Well, There Goes Josh Thompson…And Here Comes Mitsuhiro Ishida

(For the last time, if I agree to make you guys pancakes as soon as we get home will you get in the damn car?  The cops will be here any minute.)

Despite his grim determination to fight on through injuries come hell or excruciating pain, Josh Thompson has been forced yet again to withdraw from his Strikeforce lightweight title defense against Gilbert Melendez, the organization announced via a press release this afternoon.  Thompson was not medically cleared to fight, suggesting that at least there are some doctors willing to look out for his health even if he’s too damn gutsy to take it into consideration.  Now Mitsuhiro Ishida will step in to face Melendez for the Strikeforce interim lightweight title instead.  

You might recall that Melendez dropped a decision to Ishida for the first loss of his career on the New Year’s Eve Yarrenoka show in 2007, though since then Ishida’s gone 3-2 and is coming off a TKO loss to Mizuta Hirota in a May Shooto event.  At least this means that Strikeforce still has a lightweight title fight – sort of – and they won’t be forced to scratch Melendez from the card entirely.

As for Thompson, he’s said to have reinjured his problematic toe during training, and if you’re thinking that sounds like a sissy injury to go out on, let me tell you that while on assignment for Fight! Magazine earlier this month I had a chance to watch Thompson spar at AKA.  The guy had to stop several times because he was in such debilitating pain, but each time he insisted on continuing.  Just watching him crumple to the mat over and over again made me want to retire from pro fighting, and I’d never even considered taking it up.

He’s a tough son of a bitch, is what I’m saying, and was willing to fight through it if he could have gotten cleared.  I’m thinking it’s probably for the best that he wasn’t.  

Word has it that Takanori Gomi was offered the fight against Melendez but turned it down due to the relatively short notice, even though he was already set to fight on the Affliction event this Saturday and so should have presumably been in fight shape.  Doesn’t he know that jumping in to this Strikeforce event is what all the cool kids from Affliction: Trilogy are doing?