Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson believes he’s back on track to reach a UFC welterweight title shot.
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“I wanted [Kamaru] Usman because Usman called me out, but UFC already has something set up for him and I wanted someone that was ranked above me,” Thompson told
The MMA Hour. “Most of the guys that I’ve faced have been ranked behind me. The Geoff Neals and the Vicente Luques, [Michel] Pereira, which you let these guys come up they should be able to make weight, but I wanted somebody ranked above me and it didn’t matter really who it was. So the Usman fight didn’t happen, so there was Shavkat. I know he was supposed to fight [Kelvin] Gastelum, which I think Gastelum [withdrew due to a] cut, so he didn’t have anybody. I saw him on social media, I know he’s ranked above me, and it just worked out for the both of us.
“It was 1.5 years ago, maybe, I think, UFC wanted me to fight Shavkat, and to be honest with you, I didn’t know who he was at the time,” he continued. “I think he’s only had, like, five fights in the UFC. Obviously, I turned it down, I didn’t know who the guy was, and then after that, I tuned in and saw him fight Neil Magny, saw him fight Geoff Neal, and I’m like, ‘Bro, this dude’s legit,’ and now he’s ranked above me. So, anybody that’s ranked above me, I told the UFC I’m down for. This is the guy I think could possibly be Welterweight champ at some point. He’s that good, undefeated, I think he has a 100 percent finish rate, so what better guy to go out there and show the world and the UFC that I deserve a title shot by fighting this guy?”
