Thompson tops Daley

Nick "The Goat" Thompson used his superior ground skills to earn a hard fought victory over Paul "Semtex" Daley at MFC 20.

Thompson used effective counter-punching throughout the fight and when the fight moved to the ground Daley could do nothing to stop the attack.

Two judges scored the fight 29-28 for Thompson and the third had it 30-27.

The only moment where Daley did any damage was late into the second round when an over-hand right hit Thompson in the back of the head. A stunned Thompson fell to the mat, but Daley was unable to finish the fight. For Daley, it was enough to win the round on two judges scorecards, but not the fight.

Thompson, who just passed the bar exam, improved his record to 38-10-1. Daley fell to 19-8-2.

Nick Thompson Talks MFC, Paul Daley

From http://www.maximumfighting.com
By: Keith Mills - Feb 19, 2009

UFC vet Nick Thompson has made huge sacrifices fighting while working his way through law school but the rewards have been worth it. Having recently passed the bar exam and going about as far as he could fighting in Russia, Costa Rica, and Japan one might think it is time to hang up the gloves to settle down with his wife. Not the case for Nick as he travels to Alberta this weekend to fight fellow EliteXC vet Paul Daley in MFC live on HDNet.

KM: How did you get involved with MFC?

NT: (Derrick) Noble was there first. He is my teammate. Mark treated him
well so I was interested in fighting there. When EliteXC folded I was
talking about fighting Alessio but they signed Daley for that fight. Daley
is somebody I'd love to fight; he is the number one striker in my weight
class. There is Thiago Alves but I think I'd give it to Daley in just
striking. Once I knew they had Daley I called Mark about this show about
being on this card.

KM: Strikeforce picked up many of the old EliteXC contracts and the rest
seemed to go to KOTC. What is your contract situation with all that?

NT: I still have fights left on that deal but non-exclusive. Until they tell
me otherwise I'm not fighting for them. If they call me up and tell me they
have a fight for me, great. Until I hear from them I'm assuming they are
done. I just had an attorney look at the contract. The days of just signing
your name and trusting the promoter have come and gone. I have people
looking over every contract I do.

KM: Where are you in your law school degree?

NT: I'm all done. I took the bar two days after I fought Jake Shields and
passed.

KM: Is this an area of law you are interested in getting in?

NT: Very much so. In fact I talked to people who represent Brock Lesnar
among others about possibly doing work for them.

KM: To what degree are you concentrating on being a fighter as opposed to
being a lawyer?

NT: I've only interviewed for a job but am fully open to possibilities, even
going so far as to hang up fighting and just doing law. Something in-between
is great but I sacrifice a lot in order to fight and it would be nice to go
to a buffet with my wife. It would be nice for the fighters to have somebody
who has been in their shoes and knows what they are dealing with as well as
know the law.

KM: What do you think about fighting Paul Daley?

NT: I'm really excited. As I said I think he is the number one striker at
170 pounds. The only reason to fight is to test yourself against the best
guys. I fought the best jiu-jitsu guy in the weight class Jake Shields and
now fighting the best striker. I'm excited.

KM: How is preparation for this fight different than for Eddie Alvarez?

NT: I don't know if it is a whole lot different. I have to be a little more
wary of his kicks as his kicks are a little more dangerous than Eddie's but
it is going to be the same kind of fight where I need to be ready to use
good footwork to stay away because if you stay in range he can knock you
out.

KM: Do you anticipate this fight going to the ground?

NT: I hope it goes to the ground. I feel I have an edge there. Paul may not
be a real great wrestler when you have the striking ability he has it
doesn't open up the takedowns because you have to worry about defending the
strikes. He took down John Alessio so there is the possibility he might be
taking me down.

KM: What did you think of his fight against Jake Shields?

NT: I thought he had a really good gameplan. I think he knew Jake was better
than him on the ground and rather than make a mistake where I did trying to
out-jiu-jitsu Jake he just said 'fine, you are on top of me and you are
going to hit me a little bit but eventually the ref is going to stand us
back up and I'm going to have another change to knock you out'. I think it
was a great strategy that didn't work for him but a good idea. It showed he
is a very smart fighter.

KM: That is the first time Jake looked bad.

NT: He realized Jake is not a real active fighter on top. He waits for the
bottom guy to move and then submits them just like he did with me.

KM: Tell us about your fight with Jake.

NT: I'm still disappointed. It is heartbreaking anytime you put that much
work into getting ready for a fight and then not only lose but lose in a
minute on national television. I know I'm a much better fighter than that.
That being said I think it is what MMA is all about. I overestimated my
jiu-jitsu ability; Jake saw me make a mistake and capitalized. It was an
excellent gameplan by him and what jiu-jitsu and fighting and MMA in general
is all about. It was a mistake he saw me do on tape. I didn't know better at
the time and Jake knew better and exploited it. We have been working hard at
the gym and it is not going to happen ever again.

KM: Since then you picked up a win over Travis McCullough in Madtown
Throwdown. Tell us about that fight.

NT: Not a huge deal. He is a forty-fight veteran and more than anything I
wanted to get back in the ring and knock off some rust before I fight
someone like Daley, more than anything a preparation for Daley. I took him
down and ground-and-pounded him. He tapped out to punches.

KM: At Extreme Challenge in New Jersey you were cornering Nat McIntyre. Any
sense of distraction that you were there during your own training cycle?

NT: No. Nat is our striking coach, one of the best American Muay Thai
strikers. Being out there with him was exactly what I needed, like I would
hold pads for him. It was a little bit of role reversal but we are pretty
good about coaching each other in the gym.

KM: How have you changed since your fight in EliteXC?

NT: Nothing really changed, just improved.

KM: Anything else to get across to the fans?

NT: I just want to get back to my winning ways. Losing sucks.

KM: Brock Larson from your team and weight class is fighting in the UFC. How
has he helped prepare you for Daley?

NT: We are always training together. Everybody at the gym helps each other.

KM: How would you describe Brock Lesnar's training at this time?

NT: I've really been impressed with Brock since the day he came in. There is
always the size people talk about but what really impressed me is he is
willing to learn. He came in like a black slate saying 'teach me'. When you
get somebody that athletic and then has that attitude they are unstoppable.
I think if you want to complain about him getting a title shot that is a
fair complaint because he was 1-1 at that point but at the point he beat
Randy Couture he obviously deserves to be there.

KM: What is your opinion of Derrick Noble vs. Antonio McKee on this same
card?

NT: Well I hope it isn't boring because if it is boring it means McKee won.
Derrick and McKee are definitely top-level guys. McKee is just really
boring. You want to win on the one hand but still want to make it exciting
and doing that against McKee is going to be tough. Noble can knock you out
so easily with one punch and with McKee it looks like Derrick is going to
get at least five chances to do that.

KM: Sponsors to thank?

NT: Tapout, Gamma-O, MMA Warehouse, and Calio Shoes

Thompson wins in Madison

Nick "The Goat" Thompson made his return to the Madtown Throwdown promotion last night and came away with an easy 1st round victory. Thompson faced fellow Minnesota fighter Travis McCullough and won by submission due to strikes at 2:38 of the first round.

After taking the fight to the ground, Thompson tried to end the fight with a submission. Thompson eventually took the back of McCullough and forced the tapout with several strikes to the head.

Madtown Throwdown 18. You can watch the Thompson fight here around the 1 hour, 58 minute mark of the video.
Free video streaming by Ustream
Thompson will now put his focus on his next fight, which will be against one of the top welterweights in the world in Paul "Semtex" Daley. They will face off at MFC 20 on February 20 in Edmonton, Alberta. The event will be broadcast live on HDNet.

Morgan to face Ludwig

Welterweight Sammy Morgan, a member of Team Bison, will be competing on the upcoming Strikeforce show, Payback, on October 3 in Denver against Duane "Bang" Ludwig. Morgan (19-11; 4 KO/13 submissions) will be trying to snap a 3-fight losing streak. Since signing a contract to fight for EliteXC, Morgan has faced Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le (6-0), top contender Paul Daley (18-6-2), who will fight for the EliteXC Welterweight Championship the next night on CBS, and most recently Fabricio Camoes (9-4), who is seen as a top contender in the EliteXC Lightweight division.

Ludwig (16-8; 9 KO/5 submissions) has been waiting for this rematch with Morgan since their first fight in April of 2005. Fighting on the Ring Of Fire 16 show, Morgan defeated Ludwig by knockout just 52 seconds after the opening bell. Ludwig will be fighting again for the first time since losing by TKO to Takanori Gomi at Sengoku 1 in March. That fight was stopped less than three minutes into the fight due to a nasty cut suffered by Ludwig.

Strikeforce 'Payback' can be seen live on Friday, October 3 on HDNet at 9 PM.

Morgan falls to Cage Rage champ

Sam Morgan lost his EliteXC debut on the ShoXC show on Friday to Paul Daley. Daley (17-6-2), the Cage Rage welterweight champion, connected with a brutal elbow in the clinch that dropped Morgan (19-10) and ended the fight at 2:12 of the first round. The fight was broadcast live on Showtime.

Morgan stated earlier in the week on Sherdog Radio that he had signed a six fight deal with EliteXC.

Morgan to fight on Showtime

EliteXC has announced that Paul Daley will take on Minneapolis fighter Sam Morgan in the co-main event of the upcoming ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series event in Atlantic City, New Jersey on January 25th.

Daley (16-6-2), the Cage Rage welterweight champion, is currently riding a four-fight winning streak. Morgan (19-9) has won three of his last five fights. His last fight was a 3rd round TKO loss to Cung Le (5-0) at a Strikeforce event in November.