Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson: Fighting Style (Technical Breakdown)

[strike thought]

I'm back to share a breakdown on Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson. He did a great job handling Johny Hendricks. This is for the fans who are curious about Wonderboy's style and for those who love the technical aspects of fighting. (It covers his Karate blitz, dynamic Kicking strategies, and evasion positioning)


Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson: Fighting Style Breakdown Part 1 of 2

Hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading.

If you missed the previous forum discussion on Dominick vs T.J. post fight breakdown, you can go back here: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/h...k-the-ufc-tittle-technique-breakdown.3154969/

There's a lot of good fights ahead of Wonderboy now. Against Lawler, Condit or Rory, it's going to be crazy to see. Stylistically, I'd love to see Micheal venom page vs Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, but that wont be happening any time soon. Who do you folks want to see him fight next?

 

[JohnWick]

MVP vs Wonderboy would be a good match up, I don't mind who he gets next though. Rory makes sense.

 

[mudrubble]

MVP has never fought competition remotely at the level of WB. I love MVP, don't get me wrong. But he should be fighting someone in the top 30, then 20, then 15, then 10, then 5 THEN we talk about a WB match up!

This is such a premature matchup. As in SOOO premature as to almost make me wonder if I should read your breakdown. It makes me ask "how realistic is this guy?"

 

[Rational Poster]

MVP has never fought competition remotely at the level of WB. I love MVP, don't get me wrong. But he should be fighting someone in the top 30, then 20, then 15, then 10, then 5 THEN we talk about a WB match up!

This is such a premature matchup. As in SOOO premature as to almost make me wonder if I should read your breakdown. It makes me ask "how realistic is this guy?"

This.

 

[strike thought]

MVP has never fought competition remotely at the level of WB. I love MVP, don't get me wrong. But he should be fighting someone in the top 30, then 20, then 15, then 10, then 5 THEN we talk about a WB match up!

This is such a premature matchup. As in SOOO premature as to almost make me wonder if I should read your breakdown. It makes me ask "how realistic is this guy?"

I like the style match up purely for entertainment value. I'm aware he hasn't faced top competition. You're absolutely free to avoid the read based off this single judgement man.

Keep in mind, many have found my work insightful from various sites like SB Nation and TheMMACommunity. It's not too common that writers cover important subjects such as the style difference between Cruz and T.J. or how Alistair Overeem's style is changing. So it's worth putting in the work to clear up the ambiguity because it helps move the community. Since the users here have asked me to continue posting my work, this is mainly for them.

The feedback from these my previous articles have gotten great feedback and recommendations if you're curious in what people talk about with my content.

Alistair Overeem article
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/12/22/10656574/how-alistair-overeems-style-is-changing
Dominick Cruz article
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/1/8/10735450/how-dominick-cruz-fights-breakdown-part1

For my pre-fight breakdown of T.J. vs Cruz, I did breakdown specific technical skills the fighters could use to trump their opponent. Sure enough, as the fight came, those skills we're demonstrated. My assessment on that breakdown was pretty realistic, so you wont have to worry about that. I often put in time to investigate technical skills fighters talk about and explore them into the pieces.

 

[xMaxPower]

MVP could beat Wonderboy.
They both have the same background of fighting.
It would essentially be a freestyle kickboxing fight.

The "he hasn't fought anyone" argument has always been the typical sherdog logic when it comes to predicting fights.
There have been plenty of fighters "that haven't fought anyone" that came out and won like Holly over Ronda.

Styles makes fights. They have the same style and around the same skill level at that style, which implies that it will be a close fight if they were ever matched up.

 

[strike thought]

MVP could beat Wonderboy.
They both have the same background of fighting.
It would essentially be a freestyle kickboxing fight.

The "he hasn't fought anyone" argument has always been the typical sherdog logic when it comes to predicting fights.
There have been plenty of fighters "that haven't fought anyone" that came out and won like Holly over Ronda.

Styles makes fights. They have the same style and around the same skill level at that style, which implies that it will be a close fight if they were ever matched up.

Agreed. Conor McGregor had that logic placed on him for a very long time. I'm not a fan of that logic either. People spend too much time fixated on who someone beat on the top list and place less focus on what truly matters -- the technical skills and styles.

Everyone starts off at the bottom, it doesn't take away from their style or skills because of it.

 

[strike thought]

MVP vs Wonderboy would be a good match up, I don't mind who he gets next though. Rory makes sense.

I'm wondering if that's a fight they would accept. They we're teammates at Tristar at some point. I don't mind who he fights next either. It's mostly exciting fighters at the top right now.