Stephen Thompson finds it 'a little weird' to be on UFC 307 prelims

Stephen Thompson admits he’s disappointed not to be on the UFC 307 main card.

Thompson (17-7-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) takes on Joaquin Buckley (19-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) on Oct. 5 in the featured prelim from Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

UFC 307 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) is star-studded, featuring the likes of former champion Jose Aldo, Kayla Harrison and Kevin Holland, but “Wonderboy” thinks his stylistic matchup with streaking contender Buckley warranted a main-card spot.

“I’m so used to being on the main card, but hey, wherever the UFC puts us, we’re going to go out there and put on a show no matter what,” Thompson told Bodog Canada. “We’re going to show everybody that we deserved to be there. We should have been on the main card. But yeah, a little weird at this point knowing what kind of a fight this is going to be. You would figure that they’d want to have all eyes on it.

“Now, I’m not sure if it was because, you know, the last time I was supposed to fight in Salt Lake City my opponent didn’t make weight. But Joaquin Buckley is notorious for making weight, so I know he’s going to be a professional and we’re going to go out there and have fun but yeah, it was a little disappointing like, what’s going on now?”

Thompson hasn’t competed on the prelims since defeating Patrick Cote at UFC 178 in September 2014. It’s been all main cards and main events since then for the former two-time welterweight title challenger.

“It’s wild,” Thompson said. “I don’t know why they put that on the card. I mean, there’s some fights on the main card that I think should be on the prelims but, you know, it is what it is.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.