PGF Season 5: Carson Thigpen’s Ready to Bring the Heat!

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is about technique; size, strength, or other attributes don’t matter. Yeah, if you believe that, I have some oceanfront property to sell you in Arizona. Carson Thigpen has serious technique on his side, but his athletic background could help set him apart from the crowd in Season 5 of the Professional Grappling Federation (PGF). His speed, flexibility, and strength have setup many highlight submissions for him in a number of PGF Qualifiers.

Every season, the PGF has a standout blue belt who becomes a fan favorite: someone like a Noah Randolph from Season 1, Evan Stapler from Season 2, Kevin Beuhring from Season 3, Nick Sahf from Season 4. Carson Thigpen looks to be this season’s fan-favorite blue belt.

Thigpen earned his roster spot as an at-large bid after competing in the PGF Season 5 Decatur Qualifier. He hit two highlight-level submissions; one against David “Turbo Tax” Cooper out of Ironclad Wrestling who has had some great performances at PGF qualifiers and one against Joshua “Full Time” Gibbs, the PGF Season 2 and 3 veteran as well as the BATTLERAMA CHAMPION. These two highlights, and perhaps along with the illustrious new mustache Thigpen was sporting, led Brandon Mccaghren (the Commish) to extend him an at-large bid.

Admittedly, Carson Thigpen also suffered two losses at the PGF Season 5 Decatur Qualifier. He lost to eventual qualifier winner Maximus “Rock Troll” Jolly (see his profile here). Thigpen also lost against another at-large bid recipient in 10th Planet Decatur product Sawyer Griffin. But fans who watched the PGF Season 5 Decatur Qualifier likely don’t know the rest of the story about Carson Thigpen. Most importantly, during this qualifier, Thigpen had only returned to grappling for a little over two months after having a five-month layoff due to a grade-three AC joint separation and torn labrum surgery. Thigpen admitted to Matt Skaff during his post-qualifier interview that his defense/reactions were slow and his cardio wasn’t where he wanted it. With an additional five+ months of mat time and strength and conditioning between the qualifier and the PGF Season 5 Regular Season, rest assured, Carson Thigpen will be back to his old form. And by old form, fans need to know a little more about Carson Thigpen’s past, both before the PGF and with relation to the past seasons of the PGF.

Thigpen grew up playing baseball. While John Kruk (of Philadelphia Phillies fame) said “I’m a baseball player, not an athlete,” the modern baseball competitors beg to differ. Thigpen played baseball since he was able to walk. He started as a catcher, the leader of the team, then moved to pitcher later in his career. He earned his way through college as a pitcher for the Bluefield State University Big Blues, an NCAA Division II program.

Thigpen graduated in the spring of 2019. As he puts it, “sports players suffer two deaths: one when they stop playing and one when they finally die.” Thigpen was dealing with the loss of his ever-present sport after graduating and decided to start training in Muay Thai in the fall of 2019. Like so many other standout athletes, Thigpen thought about trying his hand at mixed martial arts (MMA). That is, he tried it until he got punched in the face a few too many times and realized BJJ might be the real sport for him. Essentially, he started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu just about the time the COVID 19 lockdowns started.

Thigpen trains out of Renzo Gracie Nashville under the world-renowned BJJ competitor, coach, and now ADCC main commentator Shawn Williams. Thigpen learned about the PGF after seeing a number of his training partners compete against PGF Season 3 standout Kevin Beuhring. As Thigpen knew of Beurhing and watched him on the PGF, Carson learned Summit Grappling Championship was looking for competitors for super fights at the PGF Season 3 Finale. Thigpen threw his hat in the ring and soundly won the first Summit Grappling Championship match of the night. Fans might not have known at the time, but they hadn’t seen the last of Carson Thigpen.

Thigpen returned to the PGF for the Cincinnati Qualifier. He started off the qualifier with a match against the eventual winner Brandt Basaran in this match. Basaran hit a “wild-man leg lock” in not much time. Next, he face Lance McConnell in this match. It was a very exciting match with McConnell, the seasoned brown belt, getting a lot of nice looks at Carson’s neck. But Carson kept flowing with every attack. Eventually, Carson secured the toe-hold submission. Next, Carson faced Max Stiers from Queen City Grappling (having the home field advantage) in this match. Carson showed a beautiful leg lock entry securing the submission. Then, finally Thigpen went up against Basaran again with the same result as their previous match. Even though he was the runner up, Thigpen showed serious resilience in fighting back to the final match after losing his initial match. Between his resilience and explosiveness, he earned the Commish’s respect and interest.

After Cincinnati, Thigpen didn’t rest. He had a great showing at PGF Season 4 Nashville Qualifier. In his first match, he took on PGF fan favorite Mario Gaor. Gaor is now a black belt and is a veteran of seasons 1, 3, and 4. Thigpen allegedly completed his second takedown ever in competition against Mario. Then Thigpen impressed Mario by going for a Dagestani handcuff. Eventually, Thigpen found his way to a toe-hold submission (which would have gotten him some sweet flip flops if he was a part of season 3). In his second match, Carson vied against Chad Rezzy also known as Dr. Von Flue who had secured a von flue choke in his previous match. Thigpen quickly worked the leg entanglement and got the leg lock, giving a finger-gun salute to the camera. Carson later took on Juan Martinez in a qualifier match. In that match, he almost got the nickname “Handsome Eddie Cummings.” Carson secured a straight ankle submission in about 20 seconds. To be sure, the PGF Insiders and the Editorial Board at Eggheadwarrior.com are huge fans of Juan Martinez (who after all was 7th in PGF Season 4 regular season standings and acquitted himself well in the post-season tournament)…so it should say something that Carson was able to get the quick submission against a competitor who had a very solid showing at the PGF Season 4 regular season. Thigpen met his match against eventual PGF Season 4 regular season point leader and post-season tournament runner-up Dane Leak in this match. Carson tried to enter the legs, but Dane, the cagey black belt, navigated his way out of the situation and got Carson in his closed guard. Eventually, Thigpen fell prey to Leak’s back game along with a number of smothers on the way to the rear naked choke finish. Carson was eventually knocked out by a PGF Season 4 competitor who finished in the top four in the regular season, Samson “The Hustler” Phommabout. Carson showed some great technique but left his arm vulnerable during a false reap attempt and Sampson took advantage of it. Regardless, after his SOLID showings at two different qualifiers, Thigpen received an at-large bid from the Commish for PGF Season 4.

Unfortunately for us fans, as mentioned above, Thigpen suffered a grade-three AC joint separation and a labrum tear only three weeks before the PGF Season 4 began. Thigpen’s doctors got him into surgery within a week of the diagnosis. Luckily, after he was able to get out of the sling, Thigpen had almost complete range of motion. He stretched a bit with his physical therapist then was off to the races with strengthening.

Now, having secured his spot in PGF Season 5, Thigpen can start focusing on competing during the regular season. While some might thing Thigpen should rest up, he assures everyone he will be the most active competitor around. He wants to keep sharpening himself against competition. While Thigpen was excited to feature his athleticism and size by cutting to 155 pounds for Season 4, he sees some opportunities by competing at 185 pounds for Season 5. Thigpen normally walks around at 186-190 pounds, he won’t have to worry about any drain resulting from a hard weight cut. Thigpen says he knows the littler grapplers in the season may be able to put a pace on him now; Thigpen knows he can use his added size to pressure them. As mentioned above, Thigpen is a proven athlete. Given five months to prepare for the PGF Season, one has to believe we’ll see an explosive, strong, durable Carson Thigpen when PGF Season 5 kicks off on October 29th. Call him just a blue belt all you want, but for PGF Season 5, he’s going to bring the heat.

For those interested in watching who might join Carson Thigpen and the rest of the PGF Season 5 roster or those interested in joining them on the roster, you need to pay attention to the pre-season QUALIFIERS. On August 12th, 10th Planet Jacksonville will host a qualifier. On August 26th, One Nation Jiu Jitsu will host a qualifier. On 24 September, 10th Planet HQ will host a qualifier. On October 7, 10th Planet Huntsville will host a qualifier. The Commissioner has said he is looking to add qualifiers in Austin and other locations, but the details have not been finalized so make sure to subscribe to his YouTube Channel and follow him on Instagram (or check back here) to get the details on additional qualifiers when they become available. Prospective competitors should not delay registering for qualifiers.

The editors at EggheadWarrior.com thank the PGF Insiders and Carson Thigpen for providing the content of this article. The PGF Insiders will always work to provide the latest and greatest information regarding the PGF and you can see their weekly podcasts on the McDojo Life YouTube Channel or Brandon Mccaghren’s channel (if a member). If you’d like to see the PGF Insider interviews with Carson Thigpen that provided most of this content, you can view the first one HERE and the second one HERE or you can download podcast from ITunes, Podbean, Spotify, and other podcast outlets. Special thanks to Walo Jay for all the great photos. Those interested in Walo’s work can check out his YouTube page  and Walo’s website.