Tyron Woodley wants Stephen Thompson to get the send-off he asked for.
Thompson will have his retirement fight against Charles Radtke at UFC 334 on Saturday, November 14, at Madison Square Garden. Before the bout was confirmed, Woodley was asked about Thompson’s wish to walk away at MSG during an interview with Bowks Talking Bouts.
Woodley knows Thompson better than most. The two fought to a majority draw for the UFC welterweight title at UFC 205 at MSG in November 2016. Woodley won the rematch by majority decision at UFC 209 in March 2017.
He said getting ready for Thompson was the hardest camp of his career.
Wonder Boy is my brother, man. He was the toughest. He was the toughest training camp I ever had.
Woodley brought in karate and sport fighting specialists, including Sage Northcutt and Raymond Daniels, to mimic Thompson’s style.
I had to wear taekwondo chest pads and body protectors or he would have broke my ribs with sidekicks. So, I put myself in the most grueling training camp and it was just so mentally frustrating not to understand it.
He said the investment paid off.
I think I spent six figures on payment, training, traveling, flights, food, diet, coaches… had I not done that, he would have beat me.
The former rivals are now friends and co-stars.
I had him wrong, man. I had him read wrong and I’ve apologized since. We did a movie, Road House 2 together.
Woodley put Thompson in elite company.
He’s just a beautiful human being, inside and out, man. Like the same way Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and them are disciplined, that’s a bushido spirit of a martial artist but his spirit as a martial artist is so pure. It’s like Georges St-Pierre all over again.
Yeah, if that’s the way he want to walk away, I pray that the UFC can make that happen and it aligns with whatever they got planned. Yeah, he’s a solid dude.
Thompson, 43, has lost his last three fights, to Shavkat Rakhmonov, Joaquin Buckley and Gabriel Bonfim.
