Josh Thomson

By FCF Staff

After going through 2018 and 2019 without competing, former Strikeforce lightweight champ Josh Thomson has announced he’s retiring from fighting.

Thomson, who has not fought since 2017 when he was KO’d by Patricky “Pitbull”, recently announced his retirement on the Weighing In podcast (quote via MMA Fighting):

“I can say that I’m officially retired,” Thomson said. “I can finally say it. And the thing is that you have to say it sometimes just to say what you just said, because I realized I was taking more shots than I should have been taking. And I don’t want to live that lifestyle, I didn’t want to be in there as a punching bag to anybody. I was taking more in training – that’s the thing, people only see the ones you take in the fight. They don’t realize that you’re taking more in training too, because there’s young, talented studs in my gym. And those guys are whooping your ass too; it’s not just the one guy in the cage that you’re fighting. It’s the lead-up to it. It’s all the other shots you take in there.

“That’s the hardest part, and so when you’re telling me all the things that [Donald Cerrone] went through, that’s exactly what happened, and I could see myself getting hit more often than I wanted to.”

The 41-year-old Thomson retires from pro MMA having gone 22-9, with 1 no-contest. “The Punk” made his pro debut back in 2001 and Thomson won Strikeforce’s lightweight title in 2008.