Earlier this week Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson began a weekly blog for BJPenn.Com. Thompson was scheduled to face Besam Yousef at UFC 154 on November 17th in Montreal, Canada.

The blog is designed to chronicle his training regiment, his thoughts on the hot button topics in mixed martial arts and to also show fans a personal side of the 29-year-old, South Carolina native. After suffering his first career professional defeat to Matt Brown at UFC 145, Thompson was eager to get back into the Octagon and back to his winning ways.

Unfortunately Thompson will have to wait for the chance he was so looking forward to. While practicing at his family’s gym in Simspsonville, SC, Thompson tore the meniscus in his knee and will undergo surgery this coming Monday. He will face about two months worth of rehab  and hopes to be ready to fight in January or February. “Wonderboy” went through this exact same surgery on the same knee five years ago and is well aware of what lies ahead of him.

While I was preparing to speak to Stephen last night for the second installment of his blog, he called me and informed me of the injury. When I spoke to him last week I could hear how confident and ready Thompson was to fight in Montreal next month. When I first picked up the phone last night, I knew right away that something was not right by the tone in his voice.

As he explained to me that he had just left the hospital I immediately shifted my thoughts to one of Stephen’s students, 11-year-old Addie Reese who was injured this past weekend after falling out a tree. Thankfully she is still progressing and will make a full recovery. Listening to Stephen tell me how he sustained the injury, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Being the person that he is, Thompson was not looking for sympathy, he actually apologized to me for being late for our scheduled phone call.

Thomspon was raised by parents who preached loyalty, respect, discipline and to think and act in a positive manner. It was almost as though he was consoling me even though he was the one who was facing surgery along with the letdown of being forced to withdraw from his fight. Throughout the 25 minute long conversation Thompson’s attitude became more positive and by the end of the call he told me that things happen for a reason and that things could’ve been worse. Instead of a torn meniscus, he could of torn an ACL or MCL which would have kept him on the shelf for a year or possibly longer.

I will speak with Thompson a day or two after his surgery and we will still work on a blog, but now it will  focus on his recovery, his thoughts on UFC 154 and whatever else comes to mind.

I am extremely confident that WB will make a full recovery and come back stronger than ever. He is a tireless worker and has a great support staff including his dad Ray who is his head coach and began training Stephen in Karate when he was just three-years-old. As Thompson explained in his first blog, he was planning on using the loss to Brown as motivation and he is a firm believer that every great fighter loses and uses those losses to become a better fighter. Years from now, Stephen can look back at the loss to Brown and point out that was a big turning point in what is sure to be an outstanding career.

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