Stephen Thompson Wants A Title Shot If Darren Till Wins At UFC 228

UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley is defending the gold against Darren Till this Saturday Night in the main event of UFC 228.

Stephen Thompson, who lost a close decision to Till at UFC Fight Night Liverpool, would like a rematch if a new champion is crowned at UFC 228.

“If that does happen, hopefully that puts me up closer to a (title) fight,” Thompson said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “That would be the right way to go, but as you know it’s very hard to predict. But I am leaning that way, the needle is leaning towards Till a little bit. If he (Till) goes out there and does what I know he can and if he is smart about it, he can win. And that would set me up perfectly, I would think, for another rematch, Of course you got guys above me. Colby Covington might get the next shot and you got (Kamaru) Usman moving up the rankings. You got those guys, but I feel like I won that last fight against Till an I think a lot of fights agree with me. If he does win, I would love to have that rematch.”

Till won that close decision despite missing weight for the bout, but he did not miss weight for the title bout at UFC 228.

A bout that has also been rumored for quite some time is Thompson versus Robbie Lawler and its an opportunity that Thompson would love.

“To be honest, I would love to fight Robbie, I have been wanting to fight this guy for a long time and I am a big fan of his, even back in his Strikeforce where he was just knocking dudes out. He is one of those grinders, man, he don’t care and he just goes out there to fight. That’s why I’m a fan and been wanting to fight him for a while,” says Thompson.

UFC 228 takes place on Saturday, September 8 from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas with Tyron Woodley and Darren Till headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.