Stephen Thompson gives timeframe for return, eyeing fight with Robbie Lawler

After his close and controversial decision loss to surging welterweight contender Darren Till, two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson is keen to get back on track. He thinks former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler is just the kind of opponent that would allow him to do so.

Thompson weighed the options for his next fight on the Slip n’ Dip podcast this week.

“I want to fight someone in the top 5,” Thompson said (transcribed Jim Edwards for MMANytt).

“I got bumped down to #3 [in the UFC rankings] “he continued. “You got Robbie Lawler, hopefully, maybe things will go just right because I know he had knee surgery a few months back, so hopefully things will go just right and the timings work out so we could face each other or something.”

Thompson then elaborated on the appeal of a fight with Lawler.

“I got fans all the time asking me ‘why don’t you fight Robbie Lawler?’ I think, I got a lot of respect for him and it would be a barnburner. He’s just stands there and wants to bang it out. I love fighting guys like that — without getting hit in the knee of course.”

“Hopefully we can get that shot at [Madison Square Garden in November], that would be sick.”

The first order of business for Thompson, of course, is healing up from the knee injury he sustained in his fight with Till.

“They told me six to eight weeks minimum [for recovery],” he said. “I’m taking it easy on my knee, but I’m still back into training, sitting in a chair and hitting the bag man. I’m always keeping ice on my leg, so hopefully by the end of the year I will have something set up.”

“That’s with my fingers crossed, that’s what I want.”

Does a fight between Stephen Thompson and Robbie Lawler interest you?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/12/2018.