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Din Yero Thomas (born September 28, 1976) is a retired Americanmixed martial artist who was featured on The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback. In the Ultimate Fighting Championships, Thomas is a UFC 41 Lightweight Tournament Semifinalist. He holds a Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ricardo Liborio and currently runs two successful Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA academies in Port St. Lucie, Florida.^[2] Thomas holds notable victories of (UFC Lightweight Champion) Jens Pulver, (UFC Welterweight Champion) Matt Serra, and (Strikeforce Lightweight Champion) Clay Guida.

Thomas has acted in local independent films, portraying The Fight Kid in Chris Fuller's Loren Cass and Reverend Pierce in Natalie, Queen of Scots.^[3]

Background[edit]

Thomas was born in Wilmington, Delaware, where he lived until he was 12 years old. When he was 12 Thomas moved to Port St. Lucie, Florida, and attended Port St. Lucie High School. Thomas flirted with baseball and football growing up, but ultimately did not have a serious interest in team sports because he did not like negatively affecting his teammates. A few weeks before his 18th birthday, Thomas' life changed drastically. He had recently broken up with his girlfriend, and in a fit of rage beat up her new boyfriend at her house. The young Thomas was charged with battery and had to spend his weekends in prison for the next year. Soon, he turned his attention to jiu-jitsu and began training in a small academy near his home.^[4]

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Mixed martial arts career[edit]

Before entering the UFC, Thomas held a 12–1 MMA record including wins over future UFClightweight champion Jens Pulver and Dokonjonosuke Mishima, with his only loss coming to future UFClightweight title challenger Caol Uno. Thomas made his UFC debut at UFC 32, in a fight against future UFC Lightweight and Welterweight championB.J. Penn, where he lost by TKO (strikes) in the first round. Thomas returned at UFC 33, defeating Fabiano Iha by unanimous decision.

At UFC 39, Thomas faced Japanese superstar Caol Uno in a rematch. The fight was part of a tournament to determine the new UFC Lightweight Champion. After three rounds, Thomas lost by unanimous decision. His next fight was a split decision victory over future UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra at UFC 41. This fight would prove somewhat controversial, due to one of the judges mistakenly placing the score he assigned to Thomas in the column reserved for Serra.^{[citation needed]} This caused Serra to be declared the winner by decision, but the mistake was discovered and Thomas and his team were notified of the change, giving Thomas the split decision victory. This would be Thomas' last UFC fight for 3 years.

Thomas was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 4 where he defeated Mikey Burnett in the first round, before losing to training partner Chris Lytle by decision in the semi-finals. Thomas returned at the finale on November 11, 2006, to face Rich Clementi, winning via rear naked choke in the second round.

Thomas was then defeated via submission (rear naked choke) by future UFC lightweight title challenger Kenny Florian after injuring his knee in a takedown attempt while headlining the main event at UFC Fight Night 11. Doctors said in his takedown attempt that Thomas tore his meniscus and stretched his PCL.^[5][6] His most recent UFC fight was a unanimous decision loss to Josh Neer at UFC Fight Night 13. He was released from his UFC contract after this fight.^[7]

After his loss to Neer, Thomas decided to drop a weight class to featherweight (145 lbs). He debuted at featherweight against Dustin Pieken securing a triangle choke in the first round. He has followed that up with TKO wins over Gabe Lemley and Dustin Pague.

Thomas had signed with Shine Fights and was expected to make his debut against Ricardo Mayorga on May 15 in Fayetteville, North Carolina but it was canceled after Don King was granted an injunction preventing Mayorga from fighting.^[8]

Thomas was scheduled to return after a nearly two-year-long layoff Oct. 7, 2011, at Fight Time 7 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a promotion headed up by his American Top Team boxing trainer, Howard Davis Jr. But Thomas was in a car accident prior to the event and had to be hospitalized for his injuries. His fight against George Sheppard was scheduled to be the main event of Fight Time 7: The Return of Din Thomas.^[9]

On January 2, 2014, Thomas announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.^[10]

Coaching career[edit]

Besides his own professional mixed martial artist career, Thomas has been coaching since the early days of MMA. He started coaching at Mike Metzger’s Internal Power Karate School in 1999. Thomas owned multiple MMA and jiu-jitsu schools until he was recruited to become one of the primary coaches at American Top Team in 2015. Before becoming a full-time coach at ATT, he had been partially affiliated with the team and its athletes since 2001.^[11] In March 2020, Thomas announced that he had departed from ATT in order to pursue his own MMA camp.^[1]

Personal life[edit]

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Thomas is married and has a son named Ethon.^[12]

He also appeared in the 2007 Gotham Award-nominated independent feature film Loren Cass which had its United States premiere at Dennis Hopper's CineVegas Film Festival and its international premiere in the prestigious Filmmakers of the Present competition at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. The film was released in theaters and on DVD in 2009 by Kino International.

Thomas was arrested on October 30, 2007, on a charge of 'felony prohibited competitions' in Port St. Lucie, Florida at his training gym.^[13] As of November 30, 2007, the Assistant State Attorney's office decided not to file formal charges against Thomas and filed paperwork dismissing the charge on which he was arrested. The Assistant D.A. stated if the fighter or participants were students of Thomas' school, and the purpose of the school is to teach martial arts, then they meet the exception to the law.^[14]

Championships and accomplishments[edit]

Mixed martial arts[edit]

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Fight of the Night (One time) vs. Clay Guida
  • Submission of the Night (One time) vs. Jeremy Stephens
• World Extreme Fighting
  • World Extreme Fighting Lightweight Championship (Three times)^[15]
• Reality Super Fighting
  • Reality Super Fighting Lightweight Championship (Two times)^[15]
• International Sport Combat Federation
  • ISCF World Lightweight Championship (One time)^[16]

Mixed martial arts record[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

1. ^ ^abSteven Marrocco (March 22, 2020). 'Din Thomas departs American Top Team, plans to groom more fighters'. mmafighting.com.
2. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2006-11-10. Retrieved 2006-12-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. ^'Din Thomas'. IMDb.
4. ^[1]^{[dead link]}
5. ^'UFC Fight Night 11 Shaping Up'. Nokaut.com. 2007-07-12. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
6. ^''KenFlo' Replaces Spencer Fisher for UFC Main Event'. UFC.com. 2007-08-07. Archived from the original on 2007-08-20. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
7. ^'Report: UFC Cuts Thomas, Speer, and Hironaka'. MMA Junkie.com. May 5, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-05-08. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
8. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2010-05-19. Retrieved 2010-05-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
9. ^'UFC Vet Din Thomas Injured in Car Accident, Misses Main Event Return'. Mmafighting.com. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
10. ^'Brent Weedman and Din Thomas retire'. www.fighters.com. January 2, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-01-03.
11. ^Matt Bricker (June 1, 2018). 'Din Thomas: The Coaching Mindset From One of the Best'. mmasucka.com.
12. ^'Din Thomas - A Veteran's Journey Continues this Thursday'. UFC.com. 2007-01-23. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
13. ^'UFC's Din Thomas ARRESTED'. www.angrymarks.com. 2007-10-30. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
14. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2007-12-02. Retrieved 2007-11-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. ^ ^ab'Din Thomas'. UFC.ca. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
16. ^'ISCF Past Champions'. Iscfmma.com. Retrieved 8 October 2017.

External links[edit]

• Professional MMA record for Din Thomas from Sherdog
• Din Thomas at UFC
• November, 2006 Interview]

Stipe Miocic admits Francis Ngannou has improved going into their heavyweight title rematch at UFC 260. Is it enough to create a different result, though? The champ doesn’t think so.

After dominating Ngannou (15-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) to a lopsided unanimous decision at UFC 220 in January 2018, Miocic (20-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) will put his title up for grabs again in the main event of the March 27 card, which is likely to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and air on pay-per-view following prelims expected on ESPN and ESPN+.

Since losing the initial meeting, Ngannou has put together a 4-1 record. All four of those victories have come in consecutive fashion, with “The Predator” putting away all his opponents by first-round knockout in a combined 2:42 of cage time.

Miocic, for his part, has spent the last three-plus years engaging in a trilogy with Daniel Cormier. He won the deciding bout at UFC 252 in August, and now he turns his focus back to Ngannou, who he doesn’t think he come far enough to beat him.

“Francis is a super tough guy,” Miocic said on the “Oral Sessions” podcast with Renee Paquette. “He’s been knocking everyone out again and he’s on a tear, and unfortunately he’s going to have to fight me again. That’s the bad part. He’s definitely gotten better, but so have I.

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“I know I’m getting old, but I’ve gotten wiser and I’ve got a few new tricks up my sleeve. (They say) you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, which is a lie. I’ve learned a lot since the last couple years ago. It’s the same outcome. I’m going to walk out with the belt around my waist: and still.”

After storming up the heavyweight ranks to get his first title shot, Ngannou found someone who could hold up to his power when he challenged Miocic at UFC 220. The African contender connected with some big shots in the opening round, but Miocic survived and as the rounds wore on, he used clinch work, takedowns and ground control to dominate to unanimous 50-44 scorecards.

Miocic is even more aware of what to look out for in the rematch, he said, and sees a key advantage in his favor.

“Timing and speed,” Miocic said. “Really just speed. It’s all about speed. Speed kills, and that’s something we’ve really worked on the last couple camps fighting ‘DC.'”

If Miocic does get past Ngannou again at UFC 260, all signs point to the most significant fight of his career waiting in the wings. Former longtime UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones has committed to a move up to the heavyweight division, and it appears likely he’s going to get an immediate title shot.

Miocic said he’s gathered the same information that Jones is on deck, but knows it would be foolish to shift any focus off his rematch with Ngannou.

“I heard that too, (about Jones),” Miocic said. “I’ll fight anyone. For now, though, the task at hand, the only thing I’m thinking about, is Francis.”