NEW YORK (The Thursday Times) — Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson ended a 16-year MMA career on Saturday night by knocking out Charles Radtke with a spinning hook kick in the third round at UFC 334 in Madison Square Garden.
Thompson, 43, had said earlier in the week that the fight would be his last. He finished it 2 minutes 54 seconds into the third round, after Radtke had taken him down in each of the first two rounds and drawn boos from a crowd that wanted to see the striking that made Thompson’s name.
Thompson found his range late in the second round and nearly ended the fight before the bell. As Radtke tired in the third, Thompson dropped him with the kick, a move that recalled his kickboxing background.
A tearful send-off
“Tonight, I couldn’t go out better than with a spinning hook kick to the dome,” Thompson said, smiling, in an interview in the Octagon with the UFC commentator Joe Rogan.
A montage of his career highlights played in the arena as Thompson became teary-eyed, as did his father, Ray, who worked his corner, and Rogan. “We wouldn’t have this sport if it wasn’t for my fans,” Thompson said.
He joined the UFC in 2012 and fought 23 times in the Octagon. Before that, he was unbeaten through 37 amateur and 20 professional kickboxing fights. A seven-fight winning streak that included wins over the former champion Johny Hendricks and Robert Whittaker earned him a first shot at the welterweight title, and he twice challenged for it, drawing with Tyron Woodley in 2017 and losing the rematch on a majority decision four months later.
Thompson was known as a gentleman in a sport with plenty of roughnecks. “I want to leave this sport knowing that you can still be at the top of the game and still be the good guy,” he said.
