Stephen Thompson lost his last fight to Belal Muhammad at UFC Vegas 45 and many people have pushed for him to retire. Thompson is almost 40 and it's only natural for people to expect him to call it a career.
The UFC welterweight feels he's still in great shape and isn't ready to call it yet. It's surprising him more than anything else to see everyone tell him to retire.
“I can’t believe people are saying that I’m old and I should retire,” Thompson said on his YouTube channel. “I feel like people that do retire, when they sit down on the chair, they just feel like they should retire. Like just, their body’s beat up, aches and pains. … When I sit here and I’m sitting down in this chair, I feel great. I feel fine. I feel better than I was five years ago. I just don’t get it.”
Stephen Thompson had a great training camp and physically feels great. The former UFC title challenger doesn't think one performance determines he should call it a career.
“I lost my fight – got manhandled for three rounds,” Thompson said. “Yeah, man – it was a sucky experience, to be honest with you. I don’t know why this happens, but I had a great camp. Camp was awesome. I was in the greatest shape of my life. (I) was in shape, felt strong, and then things start to kind of get a little weird whenever you’re getting ready to go out. You’re in the back kind of warming up and your legs start to feel tingly. That’s not a good sign.
“My weight cut was great, actually. I got down in weight super fast, way easier than my last one, and weight cut was good. I think maybe it had something to do with my rehydration – not sure. But I felt exhausted, felt super tired right out of the first round. I was tired. I didn’t want to say anything to my coaches or anything that my legs were feeling tingly.”
Stephen Thompson will need to bounce back in a big way in his UFC return. 2022 will be a big year to determine where his career lands.
