(It beats the hell out of welfare.)

In case you’ve forgotten, the Strikeforce Challengers event from Kent, Washington is on Showtime tonight, headlined by “Smokin” Joey Villasenor taking on the other “Cyborg” Santos.  You know, the dude one.  That’s all well and good and they even shoved each other at the weigh-in yesterday to add a little easy hype, but the story that’s being overlooked right now is just how much Nick “The Goat” Thompson obviously does not want to fight Army special forces bad-ass Tim Kennedy.  He’s not even pretending that this was his idea, or that he is anything but resigned to his fate at this point.  Just check out these quotes from Thompson, courtesy of Strikeforce:

"This was the fight they offered me so I’ll take it. I don’t like fighting at 185. I hate it. I want to just do this and go back to 170. …When you get a guy as technically sound as Tim it’s going to be dangerous. …A loss here will definitely set me back. They don’t offer title fights to guys coming off a loss.”

It’s hard to blame Thompson, a welterweight, for not wanting to fight Kennedy, a very good middleweight who would probably be much better known by now if he weren’t competing only sporadically due to his military career.  

What we have to respect is that Thompson ain’t even trying to act like this is anything other than a chance to go get that money, and it’s a chance that he’s not particularly looking forward to.  That’s honesty for you right there, kids. 

Remember the cautionary tale of Nick Thompson when Kimbo Slice keeps talking about the things he’s doing to get that bread during the recession, even after he made half a million bucks to get knocked out by a guy one weight class below him.  Also remember it when someone tells you that going to law school will guarantee you a bright and shining future, or that those Amish beards are totally in right now.