Veteran UFC star Stephen Thompson has offered an interesting take on combat sports fans in America, an opinion that will likely divide the masses altogether.
Thompson, who twice competed for Octagon spoils during his lengthy tenure with the promotion, has not enjoyed the best of runs in recent years. Sidelined since October of last year, he most recently dropped a knockout loss to Joaquin Buckley at UFC 307.
Once a title contender at welterweight, ‘Wonderboy’ has never quite managed to break into the upper echelons of the sport. Despite this, his fighting style and happy-go-lucky attitude have continued to position him as a fan favorite.
However, speaking on the JAXXON Podcast this week, voicing his displeasure with the general public chirping about fighters’ performances, the Simpsonville native laid out a rather interesting and thought-out take.
In his humble opinion, critics needed to empathize with his peers a lot better.
“Dude, I feel like it should be mandatory for everybody in this country to have at least one fight,” Thompson told ex-UFC star Rampage Jackson.
“Let’s let everyone know what it’s like to get punched in the mouth because a lot of people don’t know what that feels like, and they’d be less likely to act this way,” he added.
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Now, this does awfully sound like ‘everybody should serve in the military once’, but that’s not everybody’s job. While it is true that critics can be harsh, especially the layman over the internet, the solution cannot possibly be getting them punched in the face for their opinions. That’s a slippery slope.
However, as fighters on the pointy end of that stick, it is understandable why he would say so and, more importantly, why it would resonate so much with Jackson.
Meanwhile, amid criticism over his lackluster performances during his last two outings, ‘Wonderboy’ has revealed he’s not yet done with the sport. Not even remotely, since he’s already planning another venture into the octagon.
Thompson targets summer UFC return
Tasked with snapping a two-fight skid in his return to action, Thompson has a definitive plan in place for his next outing. Hopeful of competing by the summer time, the kickboxing talent called out a rather interesting opponent.
Thompson hopes to welcome a Hall of Fame star back from his retirement at the welterweight limit.
“So maybe I’m thinking April-May time [for a return to the UFC], I think would be cool just because I’m a huge fan of (Donald) Cerrone and he comes from that old school era that I kind of came from almost 13-14 years ago. So it’s cool that he wants to jump back out there,” Stephen Thompson said on the Overdogs Podcast.
Specifically, Thompson wants to help Cerrone make a return to action- if it saves him from cutting weight to lightweight at such a late stage in his second run around.
“I thought it would be awesome if he doesn’t want to cut the weight to 155, maybe to make that fight at 170. I thought it would be really cool to have two veterans like that step back out there and face off against each other,” he explained.
At this time, nothing has been planned in concrete, and more importantly, it will have to be seen if ‘Cowboy’ even accepts the proposal.
