how tough it was I had to keep marching forward and give it all I got and try and finish him. I didn't finish him but I did hurt him.
“I feel good about the win. It was a very close fight. I hurt him round one I could see it in his eyes but I kinda gassed a bit trying to finish him. I said before I wasn't going to be happy unless I finished him, so that's something I have to work on.”
After the fight, Thompson revealed that he had to surmount difficulties in his training camp after suffering a potentially debilitating injury. He made it to fight night but the effects of the injury meant he completely had to change his gameplan.
“I had a knee injury three weeks out from the fight so I couldn't kick a lot. We said we're going to win this fight with punches and aggression. The gameplan was to throw the uppercut and the hook followed by the right hand. That worked several times during the fight.
“We were doing a lot of body work in the clinch, a little dirty boxing. I just kept pushing the pace and coming forward. I felt that gave me the win. I know it was a close fight but if you looked at his face and looked at mine, I'm still pretty, he was all bloodied up. It's damage man. He took damage and I didn't.”
Now with a successful debut in the books and finally in the weight class he considers to be his rightful home, Thompson makes no bones about his aspirations. Middleweight champion Jason Wilnis headlined GLORY 37 with a win over Israel Adesanya and Thompson was paying close attention.
“I want that belt. Obviously Jason and Israel are on my radar, they are the best in the world right now, but I need to pick off a few more Americans I think to get there [to those kind of matches],” he says.
“The only guy I don't want to fight is Wayne [Barrett, training partner and GLORY middleweight], he is like a brother to me. But everybody else on the list, I am coming for them and I am either knocking them out or they are knocking me out.”
GLORY's next event takes place Friday, February 24 at the Sears Centre, Hoffman Estates in Chicago, Illinois.
GLORY 38 CHICAGO is headlined by a light-heavyweight championship rubber match between current champion Artem Vakhitov and former champion Saulo Cavalari. In the Superfight Series headliner, Benjamin Adegbuyi faces off with Anderson 'Braddock' Silva in a heavyweight battle.
