A terrific welterweight match-up between Stephen Thompson and Jorge Masvidal has been booked for the already stacked UFC 217 event in New York City on November 4th.
Thompson is emerging from back-to-back title fights with Tyron Woodley in which he ultimately failed to take the belt from the reigning welterweight champion.
However, ‘Wonderboy’ did take Woodley to a majority draw on the first occasion and then a majority decision in the rematch, reflecting the close nature of the fights.
Nevertheless, Woodley’s style made it difficult for Thompson to implement the same level of striking mastery that had been witnessed in his previous seven fight winning streak. during which he TKO’d future interim middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, KO’d Jake Ellenberger with a spinning hook kick and TKO’d former welterweight titleholder Johny Hendricks, in addition to a decision win over Rory MacDonald.
Masvidal will be much more willing to engage than Woodley was though as he too is an excellent striker in his own right.
‘Gamebred’ may not be as flashy of ‘Wonderboy’, but he’s still a high-level technical striker with his boxing in particular being very sharp, as was shown in his recent three-fight unbeaten stretch where he defeated the likes of Ross Pearson, Jake Ellenberger and Donald Cerroen before being outgrappled by Demian Maia to a split decision loss back in May.
Thompson Vs Masvidal joins a UFC 217 card that will be headlined by middleweight title action as current champion Michael Bisping squares up to returning superstar Georges St-Pierre, while bantamweight kingpin Cody Garbrandt defends his belt against TJ Dillashaw and women’s strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk fights Rose Namajunas.
