Having fought the pair three times, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson will have a lot vested in Saturday night’s UFC 228 main event pitting welterweight champion Tyron Woodley against Darren Till.
Thompson and Till fought last at UFC Liverpool back in May, with Till taking a close unanimous decision. Shortly before that, Wonderboy fought Woodley twice – the first being a majority draw at UFC 205, the second being a majority unanimous decision loss.
But it’s Till who is on Thompson’s mind, and due to the debatable nature of their last fight’s result, Wonderboy believes it makes sense he fought a rematch against Till for the belt should he be victorious against Woodley in Dallas.
“If that does happen, hopefully that puts me up closer to a (title) fight,” Thompson said on a recent edition of the Ariel Helwani MMA Show [H/T MMA Mania]. “That would be the right way to go, but as you know it’s very hard to predict. But I am leaning that way, the needle is leaning towards Till a little bit.
“If he [Till] goes out there and does what I know he can and if he is smart about it, he can win. And that would set me up perfectly, I would think, for another rematch.
“Of course you got guys above me. Colby Covington might get the next shot and you got [Kamaru] Usman moving up the rankings. You got those guys, but I feel like I won that last fight against Till an I think a lot of fights agree with me. If he does win, I would love to have that rematch.”
However, if Thompson doesn’t get his wish, he’d happily settle for a fight with former UFC welterweight kingpin Robbie Lawler. Given their respective recent runs of fighting form, coupled with the fact they are both high up in the welterweight rankings, the contest makes a lot of sense and would certainly capture the imagination of many fight fans.
“To be honest, I would love to fight Robbie,” Wonderboy added. “I have been wanting to fight this guy for a long time and I am a big fan of his, even back in his Strikeforce where he was just knocking dudes out. He is one of those grinders, man, he don’t care and he just goes out there to fight. That’s why I’m a fan and been wanting to fight him for a while.”
Like us, Thompson will be eagerly watching UFC 228 as Woodley and Till battle for the UFC welterweight championship at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, this weekend on September 8th.