Why doesn't Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson ever turn it up?!

[superpunch]

It's basically the same as Machida imo. Only difference is Machida has/had this one punch KO power. Wonderboy does not, so we get the fights that he fights.

As (sort of) a MMA purist i really love his strategic fighting style... but also being honest.. when drunk it gets boring after a round or two.

And since i am basically always watching drunk... yeah i agree i guess.

Machida started fighting aggressively after the Rashad Evans fight. He then proceeded to go from being undefeated and looking unstoppable to losing every other fight for the rest of his career.

The same would happen to a more aggressive Thompson but worse since Thompson isn't a champion even with the more cautious style.

Aggressive fighting opens karate to expose its major weaknesses of in-the-pocket offense and, more importantly, defense.

 

[superpunch]

He seemed to fight more aggressive or I should say take a bit more risk when he was rising up the ranks compared to his championship level fights that have all been 5 rounds. The thing I don't get is if he's not going to go for it and let his strikes fly against other strikers like Masvidal and Till, and he's not going to let his strikes go against great wrestlers like Tyrone because of the take down threat.... Well what exactly is the game plan for Wonderboy to win a fight? Jumping around and throwing the odd counter punch is not showing the judges, himself, the fans or his employer that he wants to win fights and clearly it's not working for him at this level. Maybe he feels as though he has too much to lose if he gets caught with a shot? It is frustrating as a fan to see some of his performances in the UFC while being aware of his extremely high level striking, at one point he was my favourite fighter to watch in the UFC but now I just feel meh. I was extremely disappointed in that Till vs Thompson fight, I was so hyped up for that one, I had big expectations.

His problem is karate. Karate, like many other unconventional styles, can look great to an extent. However, at the highest levels, the fundamentals of conventional striking styles such as boxing and muay thai will always overcome it.

 

[Pumphrey94]

Styles make fights I'm sure we'll see more knockouts from Wonderboy in the future