Michel Pereira missed the welterweight mark for his Stephen Thompson fight at UFC 291 back in July and “Wonderboy” refused to fight, which is contractually within his right.
But that wasn’t the end of the story — it was only the beginning.
After “Demolidor” blew up the scale, the promotion scrambled to find Thompson a late replacement. Once again, the former kickboxing phenom declined, having already prepared for a different opponent in Las Vegas.
Thompson wanted to be compensated for his troubles, but UFC CEO Dana White was in no big hurry to open up his checkbook for anyone other than the Nelk boys.
All’s well that ends well?
“Me and the UFC, and my management, we’ve settled everything, so everything’s great,” Thompson told MMA Fighting. “We settled with something we were both happy with, and that was it. It took a little bit because they have a business and a lot of stuff going on — and so have I. So my managers have been taking care of everything. But, yeah man, I was happy with everything, with what the UFC has done for me, and we got away from this last fight with a smile on our faces.”
Just don’t call it a bribe.
Thompson, 40, returns to battle undefeated 170-pound sensation Shavkat Rakhmonov as part of the upcoming UFC 296 pay-per-view (PPV) event, recently made official for Sat., Dec. 16, 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.