|
|
|
|
'Denzil' Thomas Content But Still Wants Sellars
25 Feb 2010
By Dean Parr
Last weekend, at the Knuckle Up MMA: Origin show headlined by Matt Thorpe vs. John Phillips, Rhondda's Daniel 'Denzil' Thomas stopped late replacement Stu Davies after 4:53 of the first round. As he told MMA Hit Pit, he was happy with his performance, but is expecting bigger things in the future.
"I was very happy with my performance; it was really good," he began. "I'd trained hard because I thought I was fighting Matt Sellars, but then he pulled out. I was really happy when I was told I was fighting Sellars initially, and I was gutted when it came about that it fell through. It's definitely something I'd like in the future, and we could be fighting in the middle of April; maybe on the Knuckle Up show in Manchester."
"In May," Thomas continued, "I'm in a four man tournament at the NEC in Birmingham for Cage Wars. In that, there's a guy from Scotland, a guy from England, a guy from Ireland and I landed in it because I'm from Wales. Hopefully, I'll still get a fight in April though, so Ian Dean will be on the case to try and sort me out a fight with Matt Sellars."
Stopping Stu Davies in a round in his last fight was a good result for the popular Welshman, especially considering it was an improvement on when the pair fought in 2008, and Thomas was forced into the third round (before stopping him after 15 seconds of that). "He was pretty much the same as last time to be honest," Thomas divulged. "He didn't want to go to the floor, and he kept punching and moving away. So I just took him down and controlled him on the floor. He went for a triangle on me, but it's quite hard to pull off on someone when they're punching you in the face, so I worked my position, got into side mount and beat him up bad - I saw him afterwards and I'd made a mess of his face."
Thomas also was quick to mention his loyal supporters that turned up in force on the 20th as well. "We had a good fanbase at the show as well. Me and Kevin Reed, another Welsh fighter, brought about 150 fans to watch and support, and it felt like we had the most support in the venue - the place erupted! I've seen in the newspaper though that the Welsh fans kicked off and they were throwing chairs around but that's not true and there were no fights - the chairs were even bolted to the ground! There was a title in the paper saying 'Riot at Cheltenham Racecourse' or something like that but there wasn't. There was some banter, and people were jumping round with their tops off, but you know what the Welsh fans are like. The worst thing that happened was that they threw a few paper cups from the balcony. There were lots of them though and they were great!"
What this fast win also represents for 'Denzil' is how he's evolved over the last year, and how not taking fights on short notice and being better prepared for 'fight night' is improving his fortunes. "I think it shows I've improved 100%," declared Daniel. "I'm still learning loads now, and that's just going to keep me getting better and better, and I think in my last seven fights I've won and not gone the distance. Hopefully, my manager can keep sorting things out, and I can fight in a big organisation in America, Japan or somewhere else in the next year. By the end of the year, I hope I'll have a record of something like 22-6."
He also carried on to say he is fairly indifferent as to who is put in front of him in the cage. "I don't mind fighting anyone, and everything's just down to my manager to sort it out. If he says, 'we've got you someone', then I'll take it - job done. I've taken a week off since, eating a load of crap and drinking a bit, but I can't wait to get back in training now and I'm missing the buzz of fighting again."
To finish up, 'Denzil' had a few 'thank-yous' to issue. "I'd just like to say thanks to all my training partners and my camp, to all my fans for supporting me, my girlfriend for watching me and my sponsors for the last event Evolution Fightwear."
Thomas vs. Davies will be aired on Sky Sports 3 at 10pm on March 3rd.
|
|
|
|