Stephen Thompson will attend UFC Fight Night 154, which takes place at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. Close to home for Thompson and an event, he and his father had a hand in bringing to the area but his knock out loss to Anthony Pettis back in March is keeping him off the card. This is a card Thompson was hoping to be on given the location but will have to settle for watching the fights with the rest of his hometown crowd.
Thompson and his father, Ray Thompson spoke with Greenville News about not being able to compete in the event. Stephen told Greenville News it was “really disappointing”, not being able to compete in front of his home crowd. The Thompsons are from Simpsonville which is south of Greenville and it would have been huge to have the highly ranked welterweight compete on a card so close to home.
His father said, “Not only did he work hard, but we worked for it to come here,” referring to his son’s ranking in the UFC and the training camps they have done together. That, along with working with the UFC helped make the event happen but the loss to Pettis only being three months away would have been too soon to return to action.
Greenville News also spoke to Brendan Fitzgerald who called the fight in Nashville and said “Wonderboy” Thompson was so excited for the Greenville card he said, “Before that fight, he was saying ‘all I have to do is get through this fight ‘, but it didn’t happen for him.” While Thompson was also said to be feeling better, he still feels it is too soon for a return.
Thompson still championship titles in sight and said he plans to compete for 10 more years. That should be long enough for him to be on the next Greenville card should the UFC decide to return.
Do you think the Greenville event will become a regular stop on the UFC schedule?
