{"id":160276,"date":"2015-08-11T17:28:09","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T00:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=160276"},"modified":"2022-02-04T18:22:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T02:22:15","slug":"bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Bellator Signs Josh Thomson To Exclusive Multi-Fight Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Josh-Thomson-UFC-Weigh-Ins.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-141336\" src=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Josh-Thomson-UFC-Weigh-Ins.png\" alt=\"Josh Thomson UFC Weigh Ins\" width=\"730\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Josh-Thomson-UFC-Weigh-Ins.png 730w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Josh-Thomson-UFC-Weigh-Ins-300x156.png 300w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Josh-Thomson-UFC-Weigh-Ins-585x305.png 585w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Josh-Thomson-UFC-Weigh-Ins-390x203.png 390w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Former Strikeforce lightweight champion and, now, former UFC lightweight Josh Thomson is now a Bellator MMA lightweight.<\/p>\n<p>The promotion announced today that they have reached an exclusive multi-fight contract with Thomson. The UFC choose not to renew the top lightweight&#8217;s contract and it looks like Bellator wasted no time grabbing him up.<\/p>\n<p>Via press release:<\/p>\n<p><em>SANTA MONICA (August 11, 2015) \u2013 Bellator MMA is proud to announce the signing of Josh \u201cThe Punk\u201d Thomson (20-8, 1 NC) to an exclusive multi-year, multi-fight contract. At 36-years-young, the former Strikeforce Lightweight World Champion remains one of the top 155-pounders in the sport, having competed in top organizations including UFC and Pride.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Residing in San Jose, Calif. and training at the renowned American Kickboxing Academy alongside some of the sports very best, Thomson earned his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Dave Camarillo. In addition to his formidable ground game, Thomson\u2019s striking pedigree is on-point as well, earning a \u201cKnockout of the Night\u201d award for his output in his fight against Nate Diaz in 2013. It\u2019s also worth being said that \u201cThe Punk\u201d holds a record of 3-0 in professional kickboxing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI had the pleasure of working with Josh in Strikeforce and I look forward to continuing this relationship in Bellator MMA. Josh is a world-class mixed martial artist and we are very happy to be adding him to our roster of some of the best lightweights in the world,\u201d said the promotion\u2019s president, Scott Coker. \u201cBellator remains fully committed to building its roster by signing top free agents like Thomson, as well as grooming up-and-coming blue-chip stars. We have some amazing matchups in mind for \u201cThe Punk\u201d that we hope to be announcing in the weeks to come.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>UFC Fighters Give Us Their Favorite BJ Penn Moment! What&#8217;s Yours? &#8212; Must Watch!<\/strong>[ooyala code=&#8221;JpN2pzdjqWA8WOLaJwwNHph5i6sCiLAA&#8221; player_id=&#8221;bd214e34cfad476984102de4bf5e8da2&#8243; width=&#8221;1280&#8243; height=&#8221;720&#8243; auto=&#8221;true&#8221; autoplay=&#8221;true&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Strikeforce lightweight champion and, now, former UFC lightweight Josh Thomson is now a Bellator MMA lightweight. The promotion announced today that they have reached an exclusive multi-fight contract with Thomson. The UFC choose not to renew the top lightweight&#8217;s contract and it looks like Bellator wasted no time grabbing him up. Via press release: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2616,"featured_media":160277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[44,2681],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bellator Signs Josh Thomson To Exclusive Multi-Fight Contract | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bellator Signs Josh Thomson To Exclusive Multi-Fight Contract | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Strikeforce lightweight champion and, now, former UFC lightweight Josh Thomson is now a Bellator MMA lightweight. The promotion announced today that they have reached an exclusive multi-fight contract with Thomson. The UFC choose not to renew the top lightweight&#8217;s contract and it looks like Bellator wasted no time grabbing him up. Via press release: [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-12T00:28:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-05T02:22:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/thomson.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BJPENN.COM News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BJPENN.COM News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BJPENN.COM News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/c76eda1459929ee246658565d177d029\"},\"headline\":\"Bellator Signs Josh Thomson To Exclusive Multi-Fight Contract\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-12T00:28:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-05T02:22:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/\"},\"wordCount\":327,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Bellator\",\"UFC NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2015\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/\",\"name\":\"Bellator Signs Josh Thomson To Exclusive Multi-Fight Contract | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-12T00:28:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-05T02:22:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-signs-josh-thomson-to-exclusive-multi-fight-contract\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Bellator\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Bellator Signs Josh Thomson To Exclusive Multi-Fight Contract\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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