Stephen Thompson willing to go through Khamzat Chimaev for Kamaru Usman title fight

LAS VEGAS – Stephen Thompson thinks Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 199 co-main event with Belal Muhammad has major title implications in the welterweight division.

Although Thompson (16-5-1 MMA, 11-5-1 UFC) is coming off a loss to Gilbert Burns in July, he still believes he’s among the top players at 170 pounds. He’s one of the few highly ranked names yet to challenge dominant champion Kamaru Usman, and if he’s able to get past Muhammad (19-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC), he sees himself within striking distance of an opportunity.

“A good win over Belal Muhammad, I could be right there for another title shot,” Thompson told MMA Junkie at UFC Fight Night 199 media day. “You can’t keep feeding the same guys to Kamaru Usman. A good win over Belal, maybe another fight, we’ll be looking at another title shot. I’m not giving up on it.”

Thompson, 38, might be among the oldest fighters at the top of his division, but he said he’s feeling very healthy and sees many more years ahead at the highest level. He thinks he’s still evolving every day as a fighter, and his karate-based style will continue to cause problems for a lot of opponents.

He’s quite interested to see how he would match up against Usman (20-1 MMA, 15-0 UFC), who is rapidly rounding out his game with each fight.

“This guy’s improved more than anybody I’ve seen,” Thompson said. “Not just with his wrestling, but with the striking, knocking out one of the best strikers in the division in Jorge Masvidal. Knocking out with a jab, Gilbert Burns. This guy, you see his improvement, which makes it that much more exciting to want to test yourself against somebody like that. It would be an honor just to do that just to fight him.”

Although Thompson is accurate when he points out how he’s a fresh matchup for Usman, he’s wise enough to know he’s unlikely to get it off this fight, especially with Leon Edwards seemingly in a good position to get the next crack.

One way for “Wonderboy” to firm up his case would be to take out another streaking contender, and Khamzat Chimaev is someone with as much momentum as anyone in the division outside the champ.

If going though Chimaev (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) is what Thompson needs to do to convince the world he’s deserving of a title shot, then he said that’s what he’ll do.

“He’s definitely a tough guy,” Thompson said. “To see him against (Jack) Hermansson (in a wrestling match) was like, ‘What?’ That guy’s a welterweight. He looked bigger than Hermansson did. That’s a scary guy right there with that quality of wrestling. It’s ridiculous. At some point in time we’ll probably be facing each other for sure. Yeah. That’s along with a lot of these up-and-coming guys. You got Sean Brady right there with him. I could be facing anyone of them. I could see myself facing those guys for sure in the future.