Wonderboy: I’m still ranked no. 1, why am I not fighting for interim belt?
Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson admits he is upset with not being granted an interim welterweight title fight
According to the official UFC rankings, Stephen Thompson is the number one contender in the welterweight division. And while current champion Tyron Woodley remains uncertain about his return, the UFC decided to put up an interim title fight between former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos and the controversial Colby Covington.
During a recent interview on the MMA Hour, “Wonderboy” expressed his displeasure with the making of this matchup.
“I’m upset. Being the number-one contender, why am I not fighting for the interim title? It makes no sense,” Thompson said (via MMA Fighting). “I know that I fought for the title twice. And the first fight was amazing — we got ‘Fight of the Night,’ we fought to a draw — but the second fight, people weren’t impressed with it.”
“But I’m still the number one contender, so why aren’t I fighting for the interim title? Why isn’t the number two guy fighting the number one? It just doesn’t make sense, it’s like they’re not going by the rankings anymore,” he added. “Obviously I’m upset, but it is what it is, there’s no changing it now.”
On the flipside, Thompson did get a new deal, which he seems to be completely satisfied with.
“We had some negotiations back and forth with UFC and I am happy with what’s going on in my new contract,” Thompson told Ariel Helwani. “It’s definitely an incentive to go out there and do it.”
“Of course, I’m not in the game for the money, but if the UFC is pushing something you really don’t want or that doesn’t make sense, you can kind of play the game with them a little bit. We did that and we kind of got what we wanted, so we’re gonna go out there and have some fun with smiles on our faces.”
Thompson is currently scheduled to fight Darren Till on May 27th in Liverpool.