Regardless of the outcome of his upcoming clash against Shavkat
Rakhmonov, Stephen
Thompson is looking forward to having a few battle scars after
their fight.
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After
turning down a booking against Rakhmonov on multiple occasions
in the past, “Wonderboy” is slated to meet the undefeated Kazakh
sensation with a 100% finish rate at
UFC 296 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 16.
Rakhmonov is heavy -500 betting favorite going into the clash,
which could be attributed to his superior grappling skillset. One
of the most elite strikers in MMA, Thompson believes “Nomad” will
eventually prefer going to the ground against him. However,
“Wonderboy” is glad that Rakhmonov is the kind of fighter who
Will
Hunt for the finish, giving him the opportunity to go out on
his shield.
“Now, do I feel like Shavkat is going to stand there bang with me?
I don’t think so,” Thompson told Submission Radio.
“I think eventually he’s going to shoot. He’s going to shoot in and
try to get the fight to the ground, obviously. But he’s still a
type of guy to try to finish. And I would rather go out on my
shield than just somebody hold me there. You know what I mean?”
Thompson is coming off a stoppage win over Kevin
Holland at UFC on ESPN 42 in December 2022. Prior to that, he
suffered back-to-back decision losses against grappling aces
Gilbert
Burns and Belal
Muhammad. It is these kinds of losses “Wonderboy” wants to
avoid, where he doesn’t even have the satisfaction of having put up
a fight.
“One of the worst feelings that I have, is after a fight, walking
through the airport and not having a bump or a bruise or an ache to
show the battle that I had the night before,” Thompson said. “And
when I fought those two fights, with Belal and Gilbert, I was
literally walking to the airport [with nothing]. The best feeling
is walking through the airport the next day, can barely move, man.
People are looking at you like, what did this guy go through last
night?
“It’s that feeling that I just went through a battle, a war, and
survived. Or, you know, even win or a loss, I’m still here. You
have those remnants of the battle of the night before. And I’m
gonna get that. And that’s what I’m most looking forward, to be
honest, to fight with Shavkat.”