Athletes
Thomas Petersen | Trying To Set An Example
Dana White’s Contender Series Grad Opens Up About Family, Fighting On The Big Stage
Thomas Petersen didn’t set out to be a UFC fighter, not initially at least.
“When I started fighting, I thought I was just gonna do an amateur fight and be done,” the Minnesota heavyweight said with a quick chuckle. “I was a two-time state champ in wrestling, a Junior College National champ, and I just wanted to do one fight to say I did it.
“But this is crack, and I love to compete.”
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The National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) doesn’t get even a modicum of the attention that its big brother the NCAA receives, but when it comes to wrestling and its connection to the UFC, Peterson is a part of a rich history.
More than 15 JuCo National champions have competed inside the Octagon over the years, a group that includes fellow Iowa Central alumni Cain Velasquez, Jon Jones Colby Covington.
For someone with a resume like his and a penchant for competing, the “just do one” idea was never work.
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Peterson won his first amateur fight in the spring of 2018 and made his professional debut 18 months later, earning a first-round submission win. Less than two years later, he won the LFA heavyweight title, running his record to 5-0 with a fifth consecutive first-round finish. Dropping the title to Waldo Cortes Acosta didn’t stop him, as Petersen promptly won two more fights to land an opportunity to compete on Season 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series. A second-round submission win over TUF 30 alum Chandler Cole punched his ticket to the Octagon and just over five years after he thought he was just dipping his toe in the water to check the temperature, Petersen had earned a place on the biggest stage in the sport.
“To be honest, I didn’t know it was three years; it feels like it was yesterday,” Petersen said ahead of his clash with Guilherme Pat this weekend. “It moves fast here. This is a scary place — everybody is a dog, everybody is the top of the top, and if you have an off day, you lose bad in front of the world.
In terms of the lessons he learned in his first year with the mixed martial arts leader, Petersen’s answer is quite unexpected.
“There has been a lot of stuff that has happened in my life in these last three years: I started fighting and I work too, and it’s tough to do this, but I love it,” began Petersen, who works as a diesel mechanic and has three kids with his wife and high school sweetheart, Kori. “I love to compete, I love to compete against the best guys in the world, and that’s the high for me. This is the top of the top of the world.
“God blessed me with a beautiful wife and a family — my first kid was gonna be born two days after my LFA championship fight, so it’s been on all fronts that I’ve been learning: how to be a dad, how to be a fighter, and once you think you’ve got one kid figured out, another kid comes.”
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He laughed, his eyes beginning to well up with tears and his speech interrupted by the catch in his throat as he spoke about his family.
“I wouldn’t change it for the world,” he continued, shifting in his seat as the emotions started to get on top of him. “Being able to accept learning and being humble — take every lesson for what it is. ‘Win or learn’ is how I look at life. Life is gonna life and it’s gonna kick the s*** outta ya, and I don’t mean to quote Rocky Balboa here, but ‘It’s not about how hard you hit; it’s how hard you can get hit and keep going forward.’’
After an outstanding wrestling career and nearly uninterrupted march to the UFC, Petersen has struggled to find consistency at this level, having alternated between losses and wins since touching down in the Octagon for the first time. Losing is clearly a difficult pill to swallow, but that’s not what’s got him choked up.
Back in October, Petersen ventured to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to face Vitor Petrino, and through two rounds, they were deadlocked at 19-19 on two of the three scorecards. With both men feeling like the fight clearly hinged on the outcome of the third round, they came out aggressively, and Petersen walked into a series of uppercuts that laid him out and ended the fight.
Now, six months later, he’s back at it — chasing a third UFC, still chasing consistency, and, most importantly to him, still showing his kids that showing up and continuing to try is the most important things of all.
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“That’s my lesson,” he said, circling back to the original question after wiping away more tears and apologizing (unnecessarily) for getting emotional when speaking about his kids. “Be consistent because no matter what, it’s gonna suck, but just keep going forward. Be consistent, keep going forward, and keep trying. At the end of the day, I can say I tried and my kids can see that.
“The sport is a b****,” Petersen added with a laugh. “At the end of the day, I just want my kids to know that I tried, and that they can go after something too. When life starts life’ing, they can see ‘Hey — Dad went through hell!’ and so what can they do?”
This weekend, the DWCS alum heads back into the fray, looking to maintain his pattern of results for one more appearance as he steps in with Pat, who registered a unanimous decision win over Allen Frye Jr. in his promotional debut on the final card of 2025.
Where many of his contemporaries are confident right up to the point of delusion — and maybe a little passed it at times — Petersen has more of a tepid optimism when speaking about his abilities and the outcome of this weekend’s matchup with Pat, offering his opponent the utmost respect while seemingly struggling to commit to believing that he has what it takes not only to compete at this level, but to thrive.
“I think I’m good enough to compete with these guys, I can beat them, and I can maybe be on top of the world one day, and I’m trying like hell to get there,” he offered, shifting his focus to his UFC tenure and this weekend’s tilt in Las Vegas. “Saturday comes, I expect a war; I respect the s*** outta this guy — I think he’s an athlete, I think he’s very fast, hits hard, and he’s really ready for this fight.
“I’m gonna go out there and give it hell, but it’s ‘win or learn.’ Go out there, give it your best, and hold your head up when it’s done; that’s all you can do. I’m gonna go out there, go like hell, and we’ll see what happens.
“At this level, there’s no easy road, easy path to victory, so I just wanna be flexible in there,” he added. “Take what’s there, don’t force anything, don’t get caught. I’m gonna give it hell and be flexible, that’s my plan.”
Thomas Petersen turned 31 last weekend, and while Kori wanted to celebrate before he departed for fight week, Petersen opted to wait until after his fight.
Here’s hoping he can celebrate a win too, and not just another lesson learned.
UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs Duncan took place live from Meta APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 4, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!