Stephen Thompson's Potential Madison Square Garden Swan Song and Former Rival's Support

Stephen Thompson is seeking a retirement fight at Madison Square Garden, a wish echoed by a former rival who shared a memorable UFC welterweight title bout with him there.

That rival is Tyron Woodley. When asked about Thompson's specific retirement goal before Thompson's fight with Charles Radtke was confirmed for UFC 334, Woodley shared his perspective:

"Wonder Boy is my brother, man. He was the toughest. He was the toughest training camp I ever had. I had to bring in some people that was from my era, Sage Northcutt and Raymond Daniels and Avery Plowden and Chris Spang. Those four guys collectively brought four different things to the table. Chris was more of a MMA well-rounded guy, but he had the karate, sport fighting background."

"Raymond Daniels was a guy that came from the same background, the only guy that really successfully ever beat Wonder Boy. He also did MMA. Plowden was the current champion in the sport that they came from. Sage Northcutt was kind of like the hybrid where he was just like the genetically made person that’s like just zero body fat and just cardio for days. I never really won a round against Raymond. It took me weeks to win anything against Sage outside of the wrestling and grappling."

"I had to wear taekwondo chest pads and body protectors or he would have broke my ribs with sidekicks. So, I put myself in the most grueling training camp and it was just so mentally frustrating not to understand it. But, I learned that I understood what he would do if I got passed his original, initial, preliminary attack. Most people never made it past that attack. So, what happened if he missed a step off sidekick? What is he going to do next?"

"He going to do a spinning and back kick. What happens if he do this and and I get passed, hey, he’s going to do this. So, I learned the mindset of them, how they train. Had I not done that training camp, I spent a fortune. I think I spent six figures on payment, training, traveling, flights, food, diet, coaches, to be able to beat him twice. That had I not done that, he would have beat me. I think it was close. It was close with me doing all of that."

Woodley: Stephen Thompson Carries Himself Like Khabib and GSP

Expanding on his history with Stephen Thompson, from their competitive days to their current camaraderie, Woodley further commented:

"Imagine if I didn’t do any of that? I just went in there cocking like, “Ah, f**k that karate s**t. Imma beat his ass. I probably would have lost, you know what I mean? So, I would love to see him go out there. I would have loved to see him get that title. Just because I felt like when I was at the top, he was so close to me. He was right there. I had him wrong, man. I had him read wrong and I’ve apologized since. We did a movie, Road House 2 together."

"It looked like we got to do some re-shoots, so we’re going to be back out in London again together. I really got to know him on a whole different level. He’s just a beautiful human being, inside and out, man. Like the same way Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and them are disciplined, that’s a bushido spirit of a martial artist but his spirit as a martial artist is so pure. It’s like Georges St. Pierre all over again. I’m just delighted every time I’m around him."

"He’s a great martial artist. He’s a great person. Yeah, I want to see him walk away however he want that. If it’s in Madison Square; it’s crazy because my screen saver on my computer behind me is Time Square. All I’m doing is watching it as we talk. Yeah, if that’s the way he want to walk away, I pray that the UFC can make that happen and it aligns with whatever they got planned. Yeah, he’s a solid dude."