Strikeforce preview: Josh Thomson vs JZ Cavalcante
On Saturday’s Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons II mixed martial arts card, one of the most exciting bouts on the card will be a lightweight showdown between Josh “The Punk” Thomson against Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante.
History
Both men were once considered among the best lightweight (155lb) fighters in the world. Thomson was a UFC veteran before 2005, racking up a 2-1 record in the promotion including a win over future title
challenger Hermes Franca. He later fought one fight in PRIDE before transferring to Strikeforce, where he lost his first fight.
He then went on an eight-fight winning streak including a shock upset victory over Gilbert Melendez to win the title. Melendez then won it back in December 2009 in a Fight of the Year candidate. He since
bounced back with a victory in June over Pat Healy, to bring his career record up to 17-3.
Cavalcante on the other hand was once considered one of the top five lightweight fighters in the world with a record of 14-1-1, including riding a 12-fight win streak. But that was snapped by two losses
in a row to Shinya Aoki in April 2008, and then a loss to Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri in May 2009. His next fight in September 2010 was a win over Katsukori Kikuno to bring his record to 15-3-1, but having only fought three fights in three years (not counting
an earlier no contest to Aoki) and losing two of them, his name has certainly dropped from discussions about who the top fighters are.
Style, betting odds and prediction
Thomson is a fighter who loves the stand-up, and has provided fans with quite a few fan friendly slug-fests. The 32-year-old uses a high-energy attack to put his opponents off their game, and in particular
uses his 5ft 10in reach well when he needs to. He possesses a good front kick that doesn’t do lots of damage, but is enough to throw off his opponents’ rhythm.
On the ground he possesses a good submission arsenal as well, with nine of his 17 career wins ending that way.
Cavalcante, like most Brazilians, uses a combination of aggressive Muay Thai and good Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) to win his fights. Of his 15 career wins, five have come by knock-out, seven have come by
decision, and three have made it to a decision, including a recent close decision over Kikuno, the Karate specialist.
Thomson is the favourite coming into this one at around 2/3 on most bookies’ ledger sheets. Cavalcante pays out slightly better at 4/3.
But despite Cavalcante providing better odds, Thomson should be able to take this fight and should be the better pick here. He can use his two-inch height advantage to stymie Cavalcante, and his good wrestling
game to keep the fight where he wants it. Thomson also has the better track record as of late, and should be able to survive on the ground if Cavalcante gets on top of him.
Don’t expect a knock-out from either fighter, but a decision victory from Thomson seems the most likely result.
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