Din Thomas labels "Ultimate Chaos" removal a "miscommunication," readies for time off
When Fight Force International and Prize Fight Promotions partnered up to put on Saturday's pay-per-view event "Ultimate Chaos" in Biloxi, Miss., the organizations must certainly have hoped the title of the card would not end up providing an applicable moniker for Friday's weigh-in process as well.
Unfortunately in what featherweight Din Thomas described as a "miscommunication," a combination of choices by the athletic commission in charge and opponent Javier Vazquez forced the cancellation of the bout.
"It's nobody's fault really," Thomas today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (
www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "It's a miscommunication. But the commission said, 'Look, we don't even care about taking a percentage, but Javier wants a percentage.' He was trying to get me to pay him so I could still fight."
The issues all started when Thomas registered slightly over the 146-pound allowance for a featherweight contest.
"I got down to 146.6 pounds," Thomas said. "The thing is, when I was cutting weight they didn't have the proper scale, so I didn't know if I was on or not. I didn't really care. If I was off I would have just gone and cut it.
"I'm expecting (UFC emcee) Joe Rogan to say, 'Yeah, you've got two hours to cut the weight.' But they didn't tell me at this card. I was on stage, I weighed in at 146.6 (pounds), I looked at the commission, and I said, 'Am I OK?' And they said, 'Oh, yeah. You'll be fine. Don't worry.'"
Thinking all was well, Thomas began to rehydrate.
"Me and Javier, we squared up, we posed, we took pictures, and I was like, 'Damn, I'm all good. I ain't even gotta cut,'" Thomas said. "And I thought I may even have to cut, but they told me I was fine.
"So I went and I started [rehydrating]. As soon as I started [rehydrating], Javier gonna start bitching, 'Oh, man. He needs to cut the weight.' I was like, 'Damn.'"
Thomas said he doesn't blame Vazquez for asking he weigh-in at the bout's contracted limit. He simply wishes Vazquez would have spoken up a little sooner.
"I'm not blaming [Vazquez]," Thomas said. "If I have to be at 146 (pounds) on the dot, it's only fair. If he had to make it, I have to make it, too. But he hasn't fought in the last few years, and he probably isn't used to being in the big shows either, where it's like if you ain't on [weight], you need to establish it right then and there that I need to cut the weight.
"I would have dropped my drawers and probably been on weight right there. If I wasn't, then I would have been maybe an ounce over, but I could have just lost that at the hotel."
Unfortunately for Thomas, beginning the rehydrating procedures then made it impossible to reverse the process.
"I was bone dry," Thomas said. "I was like a burnt piece of chicken in the sauna – just bone dry.
"After [rehydrating] and going back in the sauna, I put on a pound. I was dead tired. I went back and I weighed in, and they tried to get me to stick around for this rules meeting, but I was like, 'Forget this rules meeting. I've got to call my doctor.' My doctor came up, and he put three IV's in me, and I still wasn't urinating. He was like, 'You need to chill.'"
Thomas said Vazquez's camp tried to keep the fight together despite Thomas' missing weight, but they insisted a 20 percent purse-penalty fine be levied.
"They were trying to get me to fight," Thomas said. "They were saying, 'You can fight, but you've got to give up 20 percent (of your purse).' I told them to go take a hike.
"I was like, 'Man, at this point, the way I feel now, you should be paying me to fight.' That night I told them, 'Listen, I'll fight him, but I'm not paying a percentage.' I told them that, and they didn't get back to me that night. The next day, I woke up and I still felt like crap. They were like, 'What are you going to do? Are you going to pay him the percentage to fight?' I was like, 'If he wants me to pay him a percentage to fight him, just forget it. I need to go home. I need medical attention. I'm hurting.' My kidney's were hurting. I didn't actually [urinate] until 4 p.m. the next day."
Thomas said he never spoke to Vazquez directly, but rather through representatives of his camp. In the end, Thomas decided it was best for him to simply walk away from the contest – despite having invested three months in a training camp.
"I respect Javier's ability," Thomas said. "I wasn't going to give him that extra advantage. The last time I fought hurt was Kenny Florian, and I lost that fight. On paper, everybody just said Kenny's a better fighter than me. I ain't one to make [Javier's] comeback better by beating me when I was under a bad condition.
"I'm a professional. I'll take the loss on the money here, but I'm not trying to give anybody an advantage on beating me."
Local fighter Mark Kergosien took Thomas' spot on absolute last-second notice, and Vazquez earned the win in just 59 seconds.
Despite the odd circumstances surrounding the bout, Thomas said he has no hard feelings with Vazquez.
"I never take a fight with emotion," Thomas said. "There's no emotion in it for me. If [another bout with Vazquez] happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't.
"But I tell you one thing, if we would have fought and I would have lost, then it would have been emotional. I would have went to his house and fought him again in three months. So I just decided to step down and not even risk it. But if it happens – I'm sure has a good name now. He put on a good performance. I'm sure it's a fight that people would like to see."
Thomas isn't sure when he'll return to action. While Affliction has some slots open for its Aug. 1 event, "Trilogy," a company with which the American Top Team product has a contract, Thomas said he needs a little time away.
"The Aug. 1 card, that's just too soon for me," Thomas said. "I fought in February, I fought in March, then I had to go through this whole little debacle. To fight in another month now, I'm just kind of a little worn out.
"I'm a little tired, a little burnt out."
