UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is pumping the breaks on a Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson matchup for his first title defense. Earlier today UFC President Dana White revealed in an interview with UFC.com that the No. 2-ranked ‘Wonderboy’ will get the first shot at the new 170-pound champ, and Thompson was ecstatic to hear the news.
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is pumping the breaks on a Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson matchup for his first title defense.
Earlier today UFC President Dana White revealed in an interview with UFC.com that the No. 2-ranked ‘Wonderboy’ will get the first shot at the new 170-pound champ, and Thompson was ecstatic to hear the news.
“BOOYAH!!!!! Thank you Dana White! Thank you UFC! Extreme Thank you to all the fans that supported me and this title shot! Time to get to work and bring that belt home!!!!!”
This is apparently news to Woodley, who claims he has yet to agree to fight anyone for his first title defense, and has yet to hear from the UFC on a bout with Thompson:
Funny how there is an official fight announced and I 1) Havent spoken to anyone 2) Agreed on opponent or date 3) Signed a bout agreement. ????????
Woodley (16-3) is coming off of a thunderous first round knockout of former champion Robbie Lawler in the main event of UFC 201, in which he secured the first UFC title in his seven-year mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
Following the bout ‘The Chosen One’ began to heavily campaign for ‘super-fights’ against proven commodities such as former 170-pound kingpin Georges St-Pierre and the trash-talking Stockton Native Nick Diaz.
No official confirmation of a contest between Woodley and Thompson has yet been made, but keep in locked with LowKick and we’ll keep you updated as we learn more…
Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is finally getting his shot at UFC gold, and he couldn’t be happier about it. Earlier today we reported that UFC President Dana White revealed in an interview with UFC.com that the No. 2-ranked welterweight will get the first shot at newly crowned 170-pound king Tyron Woodley: “Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is going
Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is finally getting his shot at UFC gold, and he couldn’t be happier about it.
Earlier today we reported that UFC President Dana White revealedin an interview with UFC.com that the No. 2-ranked welterweight will get the first shot at newly crowned 170-pound king Tyron Woodley:
“Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is going to fight for the 170-pound title and then we’ll see what happens with Nick and Nate.”
Thompson didn’t waste any time to take to his official Facebook page to thank the UFC President for his long-awaited shot at UFC glory:
“BOOYAH!!!!! Thank you Dana White! Thank you UFC! Extreme Thank you to all the fans that supported me and this title shot! Time to get to work and bring that belt home!!!!!”
Thompson (13-1) is riding an extremely impressive seven-fight win streak, most recently taking home a unanimous decision victory over former title challenger Rory MacDonald at UFC Fight Night 89 after a five round war with the Canadian star.
It seems ‘Wonderboy’s’ efforts have been enough to earn him the nod for the next shot at the gold, rather than Woodley taking the ‘money fight’ against Georges St-Pierre or Nick Diaz that he’s been heavily campaigning for over the past few weeks.
No date has yet been given for the contest, but stay with LowKick for the latest on Thompson and Woodley, as well as the potential clash between the two welterweight studs.
The UFC’s welterweight division is as scrambled as any other division in the promotion today, as newly crowned 170-pound champ Tyron Woodley is calling for ‘money fights’ against Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz following his first round obliteration over former champion Robbie Lawler this past Saturday night (July 30, 2016). One man left waiting in the […]
The UFC’s welterweight division is as scrambled as any other division in the promotion today, as newly crowned 170-pound champ Tyron Woodley is calling for ‘money fights’ against Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz following his first round obliteration over former champion Robbie Lawler this past Saturday night (July 30, 2016).
One man left waiting in the dust amongst Woodley’s campaign for a big payday is No. 1-ranked Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, who feels he has earned his shot at welterweight gold after defeating both former champion Johny Hendricks and top contender Rory MacDonald in dominating fashion.
In a recent interview with FOX Sports, ‘Wonderboy’ shared his thoughts on ‘The Chosen One’s’ current quest for a matchup with Diaz or ‘GSP’:
“What’s going through my mind is ‘what is this guy talking about?’” Thompson said. “I mean he just got the title and he’s already talking about a money fight and trying to choose his opponents.
It just doesn’t make sense for him to win the title and then start asking to face guys who haven’t fought in over a year or even three years.
Fight the guy who deserves it. Fight the guy standing right in front of you. Fight the guy who is the legit No. 1 contender. That’s me.”
When asked if he believes Woodley could be potentially running from him, Thompson had this to say:
“It’s starting to get that way, it’s starting to get that feeling,” Thompson said. “At first, I didn’t think so, I thought he just wanted the big payday, the big money, but when I go back and look at the facts — the fact is I’m on a seven-fight winning streak.
He was ranked No. 4 and they gave him the title shot. I’ve cleaned out the division for him. It just doesn’t make sense why he wouldn’t face me, at least one time against the No. 1 contender without having to go out and pick these guys who haven’t fought.
When I go back and look at the facts, I’m thinking to myself — is this guy running from me? I don’t know.
I know he’s not scared of any opponent. I don’t think he is, but I would like to get in his head and see what he’s thinking. Why does he think he can do this? It’s just a fact.”
ATLANTA, GA – JULY 30: Tyron Woodley celebrates his knockout victory over Robbie Lawler in their welterweight championship bout during the UFC 201 event on July 30, 2016 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Thompson claims Woodley got an opportunity at the title even though some may not have thought he deserved it, he also states that the new champion is taking an opportunity away from him that he’s earned after taking out the cream of the crop at 170 pounds:
“This is my chance and he’s just taking it away from me,” Thompson said. “The UFC and Robbie gave him his chance even though a lot of people didn’t think he deserved it.
Now that he is (the champion), why can’t he give the rightful guy his chance?
For him to just get the belt and start asking for money fights? Come on, man. You need to defend the title one or two times or three times or maybe four times like Robbie before you’d ask for a really big money fight.
You just get it and then asking for it? I was kind of laughing in my head like what is this guy talking about?”
Until UFC brass tells him otherwise, Thompson is preparing for a showdown with Woodley and with the ideal location of Madison Square Garden in mind. If ‘Wonderboy’ does get his long awaited shot at UFC gold, he believes he can put the newly-crowned welterweight champion’s lights out with a bang:
“Tyron’s the guy I’m facing. That’s what I’m prepared for mentally until the UFC says otherwise,” Thompson said.
“I’ve got a great management team, Paradigm Management, and they know what I want and they are working and supporting me to make that happen.
“Until we get anything, I’m preparing for Tyron. Madison Square Garden’s where it’s going to be at. That’s a big fight.
He’s looking for money. That’s going to be probably the biggest card of the year. I think we could put some butts in the seats.”
I can put him to sleep,” Thompson said. “I’ve shown that with all my fights. I know I can put him to sleep. We face off, he’s going to get the best Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson the UFC has ever seen.”
‘Wonderboy’s’ body count during his UFC run has been quite the eyebrow raiser and it’s hard to deny the undefeated kickboxing stud a shot at the welterweight crown, however, with the possibility of a ‘GSP’ or Diaz return to Octagon it certainly puts a strain on his chances.
Coming off of his dominant win over Rory MacDonald at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 89 event in Ottawa, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is certain that he’s next in line for a crack at the 170-pound title. Before ‘Wonderboy’ can get his shot, however, he has to wait and see just who will be holding the
Coming off of his dominant win over Rory MacDonald at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 89 event in Ottawa, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is certain that he’s next in line for a crack at the 170-pound title.
Before ‘Wonderboy’ can get his shot, however, he has to wait and see just who will be holding the welterweight crown, as current champion Robbie Lawler is set to battle it out for the strap with No. 3-ranked Tyron Woodley in the main event of UFC 201.
Thompson told FOX Sports that he expects Lawler to remain the 170-pound champion when it’s all said and done in Atlanta:
“Just from what I’ve seen in the past from both fighters, Robbie Lawler gets stronger as the fight goes on.
He breaks a lot of guys mentally that way. When guys are starting to get tired, Robbie Lawler’s just picking it up. Tyron’s the opposite of that,” Thompson said.
Hopefully he’s (Woodley) worked on his cardio, but in the past he slows down as the fight gets longer. He goes out very hard in the first round, very explosive in the first round, but if Robbie Lawler gets past that first round, which I believe he will, I think he’s coming away with a win, possibly a knockout.”
While Thompson isn’t too confident in Woodley’s ability to get the job done against Lawler, ‘Wonderboy’ is determined to be the one to put an end to ‘The Ruthless One’s’ title reign:
“I believe I can (knock him out),” Thompson said. “I believed I could knock out Rory MacDonald, Johny Hendricks and Jake Ellenberger, and sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t, but I know I can knock these guys out.
It definitely puts a smile on my face that people think I might be a favorite in that fight,” Thompson said.
“I think people are starting to see the skills I have, the karate style that I use, and hopefully we’ll get more people out there studying and getting into karate as well. It does put a smile on my face.”
‘Wonderboy’ is one of the most dynamic strikers we’ve ever seen in the sport, due in large part to his impressive 57-0 kickboxing career, and he believes he has everything it takes to de-throne ‘Ruthless’:
“I think I am the better striker. He’s the type of guy that stands in front of you, he’s very, very tough.
I believe he’s slower than Rory MacDonald. I believe I’m faster than him. The speed is going to be tough for him, and I think the angles are going to be tough for him.
But he’s a champion, he’s going to be coming with his ‘A’ game. I need to be ready for the best Robbie Lawler in the world.”
While Lawler and Woodley slug it out at UFC 201 in the Phillips Arena, Thompson says he wouldn’t mind taking a trip to Georgia to witness the title bout firsthand:
“I want to be there,” Thompson said. “If not there, hopefully I’ll be in the studio analyzing the fight.”
UFC 201 takes place live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on July 30, 2016.
Following what was a crazy night at UFC Fight Night 89 in Ottawa this past Saturday (June 18, 2016), some big moves have been made to the 170-pound rankings following a pair of electrifying welterweight contests. Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson bested former title challenger Rory MacDonald in their main event contest, after five rounds of what turned
Following what was a crazy night at UFC Fight Night 89 in Ottawa this past Saturday (June 18, 2016), some big moves have been made to the 170-pound rankings following a pair of electrifying welterweight contests.
Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson bested former title challenger Rory MacDonald in their main event contest, after five rounds of what turned out to be a beautiful technical war between the two mixed martial artists, by taking home a unanimous decision win over ‘The Red King’ in his home country of Canada. The one-sided victory boosted Thompson past MacDonald into the top spot on the 170-pound rankings. Heading into his murky contract negotiations, MacDonald sits at the No. 2 spot following two losses to the champion and top-ranked combatant.
Also at 170 pounds, Demian Maia moved up to the No. 3 spot without fighting, tying title contender Tyron Woodley.
In the co-main event of the evening, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone made some noise of his own in the welterweight division even though he typically competes in the deeply talented pool that is the UFC 155-pound weight class, by appearing on the 170-pound rankings after knocking out Patrick Cote in the third round of their bout in Ottawa. The dominant win saw Cerrone debut at No. 14, pushing Thiago Alves down to No. 15.
The next biggest move of significance was Joanne Calderwood’s rise up the women’s strawweight rankings following her brutal third-round TKO of former title contender Valerie Letourneau. Calderwood skyrocketed five spots up the 115-pound ranks to No.7 for the win, after which she declared she was ‘broke as hell’ and would have to get a job in order to continue fighting.
You can check out the full updated rankings in their entirety courtesy of UFC.comright here:
POUND-FOR-POUND 1 Jon Jones 2 Demetrious Johnson 3 Dominick Cruz 4 Robbie Lawler 5 Rafael Dos Anjos 6 Conor McGregor 7 Daniel Cormier 8 Jose Aldo 9 Michael Bisping 10 Frankie Edgar 11 Stipe Miocic 12 Joanna Jedrzejczyk 13 Luke Rockhold 14 Chris Weidman 15 Fabricio Werdum
FLYWEIGHT Champion: Demetrious Johnson 1 Joseph Benavidez 2 Henry Cejudo 3 Jussier Formiga 4 Kyoji Horiguchi 5 Ian McCall 6 John Moraga 7 Zach Makovsky 8 Wilson Reis 9 Ali Bagautinov +1 10 Dustin Ortiz -1 11 Justin Scoggins 12 Louis Smolka 13 Ray Borg 14 Sergio Pettis 15 Ben Nguyen
BANTAMWEIGHT Champion: Dominick Cruz 1 TJ Dillashaw 2 Urijah Faber 3 Raphael Assuncao 4 Bryan Caraway 5 Michael McDonald 6 Aljamain Sterling 7 Cody Garbrandt 8 John Lineker 9 John Dodson -1 10 Thomas Almeida 11 Takeya Mizugaki 12 Frankie Saenz 13 Johnny Eduardo 14 Jimmie Rivera 15 Eddie Wineland
FEATHERWEIGHT Champion: Conor McGregor 1 Jose Aldo 2 Frankie Edgar 3 Max Holloway 4 Chad Mendes 5 Ricardo Lamas 6 Cub Swanson 7 Charles Oliveira 8 Jeremy Stephens 9 Dennis Bermudez 10 Brian Ortega 11 Hacran Dias 12 Darren Elkins 13 Yair Rodriguez 14 Tatsuya Kawajiri 15 Mirsad Bektic
LIGHTWEIGHT Champion: Rafael Dos Anjos 1 Khabib Nurmagomedov 2 Eddie Alvarez 3 Tony Ferguson 4 Donald Cerrone 5 Nate Diaz 6 Edson Barboza 7 Anthony Pettis 8 Michael Johnson 9 Dustin Poirier 10 Michael Chiesa 11 Beneil Dariush 12 Al Iaquinta 13 Evan Dunham +1 14 Rashid Magomedov -1 15 Francisco Trinaldo
WELTERWEIGHT Champion: Robbie Lawler 1 Stephen Thompson +1 2 Rory MacDonald -1 3 Tyron Woodley 3 Demian Maia +1 5 Carlos Condit 6 Johny Hendricks 7 Neil Magny 8 Matt Brown 9 Rick Story +1 9 Dong Hyun Kim 11 Gunnar Nelson 12 Kelvin Gastelum 13 Tarec Saffiedine 14 Donald Cerrone *NR 15 Thiago Alves -1
MIDDLEWEIGHT Champion: Michael Bisping 1 Luke Rockhold 2 Chris Weidman 3 Jacare Souza 4 Vitor Belfort 5 Anderson Silva 6 Robert Whittaker 7 Lyoto Machida 8 Gegard Mousasi 9 Uriah Hall 10 Derek Brunson +1 11 Tim Kennedy -1 12 Thales Leites 13 Dan Henderson 14 Rafael Natal 15 Thiago Santos -1
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT Champion: Daniel Cormier 1 Jon Jones (Interim Champion) 2 Anthony Johnson 3 Glover Teixeira 4 Alexander Gustafsson 5 Ryan Bader 6 Ovince Saint Preux 7 Mauricio Rua 8 Rashad Evans 9 Jimi Manuwa 10 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 11 Nikita Krylov 12 Corey Anderson 13 Ilir Latifi 14 Patrick Cummins 15 Gian Villante
HEAVYWEIGHT Champion: Stipe Miocic 1 Fabricio Werdum 2 Cain Velasquez 3 Alistair Overeem 4 Junior Dos Santos 5 Ben Rothwell 6 Andrei Arlovski 7 Travis Browne 8 Mark Hunt 9 Josh Barnett 10 Roy Nelson 11 Frank Mir +1 12 Derrick Lewis -1 13 Stefan Struve 14 Ruslan Magomedov 15 Alexey Oliynyk
Rising UFC welterweight Stephen Thompson picked up by far the biggest victory of his MMA career when he outlasted Rory MacDonald in the main event of last night’s (Sat., June 18, 2016) UFC Fight Night 89 from the TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, but now he’s understandably got his sights set on a bigger
Rising UFC welterweight Stephen Thompson picked up by far the biggest victory of his MMA career when he outlasted Rory MacDonald in the main event of last night’s (Sat., June 18, 2016) UFC Fight Night 89 from the TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, but now he’s understandably got his sights set on a bigger prize.
After the huge win over “The Red King,” Thompson wasted no time in stating his desire for a title shot against the winner of the Robbie Lawler vs. Tyron Woodley title bout at UFC 201 on July 30. “Wonderboy” wants the winner of that fight no matter who it is. But speaking to FOX Sports after the fight, he admitted that if he had to choose, he’d pick Lawler because he believes they could put on a great show for fans:
“I think definitely me and Robbie Lawler would definitely put on a better show. I mean Tyron Woodley, he is an explosive guy, he is a wrestler, but I think people want to see a striking war. People want to see somebody get knocked out. I’m not saying Tyron can’t do that, but I figure fighting him, he’d be shooting more towards the legs trying to get me done. So, Robbie Lawler.”
Further discussing his proposed match-up with the exciting Lawler, “Wonderboy” first gave “Ruthless” props for his otherworldly left hand and ability to seemingly get stronger as the bout wears on. But he also noted Lawler likes to stand right in front of his opponent, which is something he likes as a deadly striker:
“Man, he’s got a mean left hand. I mean, as you saw against, when he fought Rory MacDonald – broke his nose, just kept landing it over and over again. He is the type of guy he gets stronger as the fight goes on, so I gotta be in the best shape of my life if I step in there and fight against Robbie Lawler. But you know what? He does stand there in front of you; I like guys that stand there in front of me. I use my movement, use my kicks, switching sides, try to frustrate him a little bit.”
With literally nothing left to do in order to get a title shot after back-to-back wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 fighters, Thompson again spoke up about his preference at the post-fight press conference, adding that he thinks Lawler will be the victor because Woodley has been inactive and slows down as the fight extends into later rounds:
“I would rather fight Robbie Lawler, and I think Robbie Lawler is going to win it,” Thompson said at the post-fight press conference. “He’s stayed active. Tyron Woodley hasn’t. Maybe there is a little bit of cage rust in there. Tyron’s been known to slow down later on in the rounds, and Robbie Lawler, he gets stronger as the rounds go on. So, I see Robbie Lawler winning that fight and I would love to fight him, hopefully in New York City.”
In a recent interview with 
‘Wonderboy’s’ body count during his UFC run has been quite the eyebrow raiser and it’s hard to deny the undefeated kickboxing stud a shot at the welterweight crown, however, with the possibility of a ‘GSP’ or Diaz return to Octagon it certainly puts a strain on his chances.