Stephen Thompson is “one hundred percent” interested in fighting Kamaru Usman next

Stephen Thompson is “one hundred percent” interested in fighting Kamaru Usman next.

Thompson (17-6 MMA) has had a mixed bag as of late, he’s 4 wins, 4 losses in his last 8 fights in the cage. ‘Wonderboys’ latest victory came via way of TKO against Kevin Holland (23-9 MMA) in December of last year.

Stephen Thompson has fought for the welterweight title twice in his career, at UFC 205 in 2016 and UFC 209 in 2017. Both battles were against Tyron Woodley (19-7 MMA). UFC 205 ended in a majority draw, while it was ‘The Chosen One’ who managed to bag a majority decision victory at UFC 209.

The South Carolina native has been working hard towards another shot at the title and made callouts to Usman back in 2021. The two have yet to meet in the Octagon.

Ahead of UFC 286, which took place this past weekend, Thompson made his prediction on the Usman (20-3 MMA) vs Edwards (21-3 MMA) trilogy match-up saying:

“I think you’ve got to ask yourself, is his (Usman) mindset there and is his drive still the same after the way he lost? But from the last fight and the way he was winning it, on paper I’ve got Usman winning it”.

Well, we now know the outcome of UFC 286, it was Edwards, not Usman, who scored a majority decision victory to retain the welterweight title.

Prior to his first loss to Edwards at UFC 278 in August of last year, Usman had held the welterweight title for over three years and defended it five times. Usman won the belt back in 2019 when he defeated Tyler Woodley via unanimous decision.

Although Usman, 35, failed in his attempt to recapture the belt, Stephen Thompson is making it clear that he still wants to fight ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ even though it wouldn’t be for the title.

Asked on ‘Twitter‘ if he’d be interested in fighting Usman next, Thompson, 40, responded:

100% https://t.co/vtugjMSeLL

— Wonderboy (@WonderboyMMA) March 19, 2023

“100%” – Thompson replied.

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