EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has two former champions in mind for his next fight

UFC welterweight standout Stephen Thompson (14-3-1 MMA) has two former champions in mind for his next octagon appearance.

“Wonderboy” recently sat down with BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor where he discussed not only his timetable for return but also who he is aiming to fight in his next outing.

“You know I tore my MCL in the fight with Till. We did an MRI and thankfully nothing else was damaged. No surgery is required for this injury but I have to give it at least eight weeks to heal properly before I can get back to training.”

Following his controversial loss to Darren Till last month at UFC Liverpool, “Wonderboy” stated his desire to fight former division champion Robbie Lawler in his next octagon appearance. Taylor asked Thompson why he felt that “Ruthless” was the most logical choice to be his next opponent.

“So I was thinking, with me being out for a while with this knee injury, the number two guy who is Darren Till now is probably going to want to fight before I am able to return. I think a lot of the top guys are going to want to fight before then. The only one that I could really think of, and he is a fighter I’ve been wanting to fight for a while now, who also recently had knee surgery is Robbie Lawler. I was just thinking, that this would be a really exciting fight, which is obviously something I want after my past two performances. Lawler was one of my idols growing up. I watched him all the time, this was before I was in the UFC. I believe he’s ranked #5 right now and I’ve been talking with Dana (White) and so I’m hopeful that we can line that up. Dana told me that I could have any fight I wanted after Till, but obviously I can’t call for the winner of Colby Covington and RDA, or a trilogy with Woodley. He’s not going to go for that. But a fight with Robbie? That makes sense and would be a great fight for the fans.”

Taylor brought up the fact that he would love to see Thompson eventually fight with Rafael dos Anjos, an idea that was nothing new for “Wonderboy”.

“Yeah man, and you know one of the reasons I said Robbie Lawler at first was because the Colby Covington vs. RDA fight hadn’t happened yet. I wasn’t very sure who was going to win that fight. But yeah, now that it is done and over with I absolutely think that RDA would be an awesome fight. I think that would be a lot of fun. Either one of those guys (Lawler or RDA) would be awesome for my next fight.”

Who would you prefer to see Stephen Thompson fight in his next octagon appearance, Rafael dos Anjos or Robbie Lawler? Sound off PENN Nation!