Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson understands that most of his opponents aren’t going to want to stand and trade with him on the feet
So he wasn’t shocked when Shavkat Rakhmonov promised to outstrike him in their fight this past December but ultimately ended up getting a takedown and securing a rear-naked choke submission late in the second round. Thompson doesn’t fault Rakhmonov for taking the path of least resistance — that’s actually smart strategy — but he didn’t love the explanation from the undefeated welterweight about why that happened.
“It is funny when guys are like ‘I’m going to go out there [and knock him out]’,” Thompson told MMA Fighting. “I mean even Shavkat was ‘I’m going to go out there and I’m going to beat him striking. He can’t strike with me’ and then he ended up turning into a grappler out there. Of course his excuse was ‘I had a hurt ankle’ but that dude was running on the treadmill the day before just fine.
“It is funny when guys are out there, all over social media, they want to get you thinking one thing — and obviously it’s kind of smart — they want to get you thinking one thing and then they go do the other.”
Following his win, Rakhmonov revealed that he suffered through a serious ankle injury that nearly made him pull out of the fight but he decided to move forward with the bout as scheduled.
Thompson never likes losing but he has no problem conceding that Rakhmonov was the better man that night. His frustration comes from Rakhmonov trying to explain away his change in strategy after vowing to show that he was the better striker.
“I’m going to be honest with you — yes [it’s frustrating],” Thompson said. “Just the fact because like come on man, you’re not fooling anybody. We all know that was your game plan the whole time.”
In fact, Thompson says he had a conversation with Rakhmonov’s head coach Henri Hooft following the fight where he addressed the game plan used to beat him.
The reason the interaction stands out so vividly in his mind is Thompson remembers a very similar interaction after he faced Gilbert Burns back in 2021.
“It was funny because afterwards the same coach as Gilbert Burns, and after the Gilbert Burns fight, the coach came up and was like ‘I’m sorry the fight was boring but that’s the only way to beat you,’” Thompson recounted. “He said the same thing after the Shavkat [fight].
“So I knew that’s what they were planning on. He was not planning to strike with me. He wanted to hem me up, get me to the floor and submit me, which he did that very well. That’s part of the game. I’ve got to be ready for that. But especially after the fight, they’re saying that. You can say that during the fight to get me thinking one thing but after the fight, you’re saying ‘I was going to strike with the guy but I hurt my ankle.’ Nah, dude. It got me a little bit. Very few things frustrate me — that got me a little bit. Just admit it. Come on.”
As far as his upcoming fight against Joaquin Buckley goes at UFC 307, Thompson doesn’t expect the former middleweight to come out and trade with him on the feet no matter what he says.
Much like most of his appearances in the UFC, Thompson is preparing for Buckley to shoot for takedowns and it’s up to him to stop it.
“I think he’s going to shoot,” Thompson said. “I think he’s going to wrestle. You saw what he did with the tall Russian [Nursulton Ruziboev] that made 170. Of course he was 6-foot-5 so the butt cheeks are right there, right at his level so it was easy for him to take him down.
“I’m a very difficult guy to take down. I really am. I pride myself on that. I really make my opponents work to get me down. When they do, they tire themselves out.”
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