5 MINUTES
MINUTES WITH...
STEPHEN
THOMPSON
BY SUBMISSION RADIO // PHOTO BY GETTY
Conor McGregor has said he has his eyes on the
welterweight division. How do you think he’d fair?
He walks around at about 180 pounds and he looks
massive. Of course there’s a lot of shorter guys in the
170 division, you know, Johny Hendricks being one of
them — he’s like 5’9” and he’s crushing it — and I think
he would do well. I mean, his striking’s great.
I think he would have to put on some muscle just
because the guys in the division are just so much
bigger. You know, they’re walking around at 195, some
of them 200. And if you’re at 180, yeah you’ll get down
to the weight pretty easy, but man, I mean the guys in
this division — look at Robbie Lawler. Look how massive
that guy is, and he’s got great striking as well.
So I mean, I think he’d do fairly well. That would
be very interesting just to see. I think that’s what he’s
looking for; everyone wants to see how he’s going
to stack up to these, you know, the 155 and the 170
fighters — so that’s going to sell tickets.How would you see a fight between you and
McGregor going?
We have fairly similar styles with our stances, putting
our hands and kicks together. He likes to throw
sidekicks, I like to throw sidekicks, hook kicks — things
that you don’t normally see in a sparring session.
People aren’t used to seeing that and that’s why we
catch guys with it.
I think it’d be a very exciting fight to be honest with
you, and it would definitely be a striking war, but I just
feel like I’m more experienced when it comes to that
style. I think that I have more tools. He likes to keep
his right side forward, I work both sides. I think I have
more weapons in my arsenal than he does. So that said,
I think I would come out with the win, but it would be
really cool to go out there and fight the best guys, man,and he’s definitely one of them. He’s shaking it up. He’s
literally the Muhammad Ali of MMA right now.”There are rumblings we will see you
training partner and friend GSP back in the
Octagon one day. How would he go against
the current champ Robbie Lawler?
I would say Georges, obviously. I mean, I think he’s more
experienced, I think he’s got really good takedowns.
He’s just a strategist, man. He comes into the fight
already won. He really goes into the camp, into the gym,
and studies his opponent and all the way down the little
movements. He’s got great timing with his takedowns;
of course a longer reach than Johny Hendricks. But
man, to me, just because he’s a good friend and one of
the best, I would say Georges.You’re starting to make big waves in the division
yourself. How do you think you would fair against
Robbie Lawler?
Yes. I mean, compared to my style, the way Lawler
fights, he likes to stand right there in front of you, and I
love to fight guys that stand right there in front of you.
My goal is to use the angles and just pick him apart,
using my legs and feet together.
He likes to use his hands. He doesn’t use his legs
very much. Of course he does have a few head kick
knockouts, but he telegraphs it a lot. But you know
what, he’s the champion, man, he’s the champion for
a reason.
So I would take him lightly. I never take anybody
lightly. This is just kind of from what I’m seeing right
now. Of course you can say that about fighters and
them being a completely different feel when you get
out there in the Octagon, but I feel that I do have the
striking advantage.14 | FIGHT AUSTRALIA fightaustralia.com.au