Former
Ultimate Fighting Championship title challenger Stephen
Thompson will be drawing an unranked opponent who is just as
dangerous as any contender.
According to the UFC on Friday
morning, Thompson (17-8-1) will be appearing at
UFC Nashville on July 12. Inside of the Bridgestone Arena in
Tennessee, the welterweight veteran will square off with a man 15
years his junior in Gabriel
Bonfim (17-1). “Wonderboy” expressed immediate excitement when
the news went public, stating, “Time to prove this old man’s still
got it” on social
media.
Once a single scorecard away from claiming the 170-pound throne,
Thompson has fallen on hard times the last several years. Winner of
just one bout since 2021, that victory came over Kevin
Holland via corner stoppage when Holland busted both of his
hands in their 2022 encounter. That triumph is bookended by four
losses to top talents Gilbert
Burns, Belal
Muhammad, Shavkat
Rakhmonov and Joaquin
Buckley—the latter two by stoppage. Of note, the Rakhmonov loss
marked the first time “Wonderboy” had ever been submitted.
While Thompson, 42, is on the downslope of his career, Bonfim is
ready to earn a statement win at the expense of the vaunted
kickboxer. The Brazilian debuted with the promotion in 2023,
rattling off two speedy guillotine chokes in a combined two minutes
and two seconds. His first career setback came when Nicolas
Dalby took him to the woodshed, but he bounced back with a
decision over Ange Loose and a choke out of Kalinn
Williams in February. As a pro, “Marretinha” has earned all but
one of his victories via stoppage.
Thompson and Bonfim will compete at an event in UFC on ESPN 70,
also known as UFC Nashville, that takes place on July 12 at the
Bridgestone Arena in the capital city of Tennessee. Serving as its
headliner is a heavyweight smash-em-up derby between Derrick
Lewis and Tallison
Teixeira. If the bout order still remains intact from the
previous announcement, the co-main event of this show will take
place at 145 pounds when Calvin
Kattar square off with Steve
Garcia.