Outside Source
Thompson thought he deserved the nod against Bonfim. | Getty/UFC
Now that he’s had time to process his latest Octagon appearance, Stephen Thompson admits that he thought he deserved the nod against Gabriel Bonfim at UFC Nashville.
“I felt that I did enough to win the fight,” Thompson said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
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“Clean strikes, I felt great during my movement, I think I felt I had more damage. The damage was in my favor. Bonfim, tough fighter, hat’s off to the guy. But when the crowd, the journalists, and the team are all like this shocked about the decision, I’m like, ‘Something is not right.’”
“Wonderboy” would lose a split decision to Bonfim in a closely-contested welteweight bout, with judges Michael Bell and Dave Tirelli submitting 29-28 tallies in favor of the Brazilian. Meanwhile, 12 of the 14 media scorecards tracked by MMADecisions.com had the fight 29-28 for Thompson.
Even though he suffered a serious gash on his shin after Bonfim checked one of his kicks, Thompson managed to outland his opponent 78 to 55 in total strikes while stuffing nine of 14 takedown attempts.
Thompson: More Commission Transparency Needed
“I lost the fight, but I felt like I won it,” Thompson said. “When you’ve got your family, your team, your friends and family back home, everybody who saw the fight thought I won the fight – it kind of goes back to, what do we do about that? I think there’s got to be more accountability with the (judges). I know it’s not the UFC’s fault. It’s the commission’s fault. But there’s got to be more transparency, for sure, when it comes to the judging of these fights.”
Thompson, a former welterweight title challenger, has now lost five of his last six UFC appearances dating back to 2021. His lone victory during that period was a fourth-round stoppage of Kevin Holland at UFC on ESPN 42 in December 2022.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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