Rakhmonov Fans Hunt Down ‘Wonderboy’

Two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson had a little surprise waiting for him on Sunday morning just a few hours after the UFC Vegas 57 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which aired on ESPN from the APEX facility in Las Vegas.

Unfortunately for Thompson, it wasn’t french toast and sausage.

Instead, the karate phenom found himself inundated by post-fight fan messages supporting welterweight contender Shavkat Rakhmonov, who used his Neil Magny submission in the UFC Vegas 57 co-main event to call for a future “Wonderboy” fight.

“What’s crazy is literally the entire population of where he’s from messaged me,” Thompson said on his YouTube show. “I only had like 18 messages but after that fight I got a hundred and something. Just like ‘Fight him! Fight him!’ Or just emojis of the flag. And it’s always broken English. ‘You. Fight him.’”

Thompson and Rakhmonov are separated by just three spots in the official rankings.

The 39 year-old Thompson (16-6-1) is coming off back-to-back decision losses to Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad. “Wonderboy” was taken down three times by Burns and seven times by Muhammad, exposing a glaring hole in his wrestling defense.

Rakhmonov (16-0), who turns 28 in October, boasts four takedowns in four fights with UFC.

“Stop taking me down people! Geez Louise,” Thompson continued. “Ian Garry was like, ‘It will be a good fight for you, he’ll stand and bang with you,’ as the entire time [Rakhmonov is] taking down Neil Magny — and submits him with a guillotine. I’m like, ‘No he’s not.’ Unless he’s just one of those guys who tries to beat you at your own game. I just gotta, for the entire three rounds, just defend. I’ve been working on some stuff.”

Thompson did not commit to a proposed Rakhmonov fight and instead suggested a potential welterweight tournament with Jorge Masvidal and Nick Diaz. “Gamebred” is wrapped up in a legal mess and will likely be tied up for the rest of the year and Diaz may never fight again, so “Wonderboy” might not have a choice at this point.

Expect to find out over the next few weeks.