Stephen Thompson can’t believe at UFC 307 he was caught – again – by the only strike that had knocked him out previously.
[autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag] has been knocked out twice in his MMA career – both by the same style of strike.
An overhand right has proved to be an enemy for Thompson (17-8-1 MMA, 12-8-1 UFC), who was knocked out by Joaquin Buckley (17-7-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) throwing it Saturday at UFC 307. The welterweight bout took place at Delta Center in Salt Lake City and ended at 2:17 of Round 3.
“I just got back to the hotel,” Thompson said in a video posted to social media shortly after the loss. “I don’t even know how I got here. But again, I get knocked out by an overhand. Once by (Anthony) Pettis, either on the cage or off the cage. It is what it is.
“… Not much to say other than I sincerely appreciate all of the love and support I felt from the fans tonight and always the love you’ve shown me really fills my heart. The roar of the crowd as I walked out to the cage and my name was announced is something I’ll cherish forever. I’m sorry I didn’t get it done tonight. Much love to you all and much love to SLC.”
Not much to say other than I sincerely appreciate all of the love and support I felt from the fans tonight and always 🙏🏻❤️ the love you’ve shown me really fills my heart. The roar of the crowd as I walked out to the cage and my name was announced is something I’ll cherish… pic.twitter.com/nNg5XoLL53
— Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson (@WonderboyMMA) October 6, 2024
The UFC has now paid more than $29 million to its athletes under the Promotional Guidelines Compliance program following UFC 307.
SALT LAKE CITY – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 307 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $407,500.
The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.
UFC 307 took place at Delta Center in Utah. The main card aired on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and ESPN+.
The full UFC 307 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.
In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.
Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Check out this big knockout by Joaquin Buckley at UFC 307!
All appeared to be going splendid for [autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag] until he ended up face first on the canvas midway through Round 3 of his UFC 307 bout.
The party responsible for the violent jumping knockout was [autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag] (19-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC), who crumpled “Wonderboy” Thompson (17-7-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) with a jumping right hook that ended the fight at 2:17 of Round 3.
The welterweight bout closed out the UFC 307 preliminary card at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Buckley was the aggressor for much of the three-round bout, as Thompson played role of matador to his bull. Thompson counter strikes landed on Buckley on a few occasions, but that didn’t deter the pressure put forth.
Thompson fended off many of Buckley’s takedown attempts and made it seemingly impossible to be controlled for any significant period of time.
Right after a big head kick landed for Thompson in the opening two minutes of the third round, Buckley finally found a home for the big shot. He jumped in the air and landed a big right hook that sent Thompson on all fours.
After the win, which was Buckley’s fourth in a row, he called out former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Buckley defeated Andre Fialho, Alex Morono, and Nursulton Ruziboev in succession prior to Saturday’s fight.
Thompson, 41, has now lost back-to-back fights and four of his most recent five.
Check out the best photos from Joaquin Buckley’s third-round knockout win over Stephen Thompson at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag]’s third-round knockout win over [autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag] at UFC 307 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. (Fight and venue photos by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA Today Sports)
Stephen Thompson sees Joaquin Buckley resorting to grappling him at UFC 307.
SALT LAKE CITY – [autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag] sees [autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag] resorting to grappling him at UFC 307.
Thompson (17-7-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) takes on Buckley (19-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) in Saturday’s featured prelim (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Although Buckley is owner of several devastating knockouts – including a spinning back kick knockout of Impa Kasanganay, Thompson noticed a different game plan from “New Mansa” as of late. Buckley landed four takedowns in his unanimous decision win over Nursulton Ruziboev in May, and Thompson thinks he’ll try and do the same to him.
“You go back and watch, I think it was a fight ago, he fought the big (Uzbek) dude, he took him down,” Thompson told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 307 media day. “He won by takedown. So I prepared for that. I knew that was going to happen.
“At this point, you’ve got guys who no longer want to stand and strike with me, which I think is a testament to my striking, and they just want to take me down now. So I’ll be ready wherever the fight goes.”
Thompson has struggled against the likes of Gilbert Burns and current welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, who implemented a heavy grapple approach on him. Thompson only has one win by submission in his career, but hopes he can surprise Buckley with some of the things he’s been working on.
“Well hey, it could happen baby – you never know. I might sneak one of those in,” Thompson said on a potential submission win. “We’ve been working on it nonstop. I’ve got great coaches back home – got a great team around me to help me get to this point, so I’m going to put on a show.”
Joaquin Buckley thinks a win over Stephen Thompson at Saturday’s UFC 307 will get him far up in the division.
SALT LAKE CITY – [autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag] doesn’t think the UFC welterweight title is too far from reach, especially if all goes well this weekend.
Buckley, who’s 4-0 since dropping to 170 pounds in 2023, believes a win over former UFC title challenger [autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag] this Saturday at UFC 307 will put him into title contention. Buckley (19-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) respects what Thompson (17-7-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) has done in his career, but sees him as another step to get to his ultimate goal.
“Right now, he’s definitely going to be somebody that’s going to push my name, so you can call him a gatekeeper,” Buckley told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 307 media day. “He’s definitely been at the highest level for the longest time. This is actually the lowest ranking he’s ever been, that we’ve seen, but at the end of the day I can’t tell his story. I can only make mine. But at the end of the day, I feel like this win for me is definitely going to put me in the position where I can fight the title one day.”
Even at 41, Thompson is still considered one of the trickiest fights in the division, given his uncommon karate style. Buckley admits it wasn’t easy to prepare for “Wonderboy,” but he feels confident he’s going to get the job done.
“It was hard to find (a similar training partner),” Buckley said. ‘I went to Austin, Texas to go train with Raymond Daniels, but that training and that sparring never happened. I was a little bummed out because there’s nobody else that can replicate my style besides that person I went to go train with. But then I thought about it, ‘Who is he training in order to imitate me?’ At the end of the day, this is going to be the fight of who’s got the best version and style to get their hand raised.”
Stephen Thompson says part of his motivation for fighting Joaquin Buckley at UFC 307 is to give back to the welterweight division.
[autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag] steps into the octagon at UFC 307 with a multi-pronged mentality for his career.
A former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger, Thompson (17-7-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) is looking to bust out of a 1-3 slump in his past four fights while simultaneously giving back to the division by fighting a surging name in Joaquin Buckley (20-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC), who is on a four-fight winning streak.
“Wonderboy” meets Buckley in the featured prelim of Saturday’s card (ESPN+, ESPNews, ESPN+ pay perview) at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Thompson hasn’t seen action since a December loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov, and he said this was the right time and right matchup to get back on track.
“To be able to go out there, put on a show and continually move up the rankings is always my goal to better myself,” Thompson told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “My goal now is always the title, but always just to better myself and this is my test to test my skills against these studs coming up. There’s a lot of guys in the welterweight division and other divisions that just try to hold onto their spot. I wouldn’t have made it where I am today if it wasn’t for the (Jake) Ellenbergers and the (Johny) Hendricks and the Rory MacDonalds giving me those opportunities as an up-and-coming fighter.
“There are a lot of guys holding onto their spots, but I don’t mind giving back to the Vicente Luques and (Kevin) Hollands and Joaquin Buckleys. Giving them a shot (to move up).”
Thompson said the bout with Buckley came together when they saw each other in Las Vegas for International Fight Week in early July. Both men pushed their managers to talk with the UFC brass about making the fight. A few months later, it’s happening.
The matchup is one Thompson, No. 9 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie welterweight rankings, thinks is fitting for his style. There’s always an expectation somewhere in his mind that every opponent is going to try for a takedown at some point in time. With this pairing in particular, though, he sees No. 14 Buckley as somewhat vulnerable on the mat.
Thompson never has recorded a submission in his 20-fight UFC career. The 41-year-old wants one before putting a bow on his career, and although he thinks Buckley’s “ego” will lead to plenty of striking exchanges, Thompson is ready to bust out his grappling chops if need be.
“I would love to get a submission win,” Thompson said. “I’ve only had one submission win, and it was before the UFC. I’ve been really working on my ground work and hopefully we can get one either this fight or the next. There are opportunities everywhere, especially if he tries to shoot or tries to take me down. There’s things I can try to do against the fence I’ve been working on. Off my back that I’ve been working on.
“But I don’t know. He does have an ego. I feel like he’s the type of guy that thinks he can beat you at your own game. So I can kind of lure him down (to the ground). If the knockout happens, it happens. If a submission happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m ready for a three, five-minute round war.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
Stephen Thompson admits he’s disappointed not to be on the UFC 307 main card.
[autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag] admits he’s disappointed not to be on the UFC 307 main card.
Thompson (17-7-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) takes on Joaquin Buckley (19-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) on Oct. 5 in the featured prelim from Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
UFC 307 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) is star-studded, featuring the likes of former champion Jose Aldo, Kayla Harrison and Kevin Holland, but “Wonderboy” thinks his stylistic matchup with streaking contender Buckley warranted a main-card spot.
“I’m so used to being on the main card, but hey, wherever the UFC puts us, we’re going to go out there and put on a show no matter what,” Thompson told Bodog Canada. “We’re going to show everybody that we deserved to be there. We should have been on the main card. But yeah, a little weird at this point knowing what kind of a fight this is going to be. You would figure that they’d want to have all eyes on it.
“Now, I’m not sure if it was because, you know, the last time I was supposed to fight in Salt Lake City my opponent didn’t make weight. But Joaquin Buckley is notorious for making weight, so I know he’s going to be a professional and we’re going to go out there and have fun but yeah, it was a little disappointing like, what’s going on now?”
Thompson hasn’t competed on the prelims since defeating Patrick Cote at UFC 178 in September 2014. It’s been all main cards and main events since then for the former two-time welterweight title challenger.
“It’s wild,” Thompson said. “I don’t know why they put that on the card. I mean, there’s some fights on the main card that I think should be on the prelims but, you know, it is what it is.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
“Wonderboy’s” resume includes finishes over former UFC champions Robert Whittaker and Johny Hendricks, as well as wins over former title challengers Rory MacDonald and Jorge Masvidal.
“I’m fully content in what I’m doing because I’m doing it for myself, not because I want something,” Thompson said in an interview with “Responsible Gambling.” “I’m fully content with who I’m fighting and when I’m fighting. I don’t need anything from the UFC.
“I’ve been with them for a very long time and have done the best I can to represent who I am and the UFC. It would be cool to go down in UFC history. It would be cool to be able to do that, to be in the Hall of Fame. I think that would be sick.”
Thompson, 41, is scheduled to take on streaking contender Joaquin Buckley Oct. 5 at UFC 307. He has no issue accepting fights with rising contenders, previously snapping the winning streaks of Geoff Neal and Vicente Luque.
“I’m a veteran of the game,” Thompson said. “I’ve been in the top 10 since 2014, 2015, something like that, maybe even before that. So, I’ve been at the top for a long time. I think people are looking at me as that gatekeeper to make it to that top.
“I always look at the positive side of things, so I think it’s pretty cool people want to fight me because they know in order to make it to the top, you have to beat ‘Wonderboy,’ which to me is a really cool thing.”
Thompson is still trucking and has no intentions of retiring just yet.
“When I put the gloves down in the octagon, I don’t think that means I’m done for good, maybe just with MMA,” Thompson said. “It’s the wrestling that’s more damaging to my body than anything else. But I feel like I can strike for days. I can kickbox anybody.”
Stephen Thompson raved about Belal Muhammad’s conditioning in his title fight vs. Leon Edwards.
[autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag] raved about [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag]’s conditioning in his title fight vs. [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag].
Thompson credits Muhammad for his long road to the title, which included a suffocating win over him in December 2021.
“Man, the guy’s put in so much work,” Thompson said on Muhammad on the “Believe You Me” podcast. “He’s, I think, on a 10-fight win streak before he even got the chance to get the title. He’s beat me, he’s beat a lot of other guys. I’m happy for the guy. I’m glad that he’s champion, he worked really hard for it.”
Muhammad was able to push a heavy pace with his striking and grappling, overwhelming Edwards for the majority of the fight. Thompson was very impressed with his performance.
“It was unbelievable for one, to be able to beat someone like Leon Edwards who went almost 10 rounds with Kamaru Usman, who beat Colby Covington,” Thompson said. “In my eyes, it didn’t look like the Leon of old. I know he was in shape for the fight, I know it was late.
“But at the same time, I have never seen a cardio or a gas tank on anybody like I did Belal Muhammad that night. Leon Edwards, he tired like a normal athlete. But, freaking Belal Muhammad was just as fresh in the fifth as he was in the first. It was wild, and you could see the fatigue in Leon. But, hats off to him, man.”
