Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is widely regarded as one of the greatest UFC fighters to never win a title and at 41 years old, his main goal is no longer to lift undisputed gold.
This coming Saturday at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson will make the 21st appearance of his long tenure in the UFC as he takes on the surging Joaquin Buckley.
The 41-year-old’s last appearance came in December of last year when he took on Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 296, subsequently being submitted by ‘The Nomad’ in round two.
Stephen Thompson reveals the final goal of his UFC career
Although the sensational striker has always dreamed of lifting UFC gold and has come so close on two occasions against former rival Tyron Woodley, now at the tail-end of his career, Thompson’s goals have shifted.
Questions regarding retirement have surrounded ‘Wonderboy’, especially over the past few years, however, he is hoping to become the oldest fighter to fight in the UFC.
“I always feel good man… Depending on how this fight goes will determine where I go from there. I think even a loss, I’ve still got more in me, I’ve got several more fights left on my contract and I feel good man,” Thompson began to explain in an interview with Submission Radio.
“I feel like I can do this as long as my body will let me or when my Dad says I’m done. At this point, he knows me better than I know myself, as a fighter we want to continue to fight to the day we die but realistically that’s not it.
“But the retirement thing hasn’t been on my mind, I literally want to beat the record of being the oldest guy in the UFC. I think it was (Randy) Couture maybe at 45 or something, maybe he was the oldest… I think I’m the second oldest guy on the UFC roster,” Thompson continued.
Despite Thompson’s new goal, he will have to break the record set by Ron Van Clief back at UFC 4, as he competed at 51 years old.
Thompson highlights a possible fight against Leon Edwards next
Looking to snap ‘New Mansa’s’ four-fight win streak, the veteran is hopeful that with a win over the 30-year-old, he will set up for a fight against the former champion, Leon Edwards.
Fans have been calling for a matchup between ‘Rocky’ and Thompson for several years because of their standout striking.
“Leon Edwards has been fighting a slew of wrestlers, (Kamaru) Usman, Colby (Covington), Belal Muhammad, so just a breath of fresh air and fight another striker, I think that would be fun and he’d enjoy that,” the fan-favorite claimed.
Surprisingly, Thompson’s fight against Buckley takes place on the UFC 307 prelims this Saturday, and it will be the first time since his fight against Patrick Cote in 2014 that he has competed on the earlier portion of fights.
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