Like Thanos, Thomas “The Time Bomb” Blackorby is all but inevitable. At 5-0, the undefeated rising welterweight is hitting his stride at the right time. At age 24, he will find himself making his LFA debut on October 23rd against Devan Worth, a dangerous finisher. Yet Blackorby is arguably more dangerous in his own right, finishing four of five pro bouts. Holding an amateur and professional welterweight belt in regional promotions, Blackorby is an absolute riptide. His nickname is fitting; he will patiently pick his opponent apart until there is nothing left to pick at. Death by a thousand cuts at range, then a kill shot once the prey is suitably exhausted and crippled.
Justin Gaethje-esque with his leg kicks; they are Blackorby’s favorite weapon at range, and have weakened and felled more than one opponent. His strategy is to jam incoming offense before it gets going, and he does his best work early as a disruptor. Front kicks, timely jabs, etc are all interceptors that he alternates between. Constant circling movement and pivots mean the other fighter has to constantly chase him down on increasingly wobbly legs. Once the other guy stops advancing, that is where the time bomb comes in, with some of the most vicious and creative close quarters combat you will ever see on the prospect scene.
Even dating back to his amateur bout against Liam Aunan (a great prospect in his own right, boasting an 8-2 amateur record and making his first professional appearance on October 16), we saw foreshadowing of modern day Blackorby. Aunan was actually undefeated when he fought Blackorby, and this fight proved to be a true chess match. A significant portion of Blackorby’s fights take place in the clinch pressed against the cage. Here, we saw a microcosm of his strategies against Aunan. Excellent work with over/unders when on the receiving end, and strategic reversals to hold his opponent there and stall their offense. Punishing the position with knees to the body off the break also served to augment what Blackorby does best: take the wind out of his opponent’s sails. When Aunan tried to advance and put weight on his lead leg, it was beaten out from under him. Similarly to Isaac Moreno in a previous article, Blackorby does stellar work with these intercepting blows.
Against Kyron Bowen in Blackorby’s most recent bout (October of 2025), we saw Blackorby refine this strategy a bit. Like Aunan, Bowen found himself dropped with low kicks, but to an ever greater extent. As Blackorby circled away from danger, he seemed to put all the different pieces of his game together that he had shown flashes of. Stance switching and blasting inside low kicks as he circled, so Bowen could not just walk him down. Handfighting at the point of attack, grabbing the pawing shots as they came in, then attempting counters were all points of emphasis. Front kicks pushed Bowen away whenever Blackorby needed a bit of breathing room, then got right back to work. Once Bowen’s lead left leg was dismantled to the point of uselessness, Blackorby could go on the attack. Again and again, Bowen was dropped from calf kicks, eventually leading the referee to stop the fight. Against Owen Tschantz in Blackorby’s professional debut, too, Blackorby began with posts and pivots. Much like versus Bowen, it was circling and low kicks until movement began to stall. Once that happens, the Time Bomb takes over.
Thomas Blackorby is an absolute ball of knives, and a nightmare to get close to. Like a pack of wolves hunting an elk (shoutout Joe Rogan), Blackorby exhausts and damages his opponent to the point where they can no longer move freely. He accomplishes this via front kicks for distance control, lateral movement coupled with leg kicks when they give chase, stance switches, and body locks to slow their gameplan. And, once they can barely stand on their own feet, it is kill shot time. Multiple finishes being set up with low kicks are not a coincidence. The real treat with Blackorby is watching him button mash when the opponent is hurt, almost like a “finish him” in Mortal Kombat. Chopping, downward slicing elbows and hooks to the body are a work of art in these scenarios. If he is to finish an undefeated stud in his own right in Devan Worth, Blackorby could not ask for a better christening in his LFA debut. Moreover, Blackorby is a very cognizant, cerebral fighter and person. He knows exactly how to game plan for Worth and his best path to the UFC. As a moral point, he does not want to take cherry-picked fights. If and when Blackorby breaks into the UFC, it will be entirely of his own accord.
