Stephen Thompson (11-1) is looking to take things slowly on his way to an eventual title shot in the Welterweight division. The 32-year-old’s recent knockout victory against Jake Ellenberger (30-10) put him into the Top 10 of the division.
Although this gives Thompson the chance to fight the best of the best in the division, “Wonderboy” is content with improving his skills until he feels he’s ready for the elite.
“I consider myself still not on the level of those guys when it comes to wrestling and jiu-jitsu,” Thompson told Bloody Elbow, “I wouldn’t mind stepping into the ring with one of the nine to eleven ranked guys before I make that next step up to a top five guy.”
One fighter that Thompson specifically had in mind was the current #9 ranked Tarec Saffiedine (15-4). Both Thompson and Saffiedine are not scheduled for an upcoming fight.
“There is one guy underneath me that doesn’t have a fight coming up, and that’s Tarec Saffiedine. I think that it would be a real awesome fight. We would put on a show and hopefully he feels like we can make that happen.”
Saffiedine was scheduled to fight Matt Brown in February before pulling out of the fight with a groin injury. The Belgian and former Strikeforce welterweight champion’s last fight was a TKO loss to recent title challenger Rory MacDonald.
Thompson did hint that he would be more than willing to be a late replacement if a fight between two top ranked fighters falls through due to an injury.
“I’m not the type of guy to back down from anybody. I think if you want to fight in the octagon you have to have that mentality. It’s really up to my coaches, Dana White and Joe Silva to make that decision, but if it was me and if someone gets injured I will step in.”
Thompson is riding a 5 fight winning streak that includes wins over Ellenberger, Patrick Cote and Robert Whittaker. His only loss in professional MMA competition came is his second UFC fight to UFC veteran Matt Brown.