Thomson: "It's time to fuckin' fight!"

“It’s time to fuckin’ fight,” “Punk” Josh Thomson (14-2) told Fighters.com.

Thompson will challenge friend and former training partner “El Niño” Gilbert Melendez (14-1) for the Strikeforce lightweight title Friday in San Jose.

“There are no mind games,”  Thompson assured.  “Why bother [even watching video of Melendez]?  I’ve had first-hand experience.”

Like Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le (6-0) versus “Legend” Frank Shamrock (23-9-2), this Bay Area match-up was inevitable.

Unlike Le versus Shamrock, Thompson and Melendez respect each other.

Melendez told 15 Rounds last week, “Thomson is one of the pioneers for the 155-pound weight class. In my opinion, he is in the top ten.  I know he’s going to be a tough opponent. He’s very well rounded.  It will make for a very exciting fight for the fans and for myself.”

Thompson was more specific to Fighters.com, “I know [Melendez] likes to shoot, has a good right hand, a good left hook.”

Thompson trains at San Jose’s American Kickboxing Academy, home to Fighters.com’s top welterweight contender Jon Fitch (17-2), fourth-ranked “Kos” Josh Koscheck (10-2), heavyweight “Head Hunter” Paul Buentello (25-10), and Le.

“When it was just me and Paul Buentello.  Paul made a run for the title and I made a run.  We were a lot more arrogant,” Thomson admitted.  “Now, with Koscheck and Fitch in camp, all of that is put away.  We’re just here to work.”

Melendez would frequent AKA for the quality lightweight sparring, ironically, primarily to roll with Thomson.

Melendez told 15 Rounds, “I am training with the Diaz brothers – Nick and Nate.  I train with my worst nightmare Jake Shields all the time.  We’re going to do some rounds tomorrow.  It gets a little discouraging going in there with Jake and a few other guys, but once I get in the cage and lock up, it never feels the same.  I am pushing myself and my body to the limit.  I know that for a fact.”

Thomson also trains with world-class welters.

“Training with Fitch and Koscheck can be bad because they big brother me, hold me down, and I get used to running through my submissions and not improving position, getting up off my back.  I’m working with Justin Wilcox and bringing in Frank Edgar and Eddie Alvarez.  There are some other guys who’ve agreed to come in.  I just have to get them here.”

Thomson is proud of helping to prepare teammate Le for his victory over Thomson’s nemesis, Shamrock, “I enjoyed it, knowing I helped Cung with a game plan to take Frank’s ego down a notch.  Frank will still have a huge ego.  He was born with it.”

Thomson has also called Melendez’s new sparring partner, Nick Diaz (17-7), “mean for no reason.”  He said, “I just don’t understand him.  I was with his brother at a grappling tournament and he was real nice to me.  Then, I’ll see him walking down a hall and he’ll stare you down, like he wants to scrap in the ring, in the streets.  Wherever.”

The showdown between top lightweights for the Strikeforce title will finally pop off Friday night in San Jose.