UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson made his “first Twitter call out ever” when he requested a fight against Leon Edwards.
Thompson, who is generally regarded as MMA’s resident ‘nice guy,’ took to social media on Tuesday to call out Edwards for a fight between two of the best welterweights in the world. Check out the message that the veteran “Wonderboy” sent to Edwards on his Twitter as ‘the nicest guy in MMA’ gave “Rocky” the honor of being his first-ever Twitter call out.
https://twitter.com/WonderboyMMA/status/1308417466683490306
All due respect @Leon_edwardsmma , which I have a lot of for you, I have been saying I would like to fight you for a while now! It makes sense and would be a great match up. I think that was my first Twitter call out ever. man that felt weird. #FirstTimeForEverything
Thompson is currently ranked as the No. 6 welterweight in the UFC. However, he has not fought since November 2019 when he won a decision over Vicente Luque in a “Fight of the Night” at UFC 244. Edwards, the No. 3 ranked welterweight, has not fought in 2020, either, so this seems like a very reasonable matchup between two highly-ranked welterweights.
Both Thompson and Edwards are just on the outside looking in when it comes to the UFC welterweight title picture, so this fight could serve as a potential title eliminator of sorts. Right now, the plan is for UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman to fight No. 1 contender Gilbert Burns at UFC 256 in December, but then things get murkier in the division as there are about four or five fighters who are just on the periphery of a title shot.
If the UFC matched up Edwards vs. Thompson, it could also book Colby Covington vs. Jorge Masvidal in another title eliminator and potentially give the next title shot to the most impressive fighter of the bunch. Regardless of who they fight, though, both Thompson and Edwards badly need to fight again sometime soon as neither guy has stepped into the Octagon even once in 2020, so on paper, at least, this seems like the perfect matchup.
Would you like the UFC to book Stephen Thompson vs. Leon Edwards?