Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson expressed frustration over Shavkat Rakhmonov‘s post-fight justification for changing his strategy from striking to grappling due to an alleged ankle injury, despite understanding that opponents often prefer grappling to avoid his superior striking skills.
Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson knows that most of his opponents won’t want to stand and trade with him.
So, he wasn’t shocked when Shavkat Rakhmonov promised to out-strike him but ended up taking him down. Ultimately, Rakhmonov secured a rear-naked choke submission late in the second round.
Thompson doesn’t fault Rakhmonov for taking the path of least resistance. It’s smart strategy, after all. But he didn’t love the explanation from the undefeated welterweight about why it happened.
“It is funny when guys are like ‘I’m going to go out there [and knock him out],’” Thompson told MMA Fighting. “Even Shavkat was like ‘I’m going to beat him striking.’ Then he turned into a grappler.”
Of course, Shavkat’s excuse was ‘I had a hurt ankle.’ Yet, Thompson saw him running on the treadmill just fine the day before.
“It is funny when guys are all over social media, trying to get you thinking one thing,” Thompson added. “Then they do the other.”
After his win, Rakhmonov revealed he had a serious ankle injury that almost made him pull out. But he decided to move forward with the bout as scheduled.
Thompson never likes losing but concedes Rakhmonov was the better man that night. His frustration? Rakhmonov’s explanation for changing his strategy after promising to strike.
“Just be honest — yes [it’s frustrating],” Thompson said. “Come on man, you’re not fooling anybody. We all know that was your game plan.”
In fact, Thompson had a conversation with Rakhmonov’s head coach Henri Hooft after the fight. They addressed the game plan used to beat him.
This interaction stands out because it reminded Thompson of a similar situation after facing Gilbert Burns in 2021.
“It was funny because afterwards, the same coach as Gilbert Burns came up,” Thompson recounted. “He said ‘I’m sorry the fight was boring but that’s the only way to beat you.’ He said the same thing after Shavkat [fight].”
“So I knew their plan wasn’t to strike with me,” Thompson continued. “He wanted to hem me up, get me to the floor and submit me.”
“That’s part of the game,” Thompson admitted. “But after the fight, saying ‘I was going to strike but hurt my ankle’? Nah, dude.”
Looking ahead to his upcoming fight against Joaquin Buckley at UFC 307, Thompson doesn’t expect Buckley to trade with him on the feet either.
Much like most of his UFC appearances, Thompson is preparing for Buckley to shoot for takedowns. It’s up to him to stop it.
“I think he’s going to shoot,” Thompson said. “I think he’s going to wrestle.”
“You saw what he did with Nursulton Ruziboev,” Thompson noted. “Of course, he was 6-foot-5 so it was easy for Buckley to take him down.”
“I’m a very difficult guy to take down,” Thompson asserted. “I pride myself on that. I make my opponents work hard and tire themselves out.”