The welterweight divisional elite are largely names that have been among the best for years. Robbie Lawler. Carlos Condit. Rory MacDonald. Demian Maia. Tyron Woodley. Even the specter of a Georges St-Pierre return looms over the division.
But now, a new name joins them. Stephen Thompson, a 32-year-old kickboxing-prodigy-turned-mixed martial artist, placed his name into the title picture with an exclamation point, crushing former champion Johny Hendricks via knockout.
Hendricks, who stood and traded strikes with the hammer-handed Lawler for 50 minutes over the course of two fights in 2014, couldn't last a single round with Thompson. The South Carolinian known as "Wonderboy" used a barrage of kicks and multi-strike combinations before finishing Hendricks in just 3:31.
"Defeating Johny Hendricks, he's a tough guy, No. 2 ranked guy and former welterweight champ, I'm asking for the title," Thompson told the media in the post-fight press conference. "I know there's a lot of guys in line, but I think after that performance I deserve it."
Will he get it? A few months ago, Dana White promised Woodley a title shot, but the UFC has reneged on those kinds of promises in the past. For whatever it's worth, Thompson's current six-fight win streak is the best active run in the division, even ahead of the champ Lawler.
While Thompson (12-1) came into the bout on a streak and ranked eighth in the division, he had never before beaten an elite opponent in MMA, with his most relevant victory a knockout over the struggling Jake Ellenberger last July.
Matched against the second-ranked Hendricks, he was a decided underdog, with many believing the jump in opponent level would doom him. This despite the fact he had once had a 62-fight win streak combined in kickboxing and MMA.
Part of that was a reflection of his opponent. The stakes of the fight guaranteed a motivated Hendricks, who badly needed a win after a rough stretch that saw his reputation take a hit. Last October, in his first scheduled bout since losing the championship, Hendricks labored through a horrific weight cut before an intestinal blockage and kidney stone forced him out of the match with Woodley the day before fight night.
In the immediate aftermath, an angry UFC president Dana White indicated Hendricks would have to move up to middleweight, but UFC officials later backed off the demand.
This time around, Hendricks came into fight week in fantastic shape and said he was down to 176 pounds at mid-week, making it an easy cut to the scale.
In theory, that did not bode well for Thompson, but when the action finally began, he looked razor sharp, stuffing Hendricks' first takedown attempt and battering the former champ with high kicks. While Hendricks tried to walk him down while preparing his big left hand, Thompson's movement and angles kept him safely out of harm's way, and his creativity had him landing thudding shots.
"Every time I got close and I landed a punch or anything, he was still circling out trying to evade, evade, evade," Hendricks (17-4) said in the post-fight press conference. "We knew he'd do some of that; I didn't think it would be to that extent."
Within a minute or two, Hendricks looked flustered, but there was no let-up from Thompson, who kept up the offensive barrage with precision combination striking. According to FightMetric, he landed 25 of 47 attempts (53 percent).
The fight-ending onslaught began with a pinpoint right hand that knocked Hendricks back towards the fence. Thompson then quickly slammed a kick to the body, followed by a series of rights and lefts. A left hand against the fence finally put Hendricks down before a few more strikes closed the show. It was something like a controlled detonation, calculated yet undeniably powerful.
“I hesitated," Hendricks (17-4) told Anik on the broadcast after the fight. "Whenever I closed the distance, he moved away. That's something he did very well. Hats off, he was the better man tonight."
Hendricks found that out the hard way. For the rest of us, it was a far more pleasant revelation that Stephen Thompson might well be one of the best men in the division, that he might even be a threat to win the gold.
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