Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson looks at his corner in-between rounds of a fight in 2019.
Stephen Thompson provides update on return, mentions Kevin Holland as possible opponent
Stephen Thompson has yet to compete in 2022 and while he’s been busy and active in his work with Karate Combat this year, he’s staying patient about when he’ll make his UFC return. Thompson is currently on a two-fight skid with his losses coming to Gilbert Burns at UFC 264 and most recently, a unanimous decision loss to Belal Muhammad in December of 2021.
Before his skid, Stephen Thompson was on a two-fight winning streak by defeating Vicente Luque and Geoff Neal, but has yet to be scheduled for a fight this year. In an interview with ‘MMA Today‘ on Sirius XM’s Fight Nation, Thompson opened up about why he’s had such a lengthy absence away from competition and revealed the injury he suffered.
"From what I'm hearing, [Kevin Holland] is still going to be in the UFC."
Stephen Thompson (@WonderboyMMA) gives an update on his octagon return.
Stephen's FULL interview w/ @RJcliffordMMA & @lionheartasmith available now 👇https://t.co/rxLRoamgVb pic.twitter.com/v5moZxpTIG
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) September 27, 2022
“Well I was out for a while after my last fight with Belal. I ended up tearing the cartilage in my collarbone, it was one of those old injuries. I think just over time and to keep re-injuring it, it takes longer for it to heal, you know I’ll be 40 in February but no excuses, no excuses. So it took me a little while to get that fixed.
Now that he’s taken the time to fix an old injury, Stephen Thompson said he’s just awaiting word from the UFC on his next fight and named a potential opponent for him in his return.
“As of right now, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully we’ll hear something back from the UFC this week. Maybe looking at Kevin Holland, I know that was an option, we’ll see, not sure yet, but keep the fingers crossed for sure.”
Following his recent loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279, Kevin Holland took to social media to announce his retirement from active competition. While there’s no telling if the retirement was a serious decision, Thompson said he’s heard that Holland will still be in the UFC and the fight could come together.
“I did see that and I think he’s just kind of blowing smoke, I think he was just throwing it out there, I don’t know why he would do that. From what I hear he’s still going to be in the UFC, which is why they had mentioned him for him to fight me. Not really sure that whole tweet of him retiring, that surprised me.”
Stephen Thompson sounds ready to return after taking time to heal an old injury, and has his fingers crossed that the UFC can get him a fight sooner than later, potentially against Kevin Holland.
