Canadian middleweight Robert ‘The White Dragon’ Thomas (7-2, 5 KO’s) may be young and relatively new to the professional ranks, but he certainly isn’t afraid of a challenge.

He made the hardest GLORY debut possible last year when he faced Artem Levin at GLORY 16 and next week he will take on the division’s other top fighter when he faces Joe ‘Stitch ‘Em Up’ Schilling (18-6, 11 KO’s) in the co-main event of GLORY 19.

In his last outing, his second fight for GLORY, Thomas was able to stop the more experienced Mike Lemaire (13-2, 7 KO’s) by way of a head kick in the third round, so he is now 1-1 in the organization. Despite the experience-gap, Schilling – currently #1 in the contender listings – isn’t going to make the mistake of taking him lightly.

“I have made the mistake in the past of not taking an opponent seriously – I didn’t think Wayne Barrett could beat me, so I didn’t really train for that first fight – so for this one I am taking him very seriously. I have been watching a lot of tape on him, seeing what he does. I am well prepared,” he says.

“I think [Thomas] is a young kid. He knows who I am, who these other guys like Levin are, he knows what we have done, but he is willing to fight us anyway and try to make his name by beating us. I think you have to respect that, but at the same time I can’t allow him to steal that shine away from me.”

There’s a lot on the line for Schilling in this fight. As the #1-ranked contender he is in prime position for a title shot against Artem Levin (50-4, 33 KO’s).

They are 1-1 against each other and so, much like GLORY 19’s trilogy fight between Rico Verhoeven and Errol Zimmerman, it would be both a title fight and a rubber match. It could well be Schilling’s next fight in GLORY – but only if he can get past Thomas.

“I want to fight Levin and I think I can beat him again. His two best fights, most competitive fights, were in GLORY against me. Five rounds, fresh, I can put the numbers up there [in terms of shots landed],” says Schilling.

He’s thought about Levin a lot following their fights at GLORY 10 and GLORY 17: LAST MAN STANDING. He’s spent a lot of time sparring the Russian in his head and figuring out the ideal tactics to use against him.

“He puts guys off their game and shuts down their offense by making them second-guess and freeze up, so its hard for guys to put the numbers up and land shots. I think the trick to beat him is volume of strikes and a lot of mental preparation,” he says.

“He mentally breaks people. Watch his fights. People come out strong in the first round and he nullifies their game. Round two they are doubting themselves, they aren’t moving as well, he gets his offense going. Round three, he scores his points then holds you, scores points and holds you.

“Catching him with the big shots worked for me in our first fight, you just need to have the energy to throw those shots and throw volume. I didn’t have any energy left by the final of the LAST MAN STANDING tournament.”

From Schilling’s point of view, Thomas is trying to take his title shot away from him. He has no intention of letting that happen, so he’s been preparing thoroughly. One of the people Schilling has been game planning with has been the UFC’s Nick Diaz, who faces Anderson Silva on Saturday night.

Schilling is a friend of Diaz’s and was brought in to handle the striking training for the camp, staying at Diaz’s house for weeks at a time. In between studying Silva, they have been taking a look at Thomas as well.

“Me and Nick were watching tape of Robert Thomas together one night and Nick said, “Why have they matched him with you, are they trying to kill him? Do they not like him or something?” laughs Schilling.

“I thought that was quite funny. But obviously that’s just joking around; I can’t afford to write Thomas off. He’s dangerous because he is big. He’s got that spinning backfist which comes out of nowhere, that’s quite dangerous. Similar to the one Levin hit me with in the tournament last year.

“And he is definitely hard to put away. Levin was teeing off on him, Alex Pereira dropped him when they fought in Brazil last year, but he just kept coming all the same. But I think I hit harder than both of those guys. I would expect to put him away.

“I see some holes in his game. I don’t rate his movement, I think he’s slow. I don’t see a lot of athleticism. He had problems against Mike Lemaire at GLORY 18 and I can’t say that I have seen a lot of improvement in Lemaire since Wayne Barrett knocked him out with a jab [at GLORY 9, June 2013]. Lemaire was winning that fight with Thomas until the third round when Thomas knocked him out.

“But I don’t want to get all negative about the guy. He is still young, he’s quick. He’s hungry, it’s a big opportunity for him and he’s dangerous. So it’s important that I am mentally prepared for that.”

GLORY 19 takes place Friday, February 6 in Hampton, Virginia, USA and features a World Heavyweight Championship title fight as Rico Verhoeven defends his belt against Errol Zimmerman, plus a four-man Welterweight Contender Tournament with Nieky Holzken, Raymond Daniels, Alexander Stetcurenko and Jonathan Oliveira.

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