- Stephen Thompson is glad to be co-coaching with Conor McGregor at TUF 31
- “Wonderboy” reacted to being voted as the nicest UFC fighter of all time
UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson is grateful for the opportunity to coach the next generation of UFC stars at The Ultimate Fighter Season 31 alongside Coach Conor McGregor.
Happy to share his Knowledge
Speaking to ESPN MMA, “Wonderboy” opened up about feeling “awesome” to have been invited by McGregor to TUF 31. For Thompson, it has been a wonderful experience sharing his knowledge with a group of hungry, young, and aspiring UFC fighters.
“It was awesome man I mean for him to invite me out to be a part of the show, to be a coach and help these up-and-coming up fighters kind of do their thing and hopefully, able to teach these guys because they’re in full fight mode, they’re in their grit, they’re training and for these guys to come in with an empty cup and to learn from myself and Conor and these guys it was awesome man,” Thompson said.
The nicest UFC Fighter of All Time
Thompson was also quizzed to comment about being voted by his UFC peers as the “nicest UFC fighter of all time.” According to “Wonderboy,” it was only fitting because it has been his goal right off the bat. He also hopes to serve as a good example to the next breed of UFC fighters.
“It’s funny, it is weird I guess that even though this is the fight game, even though I’m out there to do damage to my opponent, I get a good feeling out of it, my goal is not to go out there and really injure somebody, right. I think there’s ways to beat people but doing it in a nice manner and at the end of the day at the end of my career I wanted to not just be known as an amazing martial artist or one of the best in the world but all-around nice guy, a good person [too]. Hopefully I can pass that on to the next Generation as well,” Thompson reflected.
Thompson is coming off a sensational TKO win over Kevin Holland at UFC on ESPN 42. He will be hoping to pick up where he left off when he faces Michel Pereira at UFC 291 next month.
As for the proposed Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler fight in the TUF 31 season finale, nothing is concrete yet but “Iron” Mike remains optimistic that it would still materialize.
