Stephen Thompson has no intention of calling it a career after his recent loss to Belal Muhammad.
Thompson (16-6-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC) dropped a lopsided unanimous decision to Muhammad in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 199, marking his second straight loss.
It was the second straight time “Wonderboy” was controlled on the ground, but the 38-year-old says he still physically feels in top form.
“I can’t believe people are saying that I’m old and I should retire,” Thompson said on his YouTube channel. “I feel like people that do retire, when they sit down on the chair, they just feel like they should retire. Like just, their body’s 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 better than I was five years ago. I just don’t get it.”
Thompson, a two-time title challenger, was taken down 10 times in his losses to Muhammad and Gilbert Burns. Muhammad was able to repeatedly take Thompson down throughout the fight, not allowing the kickboxing expert to mount any offense.
Not making any excuses, Thompson said he felt off and drained against Muhammad, despite having no issues hitting the welterweight mark on the scale.
“I lost my fight – got manhandled for three rounds,” Thompson said. “Yeah, man – it was a sucky experience, to be honest with you. I don’t know why this happens, but I had a great camp. Camp was awesome. I was in the greatest shape of my life. (I) was in shape, felt strong, and then things start to kind of get a little weird whenever you’re getting ready to go out. You’re in the back kind of warming up and your legs start to feel tingly. That’s not a good sign.
“My weight cut was great, actually. I got down in weight super fast, way easier than my last one, and weight cut was good. I think maybe it had something to do with my rehydration – not sure. But I felt exhausted, felt super tired right out of the first round. I was tired. I didn’t want to say anything to my coaches or anything that my legs were feeling tingly.”