Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson worked with one of his former UFC enemies almost ten years ago.
The two-time Welterweight Title Challenger will return this weekend in the Co-Main event of UFC Nashville. There Thompson takes on Gabriel Bonfim, a Brazilian hunter with an impressive 17-1 record.
At the age of 42, Thompson runs the danger of losing three fights in a row after back-to-back stopping of the unbeaten Shavkat Rakhmonov and Joaquin Buckley, who he at UFC 307 KO'ed last October.
Thompson opposed a submission artist as well completed as Bonfim and prepared for war with a former world champion and rival.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Rory MacDonald joined the Stephen Thompson training camp for Gabriel Bonfim
Thompson shared the Octagon with Rory MacDonald in June 2016 in the Main Event of Five-Round of UFC Ottawa. Thompson won with a unanimous decision, in which MacDonald changed his career forever forever than a year after his five-round war against Robbie Lawler.
'Wonderboy' was MacDonald's last fight in the UFC. The former title Challenger then won the Bellator Welterweight Championship in 2018 before he retired in the PFL in 2022. MacDonald has victories over Tyron Woodley, BJ Penn, Nate Diaz, Demian Maiia and much more.
MacDonald has now retired for almost 3 years and reached Karate in South Carolina to help Thompson in his latest training camp for Bonfim at UFC Nashville.
“OGs,” Thompson said about training with his former enemy Macdonald.
“Thank you Rory for your great help and insight for Wonderboy's next fight!” Thompson's head coach and father, Ray, wrote on Instagram.
“Legends,” Tim Welch of Sean O'Malley said about the collaboration.
“Red King! It's so good to still see him training,” said a fan about MacDonald.
While MacDonald has trained with Thompson, the retired UFC star recently said that he has no intentions of a UFC recovery.
Rory MacDonald was one of the first UFC stars to only train MMA
Thompson is still one of the best strikers of the UFC today, but the times are changing to MMA.
Once a karate specialist, almost no one could find out, Thompson has struggled against grapplers and well-completed hunters in recent years.
“From the moment I started, the game evolves every year. I get out, everyone will be good,” said Thompson on UFC Nashville Media Day.
“Everywhere. I come from an era of only specialists where you had the striking specialist in Anderson Silva, you had the Jiu-Jitsu specialist in Demian Maia …
In an era of specialists, Thompson remembers that there was a time that MacDonald was advertised as a future world champion. The Canadian trained MMA exclusively as a teenager and under the supervision of Georges St-Pierre's coach Firas Zahabi, MacDonald became a complete hunter at a high level.
“I remember that I used to, all the talk was Rory Macdonald and how good he was everywhere,” said Thompson.
'[Now] Everyone is good everywhere. It's not just one or two people.
“I still catch up,” said Thompson at the age of 42.