Stephen Thompson vows to fight on, aiming to break Randy Couture's mark as the oldest UFC fighter

Yahoo

15-07-2025

Stephen Thompson hopes to keep fighting for as long as he can despite a third-straight loss at UFC Nashville. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Stephen Thompson still has plenty left in the tank. This past Saturday at UFC Nashville, "Wonderboy" made his 22nd octagon appearance, competing opposite Gabriel Bonfim in the co-main event. Unfortunately for the 42-year-old, he came up short via a controversial split-decision that the community largely believed he should have won.
The bout was the second-to-last on Thompson's current UFC contract, and he hopes to continue his career after his next fight, barring another solid performance. Thompson shared on Tuesday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show" that he ideally wants to break the record for being the oldest fighter to ever compete in the UFC.
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"Depends on how I feel [after the next fight] and how the fight goes," Thompson said of his fighting future. "My goal, obviously, was to beat Randy Couture's record. I think he was like 45, maybe. He might have been 46. I feel amazing, man. I felt great after the fight, besides my foot. I felt great during the fight. I felt faster than he was. Gabriel Bonfim is only 27. I felt phenomenal.
"Randy was 47? All right, let's go. That would be amazing. One hundred percent. ... It obviously has to do a lot with what happens in my next fight. I feel like if I go out there and I put on a show, and I get a good finish, why not? Let's keep going. If not, this is something that I want to plan with my family, my team, obviously, plan with the UFC. But let's go out with a bang, man."
After a shaky first round against Bonfim, Thompson rallied in the final two, suffering a nasty cut on his shin with the numerous kicks he fired off. The two-time welterweight title challenger has since had the wound stitched up, making it the lesser of his injury woes.
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Thompson revealed that he also broke his foot in the fight. His timetable for returning and completing the last contracted fight is unknown at this early stage, but Thompson feels he has positive momentum, regardless of his official ninth career loss.
"I felt that I did enough to win the fight," Thompson said. "Clean strikes, I felt great during my moving, and I think I felt I had more damage — the damage was in my favor. Bonfim, tough fighter, hats off to the guy, but when the crowd, the analysts, and the team are all this shocked about the decision, something's not right. I've been in this game for a long time, and I know what it feels like to win a fight. I know what it's like to lose a fight. I feel like I didn't lose that fight.
"I lost the fight, but I felt like I won it. When you got your family, your team, your friends and family back home. Everybody who saw the fight thought I won the fight."