Dean Thomas back in March

Bullock · 12-27-2007, 12:24 PM

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UFC Lightweight Weathers Arrest and Knee Rehab for Octagon Return

By Brian Knapp (bknapp@thefightnetwork.com)

On the cusp of a lightweight title shot, Din Thomas climbed into the Octagon to meet Kenny Florian at UFC Fight Night 11 on Sept. 19 at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He left the caged confines in a far different state of mind. In fact, he had to be carried out by his cornermen.

Meer minutes into his main event bout with Florian, Thomas felt his knee give way. Excruciating pain rushed through his leg and, ultimately, his entire body. Unable to mount a defense, Thomas surrendered his back and tapped out to a rear-naked choke. It was the first time the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt had submitted in more than eight years.

“I was on a nice little run,” Thomas says. “I had come off season four [of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series], and I had won three fights in a row. That’s the frustrating part, but it’s never an easy road getting what you want.”

The loss to Florian proved the least of the American Top Team lightweight’s worries. He had stretched the anterior-cruciate ligament and torn the meniscus – a disk of cartilage that provides a cushion between the two primary leg bones, the femur and fibula – in his knee. Thomas could not even stand.

“It’s not fun at all,” he says. “It hurts like hell. The pain is unbearable.”

Thomas underwent surgery in October, and doctors advised him to spend a minimum of six weeks away from training. He was back in the gym in a month.

“I’ve had a lot of problems with my knees,” Thomas says. “This was my third surgery, so I’d been through the rehab process before.”

Twice a titleholder – he held both the World Extreme Fighting and Reality Superfighting lightweight crowns – Thomas (20-7, 5-3 UFC) expects to return the Octagon in March, though neither a date nor opponent has been specified. The UFC’s 155-pound championship remains an objective, though more distant than it was a few months ago.

“I’m dying to find out who they want me to fight,” he says. “My immediate goal is to go undefeated in 2008. At this point, I’m not even looking at the belt.”

Thomas’ troubles in 2007 were not limited to injury. The day before Halloween, he was arrested on a felony prohibited competitions charge for allegedly running illegal mixed martial arts matches out of his Port St. Lucie, Fla. gym.

“I knew it was coming,” Thomas says. “It was a week and a half after the event. I’d sought out legal advice and tried to turn myself in, but [the police] held on to the warrant, just so they could pick me up. It was really ridiculous. These guys came into my school, watched us do our thing and thought we were doing something illegal. That’s what happens when people don’t communicate.”

Thomas spent “two to three hours” in jail, and news of his arrest spread across the MMA world. “It was all over the Internet,” he says. “I’d never been so popular in my life.” Prosecutors decided to drop all charges against the 31-year-old earlier this month. Thomas says support from the American Top Team never wavered. Ricardo Liborio, the man who founded the Coconut Creek, Fla. academy, emerged as one of his strongest supporters during the ordeal.

“He didn’t even ask me, ‘Did you do it?’” Thomas says. “He told me if I needed anything to just call. Those are my guys.”

Vindicated by the legal system, Thomas moved forward with his rehab, though timing of the injury could not have been much worse. He had entered his fight with Florian with three consecutive victories, a unanimous decision victory over a former Strikeforce lightweight championship contender among them. A win over Florian would likely have thrust him into immediate contention for the UFC’s 155-pound title.

Instead, the knee injury and resulting submission loss to Florian removed his name from the tip of many a tongue, despite the fact that he held victories over former UFC lightweight kingpin Jens Pulver and reigning welterweight titleholder Matt Serra.

“This set me back,” says Thomas, who debuted with the UFC back in 2001. “When people talk about the best lightweights, you hear names like BJ Penn, who’s fought once [at lightweight] in five years. You even hear Clay Guida’s name. I beat Clay Guida. I’ve been around a long time.”

His knee nearing full strength, Thomas has remained focused on his responsibilities to the approximately 150 students who attend his ATT school in Port St. Lucie. The married father of one has his hands full at home, too, where his 2-year-old son, Ethon, keeps him on his toes.

“He’s changed my life tremendously,” Thomas says. “He’s my best friend. I hang out with him more than anybody. Now I understand that I’m a role model for somebody.”