Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson
Says Hello To The UFC
In The Best Way Possible!
A Right (FRONT LEG) Roundkick
KNOCKOUT
Of Daniel Stittgen At
UFC 143

Seem like you viewers here were not the only ones reading the opening line in last months Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, article, but for those who missed it, it read: "Abraham Lincoln once said, "I will prepare and some day my chance will come."...

Well, for former IKF (International Kickboxing Federation) World Champion and multi time IKF Tournament Champion (Among MANY other Kickboxing Titles) Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, that time was this past Saturday afternoon at UFC 143!

Thompson of Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA made sure he would not be forgotten as just another UFC debut fighter that simply won his bout and moved on. For over 4 minutes of the first round, it appeared Thompson was never even touched by his opponent, 31 year old Daniel Stittgen (7-2 Pro, 2-0 Amateur MMA) of Schaumburg, Illinois as Thompson seemed to land his strikes at will. Just after the 4 minute mark of round 1, Thompson picked up his "Front" Right Leg and slapped Stittgen across the neck and jaw (1) (2) and dropped him like rock. Referee Josh Rosenthal was quick to stop Thompson from moving in and good thing he did as Stittgen was OUT COLD at 4:13 of round 1.

The win brings Thompson's Pro MMA record now to a PERFECT 6-0. which when added to his kickboxing record of 51-0 brings him to a perfect 57-0*.

According to Fightcove.com, Thompson's purse was $12,000 (Includes $6,000 win bonus) and he also received , also received a $65,000 bonus for "Knockout of the Night". Fabricio Werdum, Roy Nelson and Dustin Poirier also took home an additional $65,000 in the form of post-fight bonuses at UFC 143. Dustin Poirier for submission of the night, and Fabricio Werdum and Roy Nelson for "Fight of the Night".

It was first reported that Thompson was to face Ultimate Fighter' competitor Justin Edwards. However on January 19th, Thompson's opponent changed to Daniel Stittgen instead of Justin Edwards. The reason for the switch was and is still unknown. Thompson amassed an incredible 57-0 record as a kickboxer with 40 knockouts to his credit, but a knee injury forced him to the sidelines and that's where his attention turned to MMA.

• Below are a vast collection of Thompson's Post Bout Interviews.
  • Post Fight Press Conference
    • Stephens questions start at 17:23, 31:24 and 34:54 of this press conference.
  • Post Fight Interview
  • Post Fight Interview
  • Post Fight Interview*
    
    
  • Oh and lets not forget Stephen's wining flip: Click HERE!

All of us here at IKF Kickboxing AND ISCF MMA
want to Congratulate the Wonderboy on his UFC Debut win and of course,
The IMPRESSIVE way he Won!

• As an Amateur Kickboxer Thompson won 16 Amateur Titles (6 of them with the IKF).
  They included...
  • 2000 IKF East Coast Middleweight Champion
  • 2000 IKF National Tournament Middleweight Champion
  • 2001 IKF National Tournament Light Heavyweight Champion
  • 2002 IKF National Tournament Light Heavyweight Champion
  • 2002 IKF North American Tournament Light Cruiserweight Champion
  • 2003 IKF Light Cruiserweight World Champion
  • 1999 ISKA Georgia State Middleweight Amateur Champion
  • 2000 ISKA Southeast Middleweight Amateur Champion
  • 2000 PKC National Light Middleweight Amateur Champion
  • 2000 USAKBF North American Middleweight Amateur Champion
  • 2001 PKC National Light Heavyweight Amateur Champion
  • 2001 USAKBF World Light Heavyweight Amateur Champion
  • 2001 WPKA World Light Heavyweight Amateur Champion
  • 2003 U.S. National Martial Arts Team World Cup Light Heavyweight Champion
  • 2003 KICK North American Cruiserweight Champion
  • 2003 I.A.K.S.A. World Champion
  • 2005 WAKO Am/Pro World Tournament Champion
    • 1 State Title
    • 2 Regional Titles
    • 6 National Titles
    • 3 North American Titles
    • 4 Amateur World Titles from 4 different Organizations.
      
      
      
      

• (*) Correction on Thompson's overall fight record
  • Thompson retired as an amateur fighter in May of 2004 with a record of *37 wins and 0 losses with 18 KO/TKO's.
  • As a Pro Kickboxer Thompson was *20-0 with 10 Knockouts
  • As a Pro MMA Fighter, after his recent win this past weekend at UFC 143, he is now 6-0.
  • Overall, Thompson has gone *63-0 with 30 of his wins coming by Knockout.
    • (*) 4 bouts were missing from Thompson's Amateur Kickboxing record from the WAKO World Championships which Thompson won in 2005.
    • (*) 2 bouts were missing from Thompson's Pro Kickboxing record from the now defunct World Combat League.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "I will prepare and some day my chance will come."...

For one such Fighter, that time is NOW!
With such an exciting fighting style, Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, of Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA, for many was sure to bring the excitement back into Kickboxing. As he turned Pro in 2004 he won his pro debut against Kadir Kadri of West Babylon, New York, USA (PKB: 13-6-1/5, AKB: 14-4-1/6, 192, 6'1") Rattling off 18 straight pro wins later, the question that has faced many kickboxers like Thompson was, "What's next?"

Sadly (for Kickboxing that is...) at the time, it was the beginning of the MMA Explosion as UFC and Spike made a TV deal that would change the fighting world as everyone had known it! Thompson, like many Kickboxers or Muay Thai Fighters, faced a crossroads... Stick with what he knows he's good at (Kickboxing) or look to the future, work hard and somehow make the transition into a world unknown to him at the time, Mixed Martial Arts.

For Thompson, and his Trainer/Father, Ray Thompson (At Left with Stephen in Montreal, Canada) it was a decision they would make and never look back on... It was into the world of Mixed Martial Arts! Of course there are many stories along the way as Thompson made the transformation. His MMA debut came on February 5, 2010 at the Greenville Kage Fighting event in Greenville, South Carolina against another MMA fighter making his Pro Debut, Jeremy Joles. Joles had a pretty good Amateur MMA career going 6-4, but for those looking on, many thought more about his 10 bout MMA experience against Thompson's NONE! Most predicted the young, innocent looking Thompson would learn an MMA lesson from Joles right out of the gate and would hobble (or maybe on a stretcher according to some) out of the MMA Cage back to kickboxing. Well, for the record, "We've heard this kind of talk MANY times before..."

Like in many of his epic Kickboxing bouts, Thompson wasn't introduced to MMA this night... Instead, "MMA WAS INTRODUCED TO THE WONDERBOY!"

After soaking in some desired "Cage Time" in round 1, Thompson worked over Jeremy Joles as he had done in well over 50 straight bouts before him, and as in every bout before this one, the result was the same, stopping Joles by TKO at 3:40 of round 2.

ISCF MMA promoter Brett Moses played an important role in Thompson's Pro MMA career promoting 3 of his 5 bouts. During this time Thompson travelled as much as possible to learn more and more about the world of MMA as well as how to become a world class MMA Fighter. Time spent with MMA Superstars such as UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and former UFC middleweight Nate Marquardt were as valuable as gold as Thompson soaked in as much as he could while gaining more and more respect from fighters like them. Time went by and after the UFC decided not to feature the 170 lb division in their upcoming show, Thompson probably thought a major door had closed on him and his much desired Pro MMA Career. However, today, all that changed...

MMAWeekly.com Staff: An injury has forced a change to the UFC 143 card as Mike Stumpf is out, and Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson has been signed as his replacement.

UFC officials announced the move on Tuesday with Thompson now facing former 'Ultimate Fighter' competitor Justin Edwards on the Super Bowl weekend card.

First profiled by MMAWeekly.com in Oct 2011, Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson is a life long martial artist who started out as a very successful kickboxer before moving into the world of MMA.

Thompson amassed an incredible 57-0 record as a kickboxer with 40 knockouts to his credit, but a knee injury forced him to the sidelines and that's where his attention turned to MMA.

His record has remained perfect as a fighter and Thompson has also picked up some training with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and his coach Firas Zahabi in Montreal over the last several months.

Thompson was actually brought into their camp in Oct last year as a double to mimic what opponent Carlos Condit was expecting to do in his fight with St-Pierre.

Now Thompson gets his chance on the biggest stage as he makes his UFC debut on Feb 4 in Las Vegas.