UFC News: Stephen Thompson turns on the style and dominates Vicente Luque

Modified Nov 03, 2019 04:45 GMT

Former Welterweight title challenger Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson turned up the style inside the Madison Square Garden against rising prospect Vicente Luque in their Welterweight clash at UFC 244.

Wonderboy is back

In a vintage display, Thompson had his hands raised via unanimous decision at the end of a one-sided contest which saw Thompson knock Luque down multiple times. Thompson came into the fight on the back of three straight defeats while his counterpart had been on a six fight winning streak prior to tonight's fight. The fight was built up as a battle between two deadly strikers with different styles, and Wonderboy's karate definite proved to be too hot for the Brazilian Luque.

An intense first round

As the fight begun, Luque went on the offense first, connecting with a couple of leg kicks, and Thompson returned the favor with a hard jab and followed it up with low kicks. Luque kept chopping away at Thompson's legs with the kicks and hit him with a hard right. Wonderboy responded with a nice jab-cross combination. Luque unleashed a combination on Thompson and after a nasty exchange, both fighters were left bleeding. The round ended with both Thompson and Luque trading hard kicks to the body.

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Thompson runs away with the second

Thompson landed clean with a jab and a karate side kick at the beginning of the second round. He followed it up with a hard cross while Luque retorted with a kick. Then a wicked side kick from Thompson saw Luque go down and as Thompson let him get back up, the fighters exchanged smiles. Thompson stepped foot on the gas, hitting Luque with a barrage of hard shots against the fence. The round closed with a Superman punch from Luque, and a cross by Thompson in reply.

Wonderboy moves in for the kill

The final round began with Thompson landing a stiff jab and side kicks, almost immediately knocking Luque off his feet. Thompson followed it up with a dream of a left, sending Luque crashing down again, barely managing to survive. In the closing exchanges, Thompson landed a spinning kick and followed it up with a sharp 1-2, bringing the fight to an end.

Although Luque deserves a lot of credit for surviving the punishment dished out on him, Wonderboy out-struck and out-maneuvered his opponent to pick him apart with relative ease, announcing that he is far from done.