Stephen Thompson Would Have Considered Fighting Leon Edwards If Not For Injured Leg

There could have been a possibility of fans getting to watch Leon Edwards vs. Stephen Thompson next month.

Thompson is coming off an impressive unanimous decision victory over Geoff Neal in the UFC Vegas 17 headliner earlier this month.

While he pretty much outclassed Neal over five rounds, Thompson wasn’t able to come out unscathed. He suffered a cut on his face due to an accidental headbutt while he also injured his leg in the fourth round which led to swelling above his kneecap.

“Wonderboy” was clearly in pain but managed to ride it out in the final round to come away with the unanimous decision victory.

For now, he’s waiting on an MRI to determine the nature of the injury as well as how long he will be sidelined.

“I get an MRI on it tomorrow,” Thompson told MMA Fighting on Wednesday. “We’ve got to see what kind of tear it’s going to be. I think I have a quad tear. Hopefully it’s just a muscle and not the tendon. If it’s a tendon, I’ll have to have surgery. I couldn’t come out of that fight unscathed. Come on!

“… I had two cuts on my face that are pretty much healed up. I have the cut from the head butt that is healing up nicely, and I’m still gimping around on my right leg. After the fight, we took the nieces and nephews to Disney World, and I had to be pushed around in a wheelchair for the first two days. After that, I was like, ‘Listen, I’ve got to get moving around on this thing.’ I’m still gimping around on it, teaching karate classes.

“We’ll find out hopefully tomorrow or the next day what the damage is, and hopefully, it’s not that bad and I’ll get back in there.”

If Thompson did come out unscathed, however, he would have considered stepping in to face Edwards.

Edwards was set to battle Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC’s January 20 headliner only for the latter to pull out due to lung issues from a positive COVID-19 test.

“Wonderboy” was initially looking to fight Edwards as well before settling on Neal. Fate had other ideas, though.

“He was who I was shooting for to begin with,” Thompson said. “Of course, he was not having it. I’m not really sure what happened with Khamzat, but I would have loved to stepped out there and fought him for sure.

“But at this point, with the injury and stuff, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen but I would love to have faced him. That would have been awesome.”

However, even if he was fully healthy, it would also depend on his coaches given the short notice.

“The last thing I want to do is to be able to have that quick turnaround and not feel good about it,” Thompson added. “Of course, I’m sitting here injured and I’d love to sit here and say that I’d do it but that’s why you have coaches to make sure that you’re 100 percent before you do that.”

Hopefully, Thompson won’t be on the sidelines for too long.

Did you want to see Thompson vs. Edwards? Or would you prefer them facing different opponents?