He said it with conviction, so maybe we should believe him, but is Din Thomas really planning to stand with Ricardo Mayorga at their Shine Fights main event this weekend? Thomas recently spoke with Sherdog.com about the fight and indicated that he had no qualms about engaging Mayorga on their feet. (The video is after the jump.)Thomas, who is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, is 25-8 in his career, with 14 wins coming by way of submission. If he wanted to, he could probably take Mayorga down within a few seconds of the opening bell and tap him out inside of one minute. But the American Top Team product says that he's interested in the test that Mayorga provides, and that test will only take place when they are standing upright and trading leather.
"Oh yeah, without a doubt," he said when asked if he was truly going to throw blows with Mayorga. "Honestly, I kind of want to. I want to challenge myself. I do want to stand with him. Obviously, I want to kick, too. He got to at least let me kick. Kick, knee and elbow. I definitely want to stand with him. I don't want to just go out there. I want to put on a good show and really test myself."
The 36-year-old Mayorga is 28-7-1 in his boxing career with 22 KO's. He holds notable wins over Vernon Forrest and Fernando Vargas in his career, but hasn't fought in the boxing ring since a 12th round knockout at the hands of Shane Mosley in Sept. 2008.
Shine Fights: Worlds Collide will take place at Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C., and air on pay-per-view.
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