Stephen Thompson Breaks Down The UFC's Top 10 Welterweights

what's up everybody everybody i love it dude what's up guys i'm stephen thompson and i'm breaking down the welterweight division number 10 vicente lukey when i think of vicente luke i think of just straight toughness he took every one of my shots and kept on coming forward i dropped him a few times i actually broke both my hands on his skull he's very disciplined in what he does he had a good left hook he hit me with a right hand one time maybe see stars for sure i would say one of his weaknesses would be his ability to adapt to an opponent i figured he would probably try and take me down at least get me thinking that but he didn't at all probably number probably number two toughest guys i've faced i think number one would be matt brown i knocked out matt brown twice in that fight and hit him again and woke him back up and he ended up winning the fight number nine neil magne when i think of neil magne what comes to mind is wrestling like he's very very long i think he's got like an 81 inch reach or 80 inch reach this guy improves every time you see him fight with his striking with his wrestling i think he's more of a grappler than he is a striker so if i was to face nail magnet it would definitely take his legs out first well number one if he's not able to move forward from the low calf kicks he's gonna have a very hard time closing the gap we're standing there you know you keep the fight standing keep them at bay and pick them apart so my side kicks my hook kicks my round kicks and the different variety of kicks that i throw could definitely throw an opponent off number eight who we got michael kiesa is just a cool dude man i've actually hung out with this guy many times at international fight week was a 155 moved up to 170. he's a big 170 i think he's walked around over 200 pounds at this point i don't even get over 200 pounds at 170. so you know he's a big guy that said i'm used to fighting guys bigger than me i mean tyron woodley was walking around about 2 15. i think michael guess his strengths are definitely his wrestling and his grappling skills very very high level fairly similar to neil magne but a little bit more angle changes he comes right at you so i think if you step offline to either right or to the left could definitely see some openings there for sure number seven boom t-wood went ten rounds with this guy this dude hit me with two right hands in the fourth round fourth round of our first fight and i don't remember where i was after that i mean made my face seize up and everything he can cover the gap so fast we had some pretty cool conversations during the fight it was funny man like we were out there fighting he's like i know what you're going to do i'm like no you don't you have no idea what i'm doing i'm going to he's going to throw a round house knowing i'm with the rhinos but uh yeah man we squashed everything everything's cool though if i did fight turn woodley for a third time you know there was a lot of things that i learned the first two times that we fought so we were thinking both counter-strike counter-strike counter-strike counter-strike which is why a lot of people weren't impressed with the second fight it was kind of boring but if i ever fought him again i would definitely be more aggressive you know later rounds for tyrone woodley he's an explosive guy so he tends to tire out a little bit faster so maybe using a little bit more wrestling as well keep him keep him guessing with the wrestling and the striking and people are like man stephen thompson wrestling yeah i mean something that i'm always working on even though you don't see it during the fight i think it was after my third fight in the ufc fought a guy named sean burrell and i pretty much out wrestled desean people want to see knockouts right people want to see high level striking and that's what i have so that's why i kind of like change directions a little bit and the reason i used my wrestling because everybody thought i didn't have it uh i don't know if you saw when i pulled my head out of the guillotine how he just pulled guard and i don't know how tired he was at the time but he didn't have a whole lot of mobility and it might have had been the fact that he was kind of up we were up against the cage but even that would would keep him guessing that adds another element that he has to think about out there in the octagon i still would love to see taran woodley come back and give it another go for the title for the title for sure do you think he's the same fighter as when you fought him now i do not i do not think tyrone woodley is the same fighter as when i faced him couldn't really tell you why that is you know he's got a lot of things happening in in his in his career you know i know he was doing the rap thing was wishing the last time i saw him fight we would see just that that old entire woodley bag i i hope he finds that flame finds that that fire that we see the old tyrant would lead back out there let's go number six my man damien maya the grappling master when i think of damien maya i literally think of an anaconda i don't know if you saw damian maya versus rick's story damien maya choked him so hard that his nose exploded like it just popped if i feel like i could finish i could knock him out right gilbert burns hit him with a left hook and dropped him i feel like i could do the same thing putting my hands and feet together so when he throws his punch he doesn't retract it back very fast and that's when i got you if that ever happens and i was able to to drop damien maya back up tell him to stand back up i kind of see in my head him diving in for a leg and me hitting him with a knee or an uppercut you know game bread style oh number five steven wonderboy thompson this is something that i've always wanted to do i've always wanted to fight myself if there was a way or a simulation that could your techniques your style could read it map it put it in like a like a machine or a dummy or even like a like a a vr experience where you have to fight yourself would be the sickest that would be so cool wow how would i how how would i beat myself knowing what i know and i'm looking at i'm looking at myself now fighting a younger self maybe somebody who fought matt brown maybe somebody who fought chris clements or robert whittaker you know four or five years ago i think with the wrestling ability that i have now even my jiu jitsu has gotten a lot better my feel of the game my ability to read my opponent because back then i relied more on my movement than i do now so i think because i'm more comfortable with standing in front of my partner because i know i can defend the takedown um i think i could i could think i could get to the point where i can tire myself out and and and beat myself for sure that it ended up being so much more fun and answer than i thought we'd get because i figured oh well that's just me and let me just put it up yeah dude you give me so much more than that i i've always thought about that maybe so cool to fight yourself i want to fight you stephen thompson [Music] number four oh street jesus aka george mas vidal what you see is what you get with this guy he's not trying to play a persona he's not trying to be somebody he's not that's why i like this guy so much if you if you watch him fight now and watch him fight when i fought him they fight exactly the same but i think his mentality has changed i think his drive has changed and that's a dangerous guy i couldn't break him you're piecing a guy up you're hitting him left to right you're knocking him down and then still get right back up and get in your face you know most people you start to see them fade a little bit start to break mentally not this guy know for a fact i could beat i've done it once already i know i can do it again i think it would be way harder than it was before the la the first time that we fought he was very aggressive he just came forward i think now i think i would sit in front of him let him swing and miss i mean because he's got he's got some good hands he's got some good kicks but i think countering him more this fight if i fought him again would definitely play off kind of like i did with vicente luke i didn't move as much i let him swing miss and then i countered him he said if he won the title he wanted to defend it against me that's one loss i think he may want to get back but i'm not giving up on that title and if he's the guy that's standing in front of me you know that's ahead of me preventing me from getting that title i'm going to go for it leon edwards leon edwards man well i tried to fight the guy and he didn't didn't take it he didn't want to fight me i think he's really really good very well-rounded his striking's legit when he first saw him in the ufc he predominantly used his striking now he's out wrestling out grappling rda he's using his wrestling a lot that's another element that you got to worry about when you face him i think he's one of the scariest guys in the division he may try and use some wrestling to kind of try and throw me off but most everybody does like i'm ready for that all the time at some point in time this guy is going to try and take me down but yeah man he he doesn't switch sides a whole lot he keeps the same side forward and normally when i fight guys i don't picture a knockout i just picture myself with my hand raised at the end of the fight right i'm ready for a five five minute round just the the a war you know you don't know what this guy's he's maybe i've been fought in a year a little over a year so you don't know what he's gotten better at what he's changed and he's probably watching this but you know the sidekick is one of my go-to techniques and i use it to set up my other different kicks as well but it's a great range finder great way to keep a guy an opponent at bay as well uh leon edwards sometimes he kind of moves forward a little bit not overly aggressive but when he's in range kind of like rory mcdonald you know i'm gonna pump that side kick and after several of those to the body you can definitely start seeing that you know take a toll on their body number two let's get after it gilbert burns knocked out damien maya almost knocked out tyron woodley power in his hand one hitter quarter power which we've seen before he's a high level grappler could i compete with this guy on the ground heck no man guy is really really good on the ground i've got the reach on him so that's going to play a part and it's almost to the point to where it's like you know what i'm just going to get in the best shape i can go out there and wing it to have some fun with this guy if you start thinking too much you're going to go nowhere you know yeah he's got he's got great power in his hands man golly his jiu jitsu is phenomenal what am i going to do there you know what start worrying about what you're going to do to him and not worry about what he's going to do to you if i get taken down close to the cage my goal is to get my back to that cage asap out in the open with a guy like that there's so many different angles so many different positions that he can go to he can he can take that situation down a rabbit hole that i'm not able to get out of up against the cage if i get myself up against the cage i'm able to i know he can't take my back because my back's up against the cage so i gotta worry about this part and i use that to get work my way up to my feet hopefully defend the takedown off i could probably go out there and defend every one of his takedowns or he's going to go out there and take me down one time next thing you know i'm being choked out and sometimes that's that's the way the fight game is number one colby covington and the first thing that comes to mind when i think of colby covington is a good old-fashioned eye poke just want to poke this dude in the eye i i don't know when he opens his mouth you could just tell that he's trying too hard you know what i'm saying to be honest with you i don't even know what he's going to say i think he calls me a virgin or i think he calls everybody a virgin i don't know i actually hear he's a really nice guy in real life i hear he's really cool really nice guy do i like his persona in the ufc i don't not only that but i don't think he's the scariest guy in the division either i think his stand-up is crap i think all he has is wrestling kamara uzman's not known for his striking broke his jaw he throws a lot of volume but he doesn't finish a whole lot of people but he's got cardio for days this guy i would go for the gut right for the right for the bread basket body shots all day on this guy i think he's weak to the body i think kamara oozman tested his body out his last fight and you can kind of see him wince a little bit kind of protect his body after a few good body shots so i think his body's weak i don't think he's looking more for a little bit of ground and pound a little bit while you're down there he just throws a lot of volume out he doesn't try and finish you down there some guy you know a guy like colby covington he's going to try and break you a little bit he's going to try and you know pepper you down there on the ground try and tire you out he may even let you up just so that he can take you down again and try and break you mentally that's just the the wrestler's mindset like i would rather be knocked out than have that happen to me for five five in rounds number one contender and we got the champ kamara oozeman awesome so the real question is how many fights are you away from that guy i'm supposed to be finding the number 11th guy right now uh you know jeff neal so i'm thinking maybe two or three more fights hopefully with a good win over jeff neal they'll give me somebody in the top five so maybe two or three more fights will we fight kamaru's men if he's still champion now kamara uzman i think is a really good champion he's a family man he's a hard-working guy hung out with kamara who's been a few times several times in toronto and when it comes to the fight game so disciplined this guy so discipline which is why he's champ man i think number one not only does he have the wrestling but he's got striking as well he can do both he broke colby covington's jaw finished him t.k owed him um you saw what he did against a high-level striker of george mas vidal you know that's just the the the consistent wrestling um the consistency of being able to put his striking and wrestling together is unbelievable kamar guzman will hurt you he'll knock you out the guys got cardio for days as well went five five minute rounds with one of the highest volume fighters out there colby covington and beat him so you know he puts in the work you know he studies his opponents and he's an intelligent fighter and that's why he's champion the faints the kicks to the body the angle change and the movement is going to play a huge part in a win or a loss between this guy i know at some point if i ever fight this guy he's going to give me to the cage he's going to look to take me there not a whole lot of kicks doesn't throw a whole lot of kicks and i think that might be a weak point on him i've heard he's had knee problems so i'm not really sure you know what kind of knee problems he has but leg kicks could probably slow him down he throws a lot of straight punches so the angles may be able to change angles on this guy because he does come forward comes straight forward doesn't move side to side too well but it comes straight forward so last question of all do any of these people have an edge on you and strike you no they do not i don't think anybody has an edge on me now can anybody let him punch yes we saw that against anthony pettis i was smoking anthony pettis beating him hands down boom all it takes is that one shot but do i think that they're better than me at the stand up now i don't think so i think my range is better i think my combinations with my hands and my feet are better than all these guys preparation you did the day before the week before a month before what all matters when you step in that octagon are you going to be on point and what gives me confidence stepping out there is knowing i did everything possible that i could to prepare for this fight stepping into that octagon and that gives me confidence like no other amazing dude hey everybody thanks for watching that video like and subscribe if you enjoyed it we do at least three video uploads per week so you get a pretty good value out of it comment below if we missed anything or if you just liked it you can follow me personally on twitter at jasontheheart or our official account at onpointmma on twitter and if you'd like to get a little bit more involved in our community you can join us on discord the links are in the description thanks so much and we'll see on the next video [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: MMA On Point

Views: 567,459

Rating: 4.9584208 out of 5

Keywords: UFC, MMA, MMA On Point, Mixed Martial Arts, Bellator, Dana White, Joe Rogan, JRE, Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier, Conor McGregor, Justin Gaethje, Khabib, Habib, Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar, WWE, Stephen Thompson Breaks Down The UFC's Top 10 Welterweights, Stephen Thompson, Jorge Masvidal, Colby Covington, Leon Edwards, Tyron Woodley, Thompson vs Neal, Kamaru Usman

Id: -vbLpuhQBI4

Length: 16min 17sec (977 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 17 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/dontstop_dontquit]

Man, Wonderboy gives a great interview. He's confident but respectful, analytical and thoughtful.

Good shit.

[u/bobby_nofriends]

"The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Colby Covington is a good ol fashion eye-poke, just want to poke this dude in the eye"

[u/Chocoeclair189]

Even in fighter interviews, they manage to make it a top 10 lol

[u/karl100589]

I give On Point some ribbing for their vids, but the fact they’re doing vids with Chandler and Wonderboy (and even had Helwani watching their live chat) means they’re doing something right.

[u/KamartyMcFlyweight]

The sheer difference in the way he describes Colby and Kamaru lol

Also him saying that he wants to eyepoke Colby might be the harshest thing he's said

[u/a_spicy_meata_balla]

Stephen Thompson vs. Wonderboy is a fight I'd love to see.

[u/sspiritusmundi]

"Colby called me a virgin" ok that has me dying lmao

[u/a_barker_thigh]

Colby Covington has joined Sage Northcutt in list of people Wonderboy has dissed

[u/FreshlyWritten69]

Wonderboy vs Colby is a fight I didn’t know I wanted