Stephen Thompson, perennial contender in the welterweight division, is not happy with the UFC’s handling of Kamaru Usman’s reign as champion. Wonderboy criticized the UFC for repeatedly giving Usman the same opponents, men he defeated in the recent past, rather than other athletes who are grinding to make it to the title.
Since the UFC announced the Usman v Covington rematch this week, a fuming Wonderboy expressed his disappointment to James Lynch.
“disapppointed” Wonderboy takes aim at the UFC
““Why!? Why? The guy literally got stopped, he got his jaw broken, had one fight and now he’s fighting again for the title!”
Stephen Thompson, of course, is referring to Usman’s dramatic fifth-round TKO win over Covington in 2019. Since then, Covington has only fought once, a victory over Tyron Woodley. Once upon a time, taking Tyron Woodley out would have been a huge accomplishment.
After all, doing so won Usman the title in the first place. But in 2020, Tyron Woodley was riding a rapid descent in fortune, a lengthy losing streak. He’s since retired from MMA, focusing on his rap and acting careers, and boxing YouTubers.
Thompson continued: “They’re just throwing the same guys at Usman over and over and over again.
I figured Leon Edwards, somebody different, he hasn’t fought him in several years. But at least it’s somebody different.
Somebody that’s kind of worked his way back up. What’s he on, a nine-fight winning streak? I don’t get why they didn’t give him the fight! Little disappointed in where the UFC is going with that.”
Leon Edwards has expressed similar sentiments in the past, with his impressive win streak stretching all the way back to 2016. In fact, barring the no-contest DQ against Belal Muhammad, Leon Edwards hasn’t faced an opponent he couldn’t beat since he lost to Kamaru Usman back in 2015.
Stephen Thompson makes a decent point regarding Covington’s inactivity, but the question of who exactly he expects to fight Usman instead is a very different one. Covington was Usman’s closest fight since winning the title. Thompson himself would have likely had a shot had he defeated Gilbert Burns, but Burns dominated the entirety of their bout at UFC 264.
Usman demolished Gilbert Burns only a few short months ago, and Leon Edwards’ last win was not exactly convincing. His inability to put Nate Diaz away led to Diaz rocking him with heavy strikes in round five.
Perhaps the UFC doesn’t see any serious competition for Usman’s title in the division, and instead they’re banking on the long-standing grudge between Covington and Usman to sell pay-per-views.
Do you agree with Thompson? Is the UFC handing title shots to undeserving parties? Let us know in the comments.
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