One man has jumped into the deep end of the pool when he barely knew how to swim. Din Thomas faced ex-Shooto top gun, Kaoru Uno, in his first professional NHB fight. Although Thomas lost by rear naked choke, Thomas felt what the best had to offer and set his mind and training to accomplish this level of mastery. Din (pronounced Dean) focused his training and went on a killing spree winning all of his fights after that initial war. As Thomas starting earning respect in the little known bantamweight division, he finally got his chance to test his skills against the UFC's number one bantamweight, Jens "the Pulverizer" Pulver. Pulver has been impressive in all his showings and it did not look like Pulver could be stopped. Thomas went on to surprise everyone, except himself, and heel hooked Pulver in World Extreme Fighting 10 in August 2000. With Uno beating Shooto poster boy Rumina Sato twice and Pulver winning a decision over Uno in the UFC occurring the same night as Din fought in Super Brawl 20, the bantamweight division is blown wide open. I was looking forwarding to seeing Thomas live, especially to see if he could handle the explosive knockout power of Stephen "Bozo" Palling of the Jesus is Lord Gym. The talk about Din was valid and he was comfortable in every position he was in and waited until he found the opportunity to slap a triangle/arm bar on Palling for the win. I chased down Din Thomas right after his win after Super Brawl 20 in Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii on Friday, February 23, 2001.

Full Contact Fighter: Did you expect such a quick win over Palling who has such explosive power with his hands?
Din Thomas: Yeah, actually I really expected a quick one. I didn't think it would be easy, but I thought that if I could catch him early, I would have a good shot at catching him. I didn't really want to go too long with the fight because I know he hits really hard. The longer it went the more chance he had to hit me so I really wanted to catch him early, catch him slippin'.

FCF: Were you planning on standing up with him a bit or was that just to set up the shot?
DT: It was to set up the shot. I knew he hit really hard. I saw him warming up and everything so I didn't want to take my chances boxing with him so just take him down. I knew I was better than him on the ground.

FCF: Did he feel excessively strong to you because it seems like Palling always has a strength advantage in his fights?
DT: Yeah, he was very, very strong. You know, I was a bit heavier than he was. I lost a lot of weight for this fight, but I was still a bit heavier than he was and I expected to overpower him, but I felt him and he was extremely strong. I didn't want to match strength for strength with him because I felt how strong he was so I decided that I would out-technique him.

FCF: Did you feel any of his punching power or did you slip them enough?
DT: Yeah, I caught me with two or three good ones, one of them really dazed me, but I get hit a lot by heavyweights. I train with heavyweights to hit me so I'm used to getting hit a lot so it doesn't really matter.

FCF: Is the triangle your move of choice?
DT: It depends on who I'm fighting. I knew because he was a bit shorter, his arms were a bit shorter, so my legs slip over easier so I knew that was the move I wanted to finish him with.

FCF: Was it a triangle or did you lean into the arm because it looked like a combination of both?
DT: When he started to turn to escape the triangle, he left his arm behind so I started pulling on the arm to get him to turn more into the triangle and he turned more into the triangle so I just locked it up.

FCF: You came out with a gi on with a black belt. What exactly are you a black belt in?
DT: I'm a black belt under the World Grappling Association. It's an association based out of Florida. I got my black belt a couple of months ago from them.

FCF: Who is your chief instructor?
DT: Ross Kellen and Dave Hurley.

FCF: What's their background?
DT: Grappling and a bunch of different arts. It's not [only] basically grappling. It's a bunch of different arts combined, between Jiu-Jitsu, some Karate, and things like that.

FCF: So it's a combination of standing and ground techniques, kind of a hybrid art?
DT: Exactly.

FCF: Do you guys primarily practice with the gi or what percentage?
DT: I never wear a gi. I only wear a gi to come out to my fights. As a matter of fact, I just got that gi a couple of months ago. I wore it once when I fought Rodrigo Gracie to come out in and just here. That's the only time I ever wear a gi, just to come out.

FCF: Does your team isolate your stand up sparring and the ground training?
DT: It depends. If I got a fight like this coming up, a valetudo fight, we'll do it all. Before I fight, I like to try to get as much as I can in any one thing as far as boxing or my ground work, but when I am preparing for a fight like this, I mix it all together.

FCF: Do you work with any other specific boxing trainers and grapplers or do you get all of your training from your school?
DT: I get it mostly from my school, but I will go to certain gyms and spar boxing with guys, and go to Jiu-Jitsu schools, and spar with those guys, but not when I'm preparing for a fight. I'll box, train solely with my team for a real fight.

FCF: How are you welcomed at other schools since you are a fairly high profile fighter?
DT: Luckily, I've had a lot of acceptance with other schools. I can't complain about it. Every once in a while, I get a guy trying to tap me out or so he can say he tapped out Din Thomas, but that doesn't really happen normally so I think I can go where I'm welcome.

FCF: How long were you training prior to your first fight?
DT: About three years.

FCF: How many amateur fights did you have?
DT: I've had about eight amateur fights.

FCF: Just smaller events on the east coast?
DT: Yeah, basically shoot fighting events down in Miami and throughout Florida.

FCF: Was Uno your first professional fight?
DT: Yeah, when I took that fight, I was still a little green. I was a rookie at the time and I didn't know what to expect because I have never been at that level so when I was doing good during the fight, I kind of psyched myself out and kind of gave up because I thought I did good enough, but I think if I fought him again, it would be a different fight. I think I could take it to him. I think I can take it to anybody right now.

FCF: After beating Pulver and the fight between Uno and Pulver in the UFC, are you setting your sights on Uno or the UFC?
DT: I don't really look for rematches. Uno is a good fighter. He beat me fair and square. I'm not really looking for a rematch. If we meet in the future, that's fine, but for right now, I'm just looking to fight whoever in order for me to prove that I'm the best fighter in the world at this weight.

FCF: Who do you feel you have to beat to prove that?
DT: The number one guy right now is Pulver and I already beat him. I've beaten two top ten guys right now. One in Pulver and one in Mishima [in Shooto R.E.A.D. in March 2000]. I think I'm the number one guy right now. I may have lost to Uno, but that was a long time ago. People just don't give me a lot of credit because I'm not associated with a lot of big names.

FCF: Are you planning on fighting more Shooto matches and raising your rank in Shooto or is that not really a big concern to you?
DT: Before it was. Sometimes I really think that I want to get the number one spot in Shooto, but other times they seem a little bias at time towards Japanese fighters. If it happens, it happens. I'm not really concerned about it. I'm just concerned about what's going on in the United States and what the fans want to see on a worldwide perspective, instead of just Japan.

FCF: Do you feel that you can be financially compensated in America because Japan is known for taking care of their fighters?
DT: Oh well, they [Japan] really do take care of their fighters. I'm hoping I can do well, financially, because right now I'm struggling. I think 2001 is my year and I'm going to emerge with some fat pockets hopefully.

FCF: Are you a professional fighter or do you have side jobs?
DT: I run a school right now. Actually, we're going to move into a new school in Orlando. I'm going to run that and I'm still going to school to get my degree and everything, but besides that I'm just a freelance fighter. I go around and train and fight. That's all I do.

FCF: What are you studying?
DT: I'm studying History.

FCF: What are your plans?
DT: I really want to teach college, be a college professor in History, but for now, I'm just going to fight until my body tears me up, then I got a brain on me too so I'm not just all brawn.

FCF: How's your body holding up so far?
DT: It's doing good. I got my arm broken in December and I was able to fight tonight without any problems. Every fighter has nagging injuries, but you expect that. Besides that, I'm doing good right now.

FCF: How did you break your arm, in training?
DT: Nah, Rodrigo Gracie, he fractured my elbow, but it's almost 100% now.

FCF: Was it due to him slapping it on too quick or were you fighting to get out?
DT: Actually, I was fighting to get out and I thought I was getting out, but maybe that was just my arm breaking and it just snapped. He let it go and I think it freaked both of us out when he let it go. I didn't tap so we kept fighting and I ended up fighting another six minutes with a broken arm.

FCF: Is Jamie Levine your manager or do you just fight for his events?
DT: He's definitely my manager. I want to fight in his next show in WEF. He's throwing one in West Virginia on April 21st. Hopefully after that, I want to get a shot in the UFC against whoever they want me to fight. It doesn't matter.

FCF: Jamie was talking about you fighting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cleber Luciano. What do you think of Cleber?
DT: He's a good Jiu-Jitsu guy, but there's going to be a lot of dynamite in that fight. I can almost guarantee that one of us is going to be sleeping at the end of that fight.

FCF: Have you seen his previous fights?
DT: Yeah, I've seen his previous fights. I'm not very impressed with him. He's a good Jiu-Jitsu guy. If it was a Jiu-Jitsu competition, he'd beat me, but he's coming in to my game. If he comes in my game, he's going to get hurt.

FCF: How do you see the fight going?
DT: It's either going to be a boring fight with me winning or it's going to be a fast fight with him sitting on his butt with someone pushing on his chest waking him up.

FCF: Do you have any plans after this Cleber fight coming up?
DT: Hopefully UFC. I want to get a shot in the UFC. That seems as the only avenue where fighters get respect. I've been fighting for a long time. I fought a lot of tough guys and I don't get a lot of respect so I guess I got to get in the UFC to get what I deserve.

FCF: Have you had any contact with the UFC?
DT: Yeah, actually I have and they mentioned me fighting, but nothing on paper. I don't really want to say anything because nothing is signed yet, but I have talked to a guy from the UFC.

FCF: Was this the UFC under new management?
DT: Yes, under new management. I don't think with the old management I would have gotten in. I don't think they really like me or my team too much.

FCF: Where do you prefer to fight, in America or Japan?
DT: I really do like fighting in Japan. We've had some bad experiences, not with me really, but with my teammates. I don't think we got fair treatment as far as decisions go, but the crowd is great. The promotion is great. Everything is great. I love fighting in Japan. But to be honest with you, Hawaii is [laughs]… I love Hawaii, the whole place, arena and everything is great. You know they hate me here, but hey what can I say?

FCF: [Laughing] Your comments didn't really help grow your fan base [Din grabbed the microphone after the fight and told the audience that they have just witnessed another Din Thomas performance].
DT: I didn't really want to offend anybody, but I like to hype myself up a bit. If it takes to get the crowd to hate me, they want to see me get beat up, and they want to buy tickets and come and fill the place up to help the sport grow, to help T. Jay's pockets to get fat, to help my pockets to get fat, I'm going to say what I got to say to make it happen.

FCF: Do you feel any detrimental effect due to jet lag when you fight in Japan?
DT: Yeah, It's really hard because you can't really focus on your fight the first couple days because you're trying to focus on staying awake and things like that, but after you get [through with] that and with the crowd and excitement, you kind of forget about the jet lag.

FCF: Do you find it difficult to find opponents that will fight you or is it easier since people want to knock off the guy on the top of the hill?
DT: At first, when I was first coming up, it was hard for me to find fights, but now that I'm at the top, at among the top in the world, it seems like it's a little bit easier because everyone wants a shot at me, try to take me down.

FCF: In your weight class, who do you see as the top five fighters?
DT: Definitely, the number one guy is probably Gomi. Rumina Sato is a top guy. Jens Pulver, Mishima, Ryan Bow. Most of the guys are in Japan to be honest with you, but Jens and even Dennis Hallman, Dennis Hallman is a tough guy. There are some tough guys out there.

FCF: Which weight division do you plan on fighting in? Are you going up to the 170 or go down into the bantamweight division?
DT: No, I'm a bantamweight fighter. I actually dropped down to 146 to take this fight and that pretty much killed me. I told myself that I'll never drop to this weight again. I'd rather fight a bigger guy than drop weight and fight a smaller guy.

FCF: 155 is no problem for you?
DT: No, I walk around at 155, but I had to drop about 10 pounds in one day to fight this fight, it almost killed me.

FCF: Congratulations on your win and I hope to see you back here soon!
DT: Thank you. I appreciate it.