Stephen Thompson Wants Interim Title Fight With Former UFC Champion
Fight fans, Stephen Thompson is making headlines these days, and it’s because he is extremely focused on who he may fight after his next fight. Keep in mind that it’s one thing for a fighter to have their call-out planned for after their next win but it puts things on a completely different level when the fighter tells everyone about it ahead of time. But hey, we are in a different era in MMA (mixed martial arts), so why not.
The top welterweight contender is doing this. Despite the fact that he has a big fight set against Jorge Masvidal on the PPV portion of UFC 217 and the notion that it will likely leave the winner in grasp of a shot at the welterweight title, Thomson knows what he wants.
Thompson has fought current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley twice, but has yet to beat the champion. Thompson would likely need pretty special circumstances to warrant a third shot at the UFC gold.
It was recently announced that Woodley would be going on hiatus to recover from a nagging shoulder injury.
With all of that being said, Thomson took the time to go on Submission Radio and during the interview, he stated that he is looking for an interim title fight with former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler.
“I haven’t really talked to anybody about that with the UFC,” Thompson said, when asked about a potential third title shot with a win over Masvidal (transcript courtesy of Bloody Elbow). “The only thing that I know is that I’m facing off against Jorge Masvidal. But, what I believe I have to do come November 4th is – to be able to stay for that title contention, to be able to fight for the title – is put on a good show and put out a good W, an exciting W come November 4th against Jorge Masvidal.
“We’ve been kind of going back and forth with me and Robbie Lawler. I was ranked number one, then he’s number one, then we’re both number one. So hopefully a good win over this… You know, I understand Tyron is out for a little while, so hopefully, we’ll be able to fight against Robbie Lawler, maybe for an interim welterweight title against him for that belt. There’s also word RDA will want him to fight for the title too, so I really don’t know. I gotta go out there and face Jorge first and see what happens there before I can think about really what’s going on next. But it is in the back of mind.”
“Well, I don’t want to put anything out there,” Thompson responded, to questions about holes in Masvidal’s striking game. “He’s probably got guys listening to this podcast (laughs) and stuff. But, he’s a great Muay Thai stylist and his clinch work is one of the best. I mean, he’s one of the guys that goes out there and he just brings it, man. And he defeats a lot of these guys because he’s a very tough opponent and he just outworks them. You know, his cardio, he’s got cardio for days. He’s been a 155’er, so he’s not really big at 170, but he’s got cardio for days and breaks a lot of these guys because of that.”
Thompson also opened up about how Masvidal’s style will hopefully allow him to use more of his respected striking arsenal than his last two fights against Woodley did:
“His clinch work is one of the top in the welterweight division, probably in the UFC, and I haven’t seen anybody better in his clinch than Anderson Silva, who’s known for that. So, he’s got great knees and great elbows. And I think he’s gonna press forward like he normally does and try to get me into that clinch, maybe take me down here and there, because usually, everybody tries to do that against me. But, he’s very well-rounded, so I gotta be on point every step of the way when I step out there against him November 4th. And I’ve been working religiously on my wrestling and my Jiu Jitsu just in case the fight goes there. I’m ready for wherever it goes.”
“A lot of fight fans are more excited about our fight than anything else, so we both have responsibility to go out there and really put on a show. And unlike Tyron, this guy comes forward. He comes to fight, and it’s got fireworks written all over it.”
“You’re gonna see more of Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson than you saw in my last two fights against Tyron. I love it when guys come forward, which is something you didn’t see during the Tyron Woodley fight. But that’s just the way Masvidal is. He comes walking forward, he’s not afraid to press the action, which enables me to use my arsenal a little bit better, to use my kicks, to use my angles. So yeah, man, you’re gonna see a more exciting fight from me November 4th.”
UFC 217 is set to take place on Saturday, November 4th in New York at Madison Square Garden. Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre for the UFC middleweight title is expected to serve as the main event. Cody Garbrandt vs. T.J. Dillashaw for the UFC bantamweight title is expected to serve as the co-main event.
The main card will air on pay-per-view while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.
