Another Strikeforce Title Fight in Jeopardy: Josh Thomson Possibly Dropping Out of Melendez Fight

After losing the welterweight title fight between Joe Riggs and Nick Diaz, and the heavyweight title fight with Fabricio Werdum and Allistair Overeem due to injuries suffered by Riggs and Overeem, it appeared that Strikeforce was floundering in an attempt to salvage their August 15th Cyborg vs. Carano card.  The event received a nice boost today with the addition of the Babalu-Mousasi light-heavyweight title fight that was transferred from the canceled Affliction: Trilogy card, but the honeymoon was quickly over, as it looks like a third title fight scheduled for the card is now in jeopardy, since Josh Thomson may not defend his lightweight title against Gilbert Melendez.  MMA Junkie reports:

Strikeforce lightweight Josh Thomson's (16-2) broken leg has not completely healed, and his Aug. 15 bout in San Jose, Calif., with interim title holder Gilbert Melendez (15-2) may now be in jeopardy.

Thomson today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) that he wasn't able to fully train for the unification bout, and additional sources close to the contest have indicated the organization is actively seeking a replacement for "The Punk."

Although Thomson did mention on the radio show earlier today that if physically able, he would fight even without being fully prepared, the fact that Strikeforce is seeking a replacement does not bode well for his chances of stepping into the cage.

The original injury was a broken fibula he suffered in trainining back in April, but Thomson was apparently still on crutches as recently as two weeks ago, and stated that he has essentially not trained since then:

"It's moving right along, I guess you could say," Thomson said. "I've decided to go with the  non-training method for this fight – kind of play it by ear and see what happens. There's a lot of things I couldn't do. I'm not training like I was able to for the first fight, and we're going to see what happens."

"That doesn't mean I'm not taking this fight serious," Thomson said. "It doesn't mean that I'm not going to show up and fight my ass off. Have I ever not showed up and fought my [expletive] ass off?

"Whether that means not training at all and going out there and winging it 110 percent in the first round, I'm going to go out there and fight my ass off."

Although the "Punk's" bravado is admirable, it seems like he may be thinking with his heart instead of his head.  Along with the chance of doing further damage to his leg, if Thomson decides to go ahead and fight, he's also going to have to deal with the problem of defending his title against a hungry and very capable challenger who's at 100%, while he himself, is not.

Furthermore, Thomson added:

"I'm still talking right now with my cornermen and my management about moving the fight back to October or me just not fighting [Melendez]," Thomson said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not taking this fight serious. I'm doing what I can to win this fight. That's the bottom line.

If things don't go my way, then hey, at least I know I'll get a third one." 

He seems to believe that if he fights injured and loses to Melendez, he'll be granted an immediate rubber match, whether that would be due to him stepping up and keeping the card alive, or because he'd still be a legitimate contender when injury-free.

I'll keep you updated if more details emerge, or if we hear any confirmation from the Strikeforce brass.