Stephen Thompson has no plans of retiring after back-to-back losses: ‘I feel better than I was five years ago’

Stephen Thompson has no plans of retiring anytime soon.

Thompson suffered a lopsided decision loss to Belal Muhammad at UFC Vegas 45 on December 18. He entered the fight as the betting favorite but Thompson was taken down seven times and controlled on the ground for nearly 12 minutes. The loss was his second in a row, as back in July he suffered a decision loss to Gilbert Burns in a fight where “Wonderboy” once again fell victim to the grappling of his opponent.

After the loss to Muhammad, many fans called for Thompson to retire as they felt he would no longer be a title contender in the welterweight division. Yet, Thompson doesn’t see a need to retire as he says he still feels in good shape and says he feels better now than he did five years ago.

Image: UFC on Instagram

“I feel like people that do retire, when they sit down on the chair, they just feel like they should retire. Like just, their bodies 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 fine. I feel better than I was five years ago. I just don’t get it,” Thompson said on his YouTube channel (via Sportskeeda).

Stephen Thompson is still ranked in the top-10 at welterweight (No. 7) and still remains a big name in the sport and in the division. With no intentions of hanging up the gloves, Thompson will likely have to fight someone ranked below him next time out as he looks to defend his spot in the rankings. He also likely will need to do that a couple times before he gets to fight someone ranked ahead of him.

Thompson is 38-years-old and is 16-6-1 and before the two straight losses, he beat Geoff Neal and Vicente Luque in back-to-back fights.

Who would you like to see Stephen Thompson fight next?