Stephen Thompson Tells Jorge Masvidal to Get Ready to Fight at UFC 217

If UFC 217 wasn’t already stacked enough, it looks like another high profile fight is in the works. Jorge Masivdal has tried to fight everyone from Tyron Woodley to Ben Askren after losing to Demian Maia. One of those guys has been Stephen Thompson. Gamebred has been tweeting Wonderboy since June to goad him into the Octagon — even saying his knee injury is fake — and finally it looks like it has paid off. Thompson went on Severe MMA’s “Talking Brawls” podcast to tell Masvidal that he should start getting ready.

Let’s not play no games I’m fighting @WonderboyMMA for a title shot after gsp. If his ass don’t want to fight, I’m next. #hoslapseason

— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) July 26, 2017

“You know. [Masvidal] asked for this fight, and it hasn’t been confirmed yet but it’s going to be my goal to make sure that happens, November 4th. So, be ready baby. Of course he’s saying easy money but let me tell you; it’s not going to be easy.” — Stephen Thompson told Severe MMA.

I found out where .@WonderboyMMA got his nick. Got me “wondering” when he will be ready to fight #faker #hoslapseason

— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) July 31, 2017

“Man, first off, I don’t know if [Masvidal’s] ever had any knee injuries but this is my sixth one. I’ve had four on my left and this is the second one on my right, and being 34 years-old, you have to make sure everything is right before you step out there. I’m kind of a preserving guy. I’ve seen guys go out there, not ready, and trying to push it. Injuring their knee more, being out for a year; maybe even longer. So, I just want to make sure everything is healed up. I told him that I’d fight him; which is something I’m going to do.”

Between the four separate champions who want to defend their belts at UFC 217, including Georges St-Pierre, the UFC looks like they’ll be closing out this year by cramming all the big fights they can think of into two cards. Stephen Thompson fighting Masvidal just makes sense. Both men are coming off losses, either to the champion or to the number one contender. Also, the snappy Karate of Wonderboy clashing with the brawling Miami violence of Masvidal just gets all sorts of juices flowing.

Listen to the Stephen Thompson interview in full, as well as the entire podcast below.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/10/2017.