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Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson is in high demand these days, as everyone from Sean Brady to Khamzat Chimaev to Shavkat Rakhmonov has called him out for a fight.
Rakhmonov is the latest prospect hoping to climb the welterweight rankings using Thompson's No. 7 position as a ladder rung. He just defeated No. 10 ranked Neil Magny in dominating fashion at UFC Vegas 57, submitting Magny with a guillotine choke in the second round. Nine of the ten minutes featured Magny getting controlled on the ground by the combat sambo expert.
'Wonderboy' doesn't sound too interested in fighting Rakhmonov, but the other fighters the Kazakh called out intrigued him. In a new video on his YouTube channel, Thompson said:
"He called out me, Masvidal, and Nick Diaz. I feel like us three should just have ... us three fight, four-man tourney. See who stays in the divish. Loser's gotta get out. I like that idea ... Let's do it, dude. UFC, make it happen. I think that'd be really cool. A little tourney."
As for Shavkat Rakhmonov, Thompson joked about only getting called out by wrestlers before adding:
"What's crazy is literally the entire population of where he's from messaged me ... I only had like 18 messages but after that fight I've got a hundred and something. Just like 'Fight him! Fight him!' Or just emojis of the flag. And it's always broken English. 'You. Fight him.'"
In the end, though, Thompson sounded willing to face 'Nomad.'
"Whatever, man. Let's go. We'll see. Everybody's calling me out. Not just me, but Masvidal and Nick. So we should just have a three-way. Sounds kinda weird, but still."
Watch Stephen Thompson discuss Shavkat Rakhmonov's callout below:
Thompson hasn't fought since losing a decision to Belal Muhammad in December 2021 that was so one-sided judges scored it 30–25, 30–26, and 30–26. Like most opponents that beat 'Wonderboy,' Muhammad used Thompson's lack of wrestling to take down the karate specialist and keep him there for fifteen minutes.
There's little doubt other strong grapplers like Rakhmonov and Brady would love to do the same thing if given the opportunity.
Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson turns down Sean Brady's callout
Sean Brady is another welterweight prospect on the rise that hopes to fight 'Wonderboy' in the near future. However, Brady hasn't managed to generate the same amount of hype as Rakhmonov, which may be why Thompson flatly rejected his callout.
Speaking to MMA Junkie, 'Wonderboy' said:
"I know Sean Brady has called me out, but Sean Brady… I know exactly what he’s going to do. I don’t think it’s going to be fun for the fans because he’s just going to shoot, shoot, shoot. Which is understandable when you’re in a situation like mine. There are other guys out there. We just gotta make it happen.”
With Stephen Thompson on a two fight losing streak, he could really use an opponent that's not a collegiate wrestler or Caucasus sambo beast.
