Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson has been a staple contender in the welterweight division for many years now. He has fought the best the division has to offer, this includes names such as Shavkat Rakhmonov and Gilbert Burns.
Primarily known for his karate style of striking Stephen Thompson has been able to secure highlight real finishes throughout his career. Thompson’s style has come under some criticism, however. For example, Ali Abdelaziz has before stated that “He’s one of the most boring fighters in the UFC”
Thompson is coming off a 2nd round submission loss at UFC 296 to Shavkat Rakhmonov. The fan favourite will be looking to get back into the win column in his next fight.
Many fans have speculated that Thompson could potentially be matched up against UFC newcomer Michael “Venom” Page. They both share a very similar karate style. With both scoring various highlight finishes throughout their careers. Page beat fellow UFC fan favourite Kevin Holland by a unanimous decision at UFC 299. This performance has skyrocketed Page into the UFC rankings coming in at No. 13.
While the pair do share a similar fighting style, they are very different in terms of personality. Wonderboy is more well known for his calm nice guy demeanour, whereas Page is known for his showboating style of fighting.
Stephen Thompson Responds to Michael “Venom” Page
In his post-fight interview with Aaron Bronsteter Page stated that a fight with Thompson could be “Potentially boring” with the pair sharing too similar of a style.
Thompson has since gone on to respond to this claim from Page, in which he agrees that a fight between the two could potentially be boring.
“Even when he was in Bellator, everybody was like, ‘Man, you know MVP vs. ‘Wonderboy,’” Thompson told Inside Fighting. “Great performance, I think he did a really good job out there. Distance management, covering the gap, being tricky – especially with somebody like Kevin Holland. But, you know, everybody asks that, and I think actually Michael ‘Venom’ Page said it very well: A positive and a positive doesn’t always make a positive. We have such similar styles, it could possibly be a very boring fight for everybody.
“We’re both counter strikers, very similar styles, so it could possibly be me and him bouncing out there in the middle just waiting on somebody to do something and even though we have similar styles, that doesn’t always make it an exciting fight. So he’s a good friend of mine, good martial artist, karate guy. At this point, I don’t think it’s necessary, but he’s going to keep working his way up, and he might even jump past me to fight some of these guys because he’s on such a hype train right now.”
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Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
