Las Vegas, NV – UFC veteran Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson says a win over Shavkat Rakhkmonov at UFC 296 proves he deserves a title shot.
“He’s ranked #5 and they’re saying that he’s the future champ. When I got the call to fight somebody who’s in the top 5 I thought it was great,” Thompson told reporters including Cageside Press on Wednesday.
“Who better to prove myself and show the UFC and the world that I’m ready for a title shot than against Shavkat Rakhmonov. Now’s the time to do it.”
Thompson knows he’s got a tall task against Rakhmonov at UFC 296.
“I think the guy’s like a 100% finish rate or something like that? I know he’s going to come out there and do work. He’s going to try to finish it, and those are the kind of fights that I want to test myself against,” Thompson said.
Thompson was supposed to face Michel Pereira at UFC 291 in July, but Pereira missed weight. Thompson turned the fight down after that which brought him some support, but a lot of scrutiny from fans.
“I felt like it was becoming a thing. Like people were doing it on purpose to get an advantage over their opponent. Unless you cut the weight you won’t know what it actually feels like to really suffer through that and if your opponent doesn’t do it with you there’s a difference,” he said.
“There’s a big difference.”
Outside of the fight at UFC 296 Thompson did mention that he had been hoping for a call to appear in the last season of Cobra Kai on Netflix.
“I’m waiting for a phone call. The last time I was in Cobra Kai I was supposed to have a big fight scene. They ended up doing it the week I was in Vegas fighting Belal (Muhammad) so I wasn’t able to do it. So they kept me in there as a little cameo,” Thompson told Cageside Press.
“They told me they were going to bring me back for like a big fight scene at the least season. So we’ll see. I hope so.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Stephen Thompson above. He takes on Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 296.
