Din Yero Thomas (born September 28, 1976) is an American former

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

who was featured on '' The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback''. In the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

, Thomas is a UFC 41 Lightweight Tournament Semifinalist. He holds a

Black belt Black Belt may refer to: Martial arts * Black belt (martial arts), an indication of attainment of expertise in martial arts * ''Black Belt'' (magazine), a magazine covering martial arts news, technique, and notable individuals Places * Black B ...

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting ( ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

under Ricardo Liborio and currently runs two successful

and MMA academies in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Thomas holds notable victories of (

UFC Lightweight Champion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...

) Jens Pulver, ( UFC Welterweight Champion) Matt Serra, and ( Strikeforce Lightweight Champion)

Clay Guida Clayton Charles Guida (; born December 8, 1981) is an American professional mixed martial artist, currently signed to the UFC competing in the Lightweight division. A professional competitor since 2003, Guida also formerly competed for Strikefo ...

. Thomas has acted in local independent films, portraying The Fight Kid in Chris Fuller's ''

Loren Cass ''Loren Cass'' is a feature-length motion picture about adolescents coming to terms with their lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, after the riots that took place in 1996. It was directed by independent film-maker Chris Fuller and took ten years t ...

'' and Reverend Pierce in ''Natalie, Queen of Scots''. He appeared alongside Dana White and former opponent Matt Serra on Dana White: Lookin' for a Fight, and currently is a cast member of the UFC Live Weigh-in Show.

Background

Thomas was born in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christin ...

, where he lived until he was 12 years old. When he was 12 Thomas moved to Port St. Lucie, Florida, and attended

Port St. Lucie High School Port St. Lucie High School (PSLHS) is a high school in the U.S. city of Port St. Lucie, Florida. It is located in the southeast area of St. Lucie County. Campus and History The Port St. Lucie High School campus is a box shaped campus with a c ...

. Thomas flirted with baseball and football growing up, but ultimately did not have a serious interest in team sports because he did not like negatively affecting his teammates. A few weeks before his 18th birthday, Thomas' life changed drastically. He had recently broken up with his girlfriend, and in a fit of rage beat up her new boyfriend at her house. The young Thomas was charged with battery and had to spend his weekends in prison for the next year. Soon, he turned his attention to jiu-jitsu and began training in a small academy near his home.

Mixed martial arts career

Before entering the UFC, Thomas held a 12–1 MMA record including wins over future UFC

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight b ...

champion Jens Pulver and Dokonjonosuke Mishima, with his only loss coming to future UFC

title challenger

Caol Uno (born May 8, 1975) is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. He is the Co-Champion of the UFC 41 Lightweight Tournament and a former Shooto Lightweight Champion. As one of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship's el ...

. Thomas made his UFC debut at UFC 32, in a fight against future UFC Lightweight and Welterweight champion B.J. Penn, where he lost by TKO (strikes) in the first round. Thomas returned at

UFC 33 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

, defeating Fabiano Iha by unanimous decision. At UFC 39, Thomas faced Japanese superstar

in a rematch. The fight was part of a tournament to determine the new UFC Lightweight Champion. After three rounds, Thomas lost by unanimous decision. His next fight was a split decision victory over future UFC

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

champion Matt Serra at UFC 41. This fight would prove somewhat controversial, due to one of the judges mistakenly placing the score he assigned to Thomas in the column reserved for Serra. This caused Serra to be declared the winner by decision, but the mistake was discovered and Thomas and his team were notified of the change, giving Thomas the split decision victory. This would be Thomas' last UFC fight for 3 years. Thomas was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 4 where he defeated

Mikey Burnett Michael Wayne Burnett (born April 12, 1974) is a former American mixed martial artist who was a member of the fight team the Lion's Den. Burnett lost a controversial decision to Pat Miletich in a UFC title fight for the UFC Welterweight Champi ...

in the first round, before losing to training partner Chris Lytle by decision in the semi-finals. Thomas returned at the finale on November 11, 2006, to face

Rich Clementi Richard Thomas Clementi (born March 31, 1977) is a former American mixed martial artist. Clementi has fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championships, Bellator, K-1 Hero's DREAM, King of the Cage, and Titan FC. Background Clementi was born in E ...

, winning via

rear naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word "naked" in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keiko ...

in the second round. Thomas was then defeated via

submission Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

(rear naked choke) by future UFC lightweight title challenger Kenny Florian after injuring his knee in a takedown attempt while headlining the main event at

UFC Fight Night 11 ''UFC Fight Night: Thomas vs. Florian'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 11'') was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada ...

. Doctors said in his takedown attempt that Thomas tore his meniscus and stretched his PCL. His most recent UFC fight was a unanimous decision loss to Josh Neer at UFC Fight Night 13. He was released from his UFC contract after this fight. After his loss to Neer, Thomas decided to drop a weight class to

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

(145 lbs). He debuted at featherweight against Dustin Pieken securing a triangle choke in the first round. He has followed that up with TKO wins over Gabe Lemley and Dustin Pague. Thomas had signed with Shine Fights and was expected to make his debut against

Ricardo Mayorga Ricardo Antonio Mayorga Perez (born October 3, 1973) is a Nicaraguan professional boxer and former mixed martial artist. In boxing he is a former two-weight world champion, having held the unified WBA (Unified), WBC, ''Ring'' magazine, and lin ...

on May 15 in Fayetteville, North Carolina but it was canceled after Don King was granted an injunction preventing Mayorga from fighting. Thomas was scheduled to return after a nearly two-year-long layoff October 7, 2011, at Fight Time 7 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a promotion headed up by his American Top Team boxing trainer, Howard Davis Jr. But Thomas was in a car accident prior to the event and had to be hospitalized for his injuries. His fight against George Sheppard was scheduled to be the main event of Fight Time 7: The Return of Din Thomas. On January 2, 2014, Thomas announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.

Coaching career

Besides his own professional mixed martial artist career, Thomas has been coaching since the early days of MMA. He started coaching at Mike Metzger's Internal Power Karate School in 1999. Thomas owned multiple MMA and jiu-jitsu schools until he was recruited to become one of the primary coaches at American Top Team in 2015. Before becoming a full-time coach at ATT, he had been partially affiliated with the team and its athletes since 2001. In March 2020, Thomas announced that he had departed from ATT in order to pursue his own MMA camp.

Personal life

Thomas is married and has a son named Ethon. He also appeared in the 2007 Gotham Award-nominated independent feature film ''

'' which had its United States premiere at Dennis Hopper's CineVegas Film Festival and its international premiere in the prestigious Filmmakers of the Present competition at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. The film was released in theaters and on DVD in 2009 by Kino International. Thomas was arrested on October 30, 2007, on a charge of "felony prohibited competitions" in Port St. Lucie,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

at his training gym. As of November 30, 2007, the Assistant State Attorney's office decided not to file formal charges against Thomas and filed paperwork dismissing the charge on which he was arrested. The Assistant D.A. stated if the fighter or participants were students of Thomas' school, and the purpose of the school is to teach martial arts, then they meet the exception to the law.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

** UFC 41 Lightweight Tournament Semifinalist ** Fight of the Night (One time) vs.

** Submission of the Night (One time) vs. Jeremy Stephens *World Extreme Fighting **World Extreme Fighting Lightweight Championship (Three times) *Reality Super Fighting **Reality Super Fighting Lightweight Championship (Two times) *International Sport Combat Federation **ISCF World Lightweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 26–9 (1) , Georgi Karakhanyan , Decision (unanimous) , Legacy Fighting Championship 19 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

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, United States , , - , NC , align=center, 26–8 (1) , Cody Bollinger , No Contest , Pure MMA: Next Episode , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:04 ,

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 24–8 , Dustin Pieken , Submission (triangle choke) , HHP 1: The Patriot Act , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:58 , Columbia, Missouri, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 23–8 , Josh Neer , Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night 13 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

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, Submission (rear-naked choke) , The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:11 ,

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, England , , - , Win , align=center, 20–5 , Dwayne Shelton , Submission (armbar) , BP: Pride & Glory , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A ,

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, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 19–4 , John Strawn , Submission (armbar) , Absolute Fighting Championships 11 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:15 ,

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 18–4 , Ray Totorico , Submission (ankle lock) , Battle of New Orleans 11 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:45 , Metairie, Louisiana, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 17–4 , Amar Suloev , TKO (punches and soccer kicks) , Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:22 ,

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, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 17–3 ,

Steve Berger Stephen Richard Berger (born May 20, 1973) is an American retired professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Welterweight division. Berger is probably best known for fighting in the UFC, most notably participating in the first mixed ...

, Decision (unanimous) , Absolute Fighting Championships 4 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

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, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 15–3 ,

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 15–2 , Rob Baer , TKO (punches) , RSF 6: Mayhem in Myers , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:22 ,

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 14–2 , Jason Bender , TKO (punches) , RSF 5: New Blood Conflict , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:03 ,

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 13–2 , Fabiano Iha , Decision (unanimous) ,

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 11–1 , Stephen Palling , Submission (triangle choke) , SuperBrawl 20 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:52 ,

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 10–1 , Jens Pulver , Submission (heel hook) , WEF: New Blood Conflict , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:33 , United States , , - , Win , align=center, 9–1 , Don Banville , TKO (corner stoppage) , World Extreme Fighting 9: World Class , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:00 ,

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 8–1 , Dokonjonosuke Mishima , TKO (doctor stoppage) , Shooto – R.E.A.D. 2 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:37 ,

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, Submission (rear-naked choke) , Shooto: Renaxis 4 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 3:16 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 5–0 , Scott Bills , Submission (triangle choke) , World Extreme Fighting 5 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:46 , United States , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Scott Bills , TKO (retirement) , World Extreme Fighting 4 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 5:00 , United States , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Ed Lutz , Submission (rear-naked choke) , World Extreme Fighting 4 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:20 , United States , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Rodney Brown , Submission (keylock) , Ybor Vale Tudo , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:00 ,

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Tomas Velazquez , Submission (armbar) , WVF: Jacksonville Vale Tudo 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:02 ,

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Notes and references

External links

Official Site
* *
November 2006 Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Din Living people People from Wilmington, Delaware American male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists from Delaware American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu 1976 births Sportspeople from Wilmington, Delaware Featherweight mixed martial artists Lightweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu African-American mixed martial artists Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople