Stephen Thompson wants one fight and one fight only.
In fact, ‘Wonderboy’ is already training as though he will be sharing the Octagon with UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden.
And it’s hard to deny Thompson his position as the next challenger for Woodley’s belt.
He’s gone seven fights undefeated after his solitary career loss back in 2012 and after coasting past perennial top contender Rory MacDonald, Thompson believed he’d done enough to give the UFC no option but to grant him a title shot.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJS9kHiAmGq/?taken-by=wonderboymma&hl=en
But champion Woodley, after dethroning Robbie Lawler at UFC 201, played coy with the bout and told ‘Wonderboy’ to go elsewhere while he attempted to get himself a super-fight.
And Woodley’s immediate declaration that he was to prioritise big money match-ups over logical title fights has prompted Thompson to accuse ‘The Chosen One’ of trying to rip off Conor McGregor’s shtick.
Thompson told Submission Radio: “I knew for a fact that he was going to say ‘yeah man, let’s do it. Madison Square Garden, let’s go’. And then he hits me with the, ‘nah man. You wanted to fight Robbie, so you’re going to fight Robbie. I’m going to get a money fight’.
"@WonderboyMMA by first round TKO!" Thompson stops @JohnyHendricks with a devastating performance. 👊💪 #UFCVegas https://t.co/KpDlJWG2nr
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) February 7, 2016
“I was laughing, but in my head I was like ‘is this guy kidding? This guy’s gotta be kidding’. I’m looking at Daniel Cormier and Cormier’s looking at me and he’s like ‘I’m pretty sure this guy’s serious. You need to go back at him’. And it really surprised me.
“What champion doesn’t accept the number one contender? You know what I mean? That’s just how it goes. You defend that title a few times before you ever starting asking for a money fight. Come on, what’s going on?
“I mean, you hear Conor McGregor doing that but Tyron’s nowhere near the level of Conor McGregor when it comes to marketing and popularity. He’s just not there.
“I think everybody else, the fans see that as well. And it upset not just me but a lot of other fans and people that follow the UFC too.”
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