Stephen Thompson shuts down dream striking fight with Israel Adesanya, describes matchup as ‘Very difficult’
Former two-time welterweight title challenger, Stephen Thompson has pumped the brakes on any sort of potential fight with two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya under the UFC banner in the future – describing the latter’s style as “very difficult”.
Thompson, the current #7 ranked welterweight contender, most recently headlined UFC Fight Night Orlando back in December of last year, landing an eventual fourth round corner’s stoppage TKO victory over Kevin Holland. The win snapped Thompson’s two-fight losing skid to both Belal Muhammad, and Gilbert Burns.
Since then, Thompson has been booked to return at UFC 289 in June in Canada, taking on Brazilian striker, Michel Pereira in a pay-per-view main card clash.
Stephen Thompson shuts down potential fight with Israel Adesanya
Attempting to make one final push to the title having suffered a pair of championship fight losses to former gold holder, Tyron Woodley – Thompson dismissed the idea of a future fight with middleweight kingpin, Adesanya, noting his stature in comparison to other middleweights.
“It’s funny, because I’m not a big welterweight,” Stephen Thompson told MiddleEasy during a recent interview. “I probably walk around [at] 195 [pounds] at my heaviest. These guys are walking around like 220 [pounds]. I mean, I train with Chris Weidman; former middleweight champion and that dude is the strongest mama jama I have ever seen in my life.”
“I’ve stood beside ‘Stylebender’ (Israel Adesnya), he’s a good head taller than me,” Stephen Thompson explained. “I think it would be fun to train with him, maybe get a sparring match, but to fight that guy? I don’t know, man. That’s tough. I mean, with a guy that fights with range and he’s so good. But his range is so much father out than mine. He’s got the reach out of not just his legs, but his hands [as well]. And for me to get on the inside of that will be very, very difficult.”
As for Adesanya, the City Kickboxing staple most recently headlined UFC 287 earlier this month, reclaiming his title with a second round knockout win over Alex Pereira, which saw him land the undisputed middleweight for the second time in his Octagon tenure.
Expected to headline a pay-per-view return to Sydney, Australia for the UFC later this year, Adesanya has been lined up to fight either former foe, Robert Whittaker, or arch-rival, Dricus du Plessis next.
