Bellator 158: Oli Thompson Finally Gets Big Fight
Bellator 158: Oli Thompson Finally Gets Big Fight
Oli Thompson has been looking for a big fight and he'll get his wish against Matt Mitrione at Bellator 158.
By Chamatkar Sandhu
With all the changes the Bellator 158 has had to undergo, due to circumstances out of their control, it has presented some fighters with an opportunity to not only sign with the Viacom owned promotion but also to fight at the O2 Arena in London, England which will be their landmark debut event in the UK.
This is very much the case for former ‘Britain’s Strongest Man’ and MMA fighter Oli Thompson who has fought for a lot of promotions including KSW, UCMMA, BAMMA and the UFC. Albeit on short notice, he can now add Bellator MMA to his resume when he takes on Matt Mitrione this Saturday.
“When I heard Bellator were coming to London, I said it would be a great company to get involved with at some point,” Thompson said. “At the time I thought I could get on the show and fight someone like Bobby Lashley. It didn’t go any further than that, it was just a discussion. This card looked like it was full and of course there’s been some tragedy, injuries and a mixture of different problems.
"Before the Kimbo tragedy struck we spoke about this possibility and if I’d be interested, even on late notice, to fight and I said yes.”
Thompson has fought all over Europe as well as Japan and is no stranger to events in big arenas and looks forward to fighting in the o2 arena; however the heavyweight realizes none of that matters when the cage door shuts.
“It’s nice to tick another box,” Thompson said. “I’ve fought in some big arenas around the world but the O2 is a new one for me so that’s pretty cool. It’s a venue that hosts a lot of great combat events these days and it’s nice to have my name up there as well. I really enjoyed Tokyo last year three times, had some good trips to Poland. I’ve competed in front of big crowds before but once you’re inside that cage, once that first punch crushes into your face it’s a small world in there and the crowd are a long way away.”
For a fighter who was very active in 2015, notching up a five-fight winning streak, this will mark Thompson’s first fight in 2016 but it hasn’t been for a lack of trying.
“I had another fight booked at the end of January, in Russia against Alexander Volkov but some problems between him and the promotion resulted in that fight not happening,” Thompson said. “So I had to be patient and wait for the right fight. Sometimes a fighter can jump into a fight because he wants to make a little purse but I was fortunate that I wasn’t under that pressure so it enabled me to sit tight and wait for the opportunities.
"More recently the opportunity came up to fight Fedor, which I accepted, and they rejected and soon after that the opportunity came up to fight Vitaly Minikov on the same show which I accepted again and he rejected. So it wasn’t a voluntary lay off but until my terms were met to get me going again I was going to stay on the sideline.”
With a win over Mitrione, Thompson believes it could become the launching pad toward the Bellator heavyweight championship.
“I want to run for the title, there’s no doubt about that,” Thompson said. “Fighting Matt Mitrione, just on sheer status, must be one of the guys in that picture as well and he got a win in his debut. There are two or three really talented heavyweights in the company and I’m one of them.
"He’s a very well known guy, trained with good people and always been in the spotlight. I’ve come up the tough way, learning on the job having some rough times along the way so it’s nice to establish myself with another big win against a credible guy."
Mitrione is coming off a first round knockout win over Carl Seumanutafa at Bellator 157: DYNAMITE 2 which marked his debut for the promotion. Although being knocked down in the fight, Mitrione has since been medically cleared to compete at Bellator 158 which is taking place just three weeks later and Thompson has no qualms with that.
“His performance was short so there wasn’t much time to judge it,” says Thompson. “It was fairly sloppy but at the same time he got caught with one big punch and in the heavyweight division that can happen to anybody. My first concern is just for a man’s health and he’s medically cleared and that’s a relief to me. So he’s medically cleared to fight so I have to trust what the medical officials say so I’m happy for the fight to go ahead. If I thought he wasn’t medically cleared to fight then I would be concerned."
Whether it comes via knockout or submission Thompson is predicting a finish although does admit Mitrione presents a challenge.
“I always visualize a knockout,” says Thompson. “I’ve got lot’s of submissions on my record as well. If the fight hits the mat and his back touches the canvas, I’ll go into automatic mode and break him down. He’s highly predictable in his movement, but that doesn’t make it easy. When a heavyweight is quite light on his feet it’s quite rare.
"It’s not the threat of a one punch knockout, because in the heavyweight division it’s always there with small gloves, but you do have to be careful because if you let him start scoring points it takes two or three minutes, and a few punches here and there and it starts to take a toll on your energy bar.”
With all the changes the Bellator 158 has had to undergo, due to circumstances out of their control, it has presented some fighters with an opportunity to not only sign with the Viacom owned promotion but also to fight at the O2 Arena in London, England which will be their landmark debut event in the UK.
This is very much the case for former ‘Britain’s Strongest Man’ and MMA fighter Oli Thompson who has fought for a lot of promotions including KSW, UCMMA, BAMMA and the UFC. Albeit on short notice, he can now add Bellator MMA to his resume when he takes on Matt Mitrione this Saturday.
“When I heard Bellator were coming to London, I said it would be a great company to get involved with at some point,” Thompson said. “At the time I thought I could get on the show and fight someone like Bobby Lashley. It didn’t go any further than that, it was just a discussion. This card looked like it was full and of course there’s been some tragedy, injuries and a mixture of different problems.
"Before the Kimbo tragedy struck we spoke about this possibility and if I’d be interested, even on late notice, to fight and I said yes.”
Thompson has fought all over Europe as well as Japan and is no stranger to events in big arenas and looks forward to fighting in the o2 arena; however the heavyweight realizes none of that matters when the cage door shuts.
“It’s nice to tick another box,” Thompson said. “I’ve fought in some big arenas around the world but the O2 is a new one for me so that’s pretty cool. It’s a venue that hosts a lot of great combat events these days and it’s nice to have my name up there as well. I really enjoyed Tokyo last year three times, had some good trips to Poland. I’ve competed in front of big crowds before but once you’re inside that cage, once that first punch crushes into your face it’s a small world in there and the crowd are a long way away.”
For a fighter who was very active in 2015, notching up a five-fight winning streak, this will mark Thompson’s first fight in 2016 but it hasn’t been for a lack of trying.
“I had another fight booked at the end of January, in Russia against Alexander Volkov but some problems between him and the promotion resulted in that fight not happening,” Thompson said. “So I had to be patient and wait for the right fight. Sometimes a fighter can jump into a fight because he wants to make a little purse but I was fortunate that I wasn’t under that pressure so it enabled me to sit tight and wait for the opportunities.
"More recently the opportunity came up to fight Fedor, which I accepted, and they rejected and soon after that the opportunity came up to fight Vitaly Minikov on the same show which I accepted again and he rejected. So it wasn’t a voluntary lay off but until my terms were met to get me going again I was going to stay on the sideline.”
With a win over Mitrione, Thompson believes it could become the launching pad toward the Bellator heavyweight championship.
“I want to run for the title, there’s no doubt about that,” Thompson said. “Fighting Matt Mitrione, just on sheer status, must be one of the guys in that picture as well and he got a win in his debut. There are two or three really talented heavyweights in the company and I’m one of them.
"He’s a very well known guy, trained with good people and always been in the spotlight. I’ve come up the tough way, learning on the job having some rough times along the way so it’s nice to establish myself with another big win against a credible guy."
Mitrione is coming off a first round knockout win over Carl Seumanutafa at Bellator 157: DYNAMITE 2 which marked his debut for the promotion. Although being knocked down in the fight, Mitrione has since been medically cleared to compete at Bellator 158 which is taking place just three weeks later and Thompson has no qualms with that.
“His performance was short so there wasn’t much time to judge it,” says Thompson. “It was fairly sloppy but at the same time he got caught with one big punch and in the heavyweight division that can happen to anybody. My first concern is just for a man’s health and he’s medically cleared and that’s a relief to me. So he’s medically cleared to fight so I have to trust what the medical officials say so I’m happy for the fight to go ahead. If I thought he wasn’t medically cleared to fight then I would be concerned."
Whether it comes via knockout or submission Thompson is predicting a finish although does admit Mitrione presents a challenge.
“I always visualize a knockout,” says Thompson. “I’ve got lot’s of submissions on my record as well. If the fight hits the mat and his back touches the canvas, I’ll go into automatic mode and break him down. He’s highly predictable in his movement, but that doesn’t make it easy. When a heavyweight is quite light on his feet it’s quite rare.
"It’s not the threat of a one punch knockout, because in the heavyweight division it’s always there with small gloves, but you do have to be careful because if you let him start scoring points it takes two or three minutes, and a few punches here and there and it starts to take a toll on your energy bar.”