Stephen Thompson admits he was bummed when he didn’t get the call to face Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight titleholder Robbie Lawler for his next bout.
Still, fighting the next best guy in the division, Rory MacDonald, was a good consolation prize even though he always tried his best to avoid a fight against “Red King.” Not because he fears him, but rather because he’s always seen him as a brother thanks to their days spent training side by side at TriStar Gym.
But at the end of the day, “Wonderboy” tells UFC.com that he is putting all that aside and looking at the business side of things, which is why he says come June 18, both of them won’t have a problem punching each other in the face at UFC Fight Night 89.
“I never really wanted to fight Rory because we’ve done training before, known each other for a long time, spent many years up at Tristar with (head coach) Firas (Zahabi) and Georges. That’s one thing I try to avoid, but sometimes you have to go out there and do it. It’s been a few years (since I last trained up there), but we’ve crossed paths many times – hung out, chatted. To me, it’s kind of like fighting a brother and me, I’ve got two brothers and we fight all the time. We both know it’s business and we’ll be friends before and after the fight; now we just get to punch each other in the face.”
The pairing raised a few eyebrows, as Thompson is currently riding a six-fight win streak, including a spectacular knockout win over Johny Hendricks, while MacDonald is coming off a brutal loss to the aforementioned Lawler.
Of course, it seems none of that matters when rankings are involved.
And since “Red King” currently occupies the No. 1 spot with Thompson at No. 2, it made sense to have “Wonderboy” take on the next big hurdle before jumping his way into a title fight.
All in all, we should just be thankful they aren’t pulling this move.