‘Wonderboy’ Confident UFC Will Pay UFC 291 Show Money Despite Turning Down Fight

Stephen
Thompson was slated to fight Michel
Pereira at
UFC 291 back in July. However, the match fell through a day
before the event as the Brazilian missed the welterweight limit by
three pounds. Thompson refused to take the bout at catchweight
after weighing in at 170.5.

However, Thompson (17-6) didn’t receive his show money despite
having made weight. “Wonderboy” has since remained upbeat that the

Ultimate Fighting Championship will do good by him and
continues to do so.

Regardless, Thompson believes the perceived debt will be paid along
with the payout for his upcoming clash against Shavkat
Rakhmonov (17-0) at
UFC 296 on Dec. 16.

“I do believe that they’re going to — I think the deal is, when I
fight Shavkat, they’re going to add on what they owed me for the
last fight,” Thompson recently told brother-in-law Chris
Weidman on SiriusXM’s “Won’t Back Down” program.

When Weidman joked about the UFC “bribing” Thompson to fight the
undefeated Kazakh, “Wonderboy” briefly laughed before explaining
how the matchup came to fruition.

While Thompson wanted to fight Kamaru
Usman (20-3), the promotion had other plans for the former
champ. The other name on offer was surging Irish prospect Ian Garry
(13-0) but Thompson decided against the proposal. The 40-year-old
also believes the winner of his bout against Rakhmonov will have a
legitimate claim to the next title shot at welterweight.