With his seventh fight coming up next month, Tommy Thompson took a few minutes to talk with me about his upcoming bout in next month’s Ring of Fire…

FF: Here with Tommy Thompson for ROF 40…How’s it going Tommy?

TT: Good.

FF: Have you fought since the Kickdown show?

TT: No. That was December…this will be my first fight this year.

FF: Do you usually have long layoff between fights, or are you a more active fighter?

TT: This one, was actually supposed to be March 18^th. That would still be  a pretty big layoff…a little bit longer than I would have liked, but that’s fine, I’m more prepared.

FF: So how’s training going?

TT: training’s going really good. Nothing new…I mean, getting into the gym five days a week. Just the regular grind for a fight you know…Starting to get where I’m game planning a little bit, and getting to the gym to get some cardio and weight lifting and stuff like that out of the way more.

FF: So what can you tell us about your opponent?

TT: Chad, from what I’ve heard is a good wrestler. I think he’s  a four time state champion. He’s got an 8-0 record, so obviously he’s doing really well so far. I don’t think he’s ever fought anyone who’s going to bring it to him quite like I’m going to. I’ve seen a couple of his fights and I’m sure they were good opponents but weren’t real successful so far, and I feel like I’m really well rounded and Im going to bring him a lot of problems. I don’t think he’s quite ready for it.

FF: You mentioned he’s a wrestler, and you’re from a Jits camp…is the game plan to get it to the ground, or are there surprises?

TT: This is a bad fight for him. I think he’s a good guy and I have a lot of respect for Chad. We have mutual friends, there’s no hard feelings or anything, but he’s been put in a bad fight. If he stands up, he’s in trouble. We’ve got Duke Rufus coming into the gym now, my stand up has gotten…I think, really top level for an amateur. I have a long way to go on it and I don’t know everything but its getting really good for an amateur I think. If he takes me down…I’ve had six fights and I’ve submitted every one of them so far. So I would think he would probably look at that record and think he should not take me down, but if he does then so be it. He’s not going to be able to lay on me for nine minutes and not have the fight end.

FF: Anything you want to say to Chad or anybody else?

TT: I want to tell him to train hard and I think we’re both going to have a tough fight on our hands and this is going to bring out the best in each other. I hope it goes deep into the second or third and we get to show what we’ve got. I would also like to thank my sponsors: Momma Tried Tattoo, M&E Painting, Solecki Chiropractic, Stroker and 970 Fighter. I’m on the lookout for a couple more sponsors also!