After undergoing surgery to repair a bum knee, Stephen Thompson is itching to get back on the horse, eying a potential return to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) action this September. And the two-time Welterweight title contender isn’t looking to ease back into it, telling Submission Radio he wants to face nothing but the cream of the 170-pound crop.
He wasn’t shy about throwing out some names as potential opponents, either. Jorge Masvidal included.
“The goal, to be honest, the goal is to be able to fight in September. I’m not really sure what fights they have in September. Late August, early September’s the plan, but we’ll talk with my management company, the UFC and see if we can get something going. I want to fight someone in the top five, but the question is who? I wanted Robbie Lawler to begin with, but I know he’s fighting Donald Cerrone coming up. Demian Maia, I hear he has the next title shot. Not really sure what Carlos Condit is doing. I don’t know if he’s back in his training, if he’s gonna retire. I know there was some talks about him doing that. I would love to fight Carlos Condit. The number five-ranked guy right now is Jorge Masvidal. I would love to fight him. Anybody in that top five I think would be perfect, man. I would love to fight you once this knee heals up, which is the truth. I wanna fight the best guys. He went three fight-minute rounds with one of the best in the division – and to be honest with you, I thought he won the fight – but it didn’t go his way, but I think we would put on a good show. He’s a tough opponent, good striking, good Muay Thai and I think it would just be fireworks.”
Indeed, Masvidal went toe-to-toe with Demian Maia at UFC 211, but ultimately came up short on the judges’ scorecards. Shortly thereafter, “Gamebred” called for a showdown against “Wonderboy.” And since Thompson -- who came up short for the second time in his bid to dethrone Tyron Woodley at UFC 209 — is more than eager to oblige, it seems UFC matchmakers don’t have to work too hard to get this bout going.
Right?
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