Warren Thompson and Robert Thomas share similar surnames and similar backstories in GLORY, both of them having suffered a run of bad losses in their early tenure due to their willingness to take any fight they were offered. Thomas had probably the hardest debut any fighter has ever had for GLORY, stepping in on short notice to face Artem ‘The Lion’ Levin. Two fights later he found himself matched with then-#1 contender Joe Schilling. He gave a good account of himself but against lost a decision. Thompson came in to GLORY as a light-heavyweight and suffered some bad losses after taking fights on short notice. He long wanted to drop to his more natural middleweight and when he did so earlier this year he beat Mike Lemaire at GLORY 37. Ahead of this scrap both fighters appeared rejuvenated and reenergized, hungry to get the win here and step forwards in the rankings. Their pre-fight interviews during fight week produced some hilarious back-and-forth as they went to no-holds-barred verbal war on one another. That could have carried through and made the first round a bar fight, but actually both fighters seemed determined to prove that they were technically superior to the other. It made for a good contest, with the pair digging into their repertoire of for setups, tricks and counter-attacking. Thomas had disparaged Thompson’s boxing skills before the fight while Thompson had laughed off the three of the Canadian’s head kick. As it happened, both were wrong. Thompson’ hands were sharp and Thomas was able to land his trademark right head kick thirty seconds before the end of the first, though Thompson merely shrugged in response. As it turned out, it wasn’t Thomas’ head kick which would prove to be his most dangerous weapon. A close first and second round led into a third and final frame in which Thompson appeared to be slowing while Thomas was turning things up. Thomas’ corner told him that he needed to score a knockdown in the third round as they believed him to be two rounds down on the scorecards (this was later confirmed by the head judge after the fight). Thomas answered the call in style, pressuring Thompson towards the ropes and making him cover up before unleashing a huge right uppercut which lifted Thompson’s head into the path of a follow-on overhand right. The uppercut alone would probably have caused Thompson to take a count, but the overhand made a count unnecessary. Thompson was out before he hit the canvas, the knockout so emphatic that it took an anxious minute or two for him to regain his senses enough to climb back to his feet. Who’s next for Rob Thomas? If it’s up to him, it will be UFC veteran Chris Camozzi. Thomas used his post-fight interview to say that he wants to welcome Camozzi to GLORY and he wants to do it in December in New York. Rob Thomas def. Warren THompson, KO, R3 2:36
