***#1 Ranked UFC Welterweight, Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson SHERDOG Q&A***

[Stephen Thompson]

Hey @Stephen Thompson

I`m a huge fan man, i`m always watching your fights and trying to study your movement to mimic it in training. Your style is just a beauty to watch.


In the first fight Woodley was backing up in a very hesitant, stationary way against the fence which is something he does a lot in his fights. You were very hesitant to open up when he did that, i think because you were respecting his power-rightfully so-but do you think you should have capitalized more on that mistake of his and open up more by showing more of your creative, unique arsenal of striking? Is that something you think you can adjust and succeed in the rematch?


Thanks in advance for the response.

That is exactly what my coaches were saying ha ha Ha but for real I'm deathly going to capitalize on that next time I was very hesitant during the fight and didn't throw the kicks and punches that I normally do. This next fight you're definitely see a different Stephen Wonderboy Thompson

 

[Coolidge]

Can you please knock Tyron Woodley out this time, for the good of the planet? Don't be so gun-shy!

 

[UL]

I stayed awake till 3am to ask you this



Who is your favorite fighter from Pride?
And please fight Maia next, he deserves it.






@Drake


Moni__

 

[Stephen Thompson]

Hi Stephen. Was it hard emotionally to fight your friend, Rory Macdonald?

To be honest it really wasn't. Yes he's a good friend of mine and we train together in the past but we both know it's business. And if I didn't give Rory 100% out there I would feel like I had disrespected him so I gave them all I got

 

[DIRTYCOP]

Stephen, I believe Fedor is the greatest all around MMA fighter of all time. Who is the best ever in your eyes?

 

[Stephen Thompson]

Stephen, I'm a huge fan. Did any of your kicks come from tkd or did you learn most of your moves from your father?

You know I never trained TKD my kicks in my style come from our Kempo karate background and yes my dad has trained me my whole life

 

[scorpipede]

@Stephen Thompson I'm still trying to adjust to these new Unified rules myself. (watching and judging from my couch of course) If I understand them well enough they seem to favor your style of fighting. Were you happy with the changes they made? Did you think they left anything unaddressed?

 

[Stephen Thompson]

Can you please knock Tyron Woodley out this time, for the good of the planet? Don't be so gun-shy!

Haha you got it

 

[JayPettryMMA]

Who do you have winning on Saturday between Fedor and Mitrione? Can Fedor get it done, or will Mitrione take the win?

 

[Crimson Glory]

That's awesomebyou training kendo lol but yea I def recommend it for starters.. our best fighter from ourSchool comes from our Karate program..

Haha, just realized, Kempo, my bad haha.

 

[Stephen Thompson]

I stayed awake till 3am to ask you this



Who is your favorite fighter from Pride?
And please fight Maia next, he deserves it.






@Drake


Moni__

Man thanks for staying up this late haha but that's a hard one bc I loved everyone in pride but I def liked the way rampage slammed EVERYONE.. he was awesome in pride

 

[po_thead]

This is too fun!

Stephen, how badly do you want to avenge your only loss ever - to Matt Brown?!

How do you feel about Weidman being a dog against Mousasi?! Maybe a "what have you done for me lately" situation?! Do you pay much attention to the odds/betting lines (when you're competing)?

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

You know I never trained TKD my kicks in my style come from our Kempo karate background and yes my dad has trained me my whole life

very cool Stephen, just one more question, is your style of kempo okinawan. its not ed parkers american kempo right?

 

[HectorG]

Gamecocks or Clemson?

 

[DS7]

That is exactly what my coaches were saying ha ha Ha but for real I'm deathly going to capitalize on that next time I was very hesitant during the fight and didn't throw the kicks and punches that I normally do. This next fight you're definitely see a different Stephen Wonderboy Thompson

That is what i wanted to hear!! Ahahah thanks man!


Btw please win that fight because i have a bet with @thatKid and i want him to use a horrible AV for a month :d

 

[Stephen Thompson]

Who do you have winning on Saturday between Fedor and Mitrione? Can Fedor get it done, or will Mitrione take the win?

Hmmm that's a good question bc def I think fedor is one of the all time greatest but.. it's been a while since he has fought and his last fight he didn't look so good.. but hope he still has it

 

[Stephen Thompson]

Haha, just realized, Kempo, my bad haha.

Haha no worries it's all good

 

[HuskySamoan]

Yo Wonderboy

We're seeing more and more Karatekas do well in MMA like yourself, Michael Venom Page, Kyoji Horiguchi, Gunnar Nelson and so on as of late. Karate's success in the Kickboxing ring ( at the higher levels ) is far less noticeable however. So I ask you two questions

1. How much do you attribute Karate based fighters in MMA success to the Cage structure being a larger space with more angles to allow movement as opposed to a ring?

and

2. What do you think of your fellow Karate practitioners like Lyoto, Kyoji, Page, Gunnar Nelson?

 

[Mga223]

Stephen, been a fan for awhile even doe you smoked my boy Whittaker.

The heart you showed in that 4th round was amazing.

Hoping you get the W.

Is there anything you regret in the first fight? Have you changed much in this training camp or stuck to the same basic.

 

[skipdean]

Hey Wonderboy! Hoping you land some hard kicks, dude. Will you call out Bisbing when you win the belt?