Thomas Jessing: ‘The Immortal’ Interview
Thomas ‘The Immortal’ Jessing goes into his fight against Graeme Armstrong with a (4-2) record at SFC12. Fighting out of Arte Suave, Copenhagen. The Denmark native, considers Scotland, his “fighting home”.
Thomas took some time out to speak to The Sprawl about his upcoming fight on Saturday night at the Lauriston Halls, Edinburgh.
How much do you know about your opponent, Graeme Armstrong, and his style of fighting?
“To be honest I don’t know much about him. I do know some things… I have seen a couple of his fights. I think his style is quite defensive, he seems to move a lot around and looks for counter strikes or kicks as well as looking for takedowns. But it’s a style I have dealt with before.”
You go into SFC 12 with a record of 4-2. How confident are that you will be 5-2 on Saturday night?
“I am confident that I will add another win to my record on Saturday. I have no doubt of that. I’m coming to finish him. If he thought his last fight against a Viking was hard, then he hasn’t seen anything yet.”
In 2016 you were really active, fighting four times. Is that a trend you are going to continue in 2017?
“I expect to be just as active in 2017, yes. Perhaps even more. I think 4-6 fights a year is ideal to me. It all comes down to timing. Ideally I should have 1.5-2 months between every fight. I’m the most active welterweight in all of the Nordics and so it will be for the years to come.”
When did your training camp start for SFC12 and what goals did you want to achieve coming out of the camp?
“I don’t really have camps. I train two times a day all year. I train anything from boxing, muay thai, kickboxing, wrestling, MMA, bjj gi and nogi as well as strength and conditioning the majority of the year. 4-5 weeks before the fights I add more MMA sessions, and bump it up to 3 sessions a day, most days. Of course the intensity goes naturally up closer to a fight. But I am in shape to take a fight all year.
“I constantly look for ways to improve my game. I had a very high level before going pro, with a solid background but there are always things to improve or expand on. As a fighter we can optimize many things both mentally and physically. My foremost goal in this camp was to bring back the creativity I started the pro career with; to reinforce some aspects of my style.”
Lastly, tell our Sprawl viewers what type of fighter you are?
“What kind of fighter am I? I’m very well rounded. So, the fight can go in all kinds of directions. I can be unpredictable. I always look for the finish from all distances. I’m a finisher, and love it when I awaken the killer.”
