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Shine Fights on Wednesday announced the signing of Nick “The Goat” Thompson, a veteran of the UFC, Strikeforce, World Victory Road, Sengoku and many other regional promotions.

Thompson (38-12-1) wrestled collegiately at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and spent the bulk of his early career fighting in Midwest promotions, including XFO and Extreme Challenge. Thompson made his major promotion debut at UFC 56 in November 2005, where he won a unanimous decision over Valparaiso-based Keith Wisniewski.

In 2007, he beat the highly regarded Eddie Alvarez to win the Bodog Fight welterweight title, which he successfully defended twice afterward. Those victories were part of a 12-fight winning streak. But he has dropped two straight bouts and three of his last five.

Thompson, who trains at the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy with UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk and Brock Larson, owns high-profile wins over the aforementioned Alvarez as well as current UFC welterweight contender Paul Daley and Josh Neer. But he’s had setbacks against Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields, Yushin Okami, Karo Parisyan and Ed Herman.

Thompson said in a statement from Shine that his decision to sign with the promotion had to do with its willingness to keep him busy.

“Over three years, I’d gone 22-2 at welterweight, and I couldn’t get a fight,” Thompson said. “It was really frustrating. If you look at my record, I had 50 fights in five years, and all of a sudden I’m going down to two fights in a year. I’m going out of my mind. I want to be the No. 1-ranked guy in Shine Fights, plain and simple.”

Shine matchmaker Ron Foster lauded the promotion’s newest signee.

“Nick is a world-class fighter, and we’re extremely excited to feature him in our shows,” Foster said. Thompson is expected to make his debut with the promotion sometime this spring.