EXCLUSIVE | Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson on Tyron Woodley: ‘He’s a one strike guy’

Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson has the biggest fight of his career coming up on November 12. “Wonderboy” will be in the co-main event on possibly the biggest UFC event to date as he takes on UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in a five-round title fight.

Thompson set aside some time from his training camp at LAW MMA in New York to be a guest on the newly relaunched BJPenn.com Radio show on Wednesday to talk about the biggest fight of his career.

“I’ve been working for this my entire life,” Thompson told BJPenn.com Radio host “Kinch.” “I actually went to UFC 2. It was in Charlotte, North Carolina, my first show ever and I was like 12-years-old and I told myself, ‘I’m going to be doing this one day.’ And, you know what? Everything that I been working on my whole life led me up to this point and yeah man, this is definitely the biggest fight of my career.”

The matchup between Woodley and Thompson initially took some time to come together. “Wonderboy” attributed the support from fans to help the match be made official and is looking to realize his dreams of becoming a UFC champion on November 12.

With Thompson’s strength being his striking from his karate background, “Kinch” asked if Woodley’s striking was a big concern as Woodley became the champion with a big knockout win over Robbie Lawler at UFC 201 in July.

“Anybody you step out there with has the potential to put you out, to knock you out,” Thompson stated. “You’re in a game where everybody out there is a monster, a beast.

“Tyron has got one-hitter quitter type power in his right hand, even in his left hand. So if he touches you with that, man, you’re going out. I don’t care who you are. You could be a heavyweight and he hits you with that and knock you out. So, I have to be on point. I have to be aware of that. Being Tyron, I don’t care if it’s the first round or the fifth round, he explodes into that right hand, he’s going to put you out. So, I’m definitely going to respect him with his striking but, that said, he’s not the type of guy to throw a lot of combinations. He’s a one strike guy. So, my goal is to actually keep him away and make him swing and miss and counter off that or meet him in the middle. But, obviously, I’ll be using my kicks. Yeah, man, it’s a chess match. You can have the perfect game plan going out there but as soon as you get out there, you may have to change it up.”

As far as how “Wonderboy” predicts the fight with Woodley going when they meet in the Octagon at Madison Square Garden, the contender just envisions the end result with his hand being raised.

“Every time I step out there. I never go out there looking for the knockout,” Thompson claimed. “I just let it happen.

“The only thing I can do is go out there and put everything together. I don’t like going out trying to say, ‘I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that.’ Because you know, when you go out there looking for something, it has the tendency to not happen. And if you go out there doing it and it doesn’t happen, it messes with you mentally.

“You know what, every time I visualize this fight, it’s with my hand raised and with that welterweight title around my waist. But, whoever is watching there live, you’re watching there around the world, you’re going to be in for some fireworks and a crazy night.”

What are your thoughts on the matchup between UFC welterweight champion Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley and contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson? Give us your prediction in the comment section on how and when the fight ends!