{"id":284129,"date":"2018-09-01T08:40:29","date_gmt":"2018-09-01T15:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=284129"},"modified":"2018-10-10T20:55:14","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T03:55:14","slug":"exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC welterweight standout Stephen Thompson is in the midst of recovering from recent knee surgery.<\/p>\n<p>The former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger was recently rumored to be fighting former division champion Robbie Lawler this January on ESPN. However, according to &#8220;Wonderboy&#8221; a fight with &#8220;Ruthless&#8221; is far from a done deal.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with BJPENN.com&#8217;s Chris Taylor, <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/stephen-thompson\/stephen-thompson-breaks-down-tyron-woodley-vs-darren-till-title-fight\/\">Stephen Thompson<\/a> listed off for names as potential opponents for his next octagon appearance.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThere are some tough dudes out there at welterweight. Colby Covington, Rafael dos Anjos, Kamaru Usman and obviously Robbie Lawler come to mind right off the hop.\u201d Thompson said of potential future opponents. \u201cThere is a lot of tough dudes in the division and that is why I am in this sport man. I want to faceoff with the best fighters in the world. I think of twenty years from now and I\u2019ll be able to tell my kids and my grandkids that at one point I faced the best fighters in the world. It\u2019s really cool to think about. I\u2019m very fortunate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/stephen-thompson\/stephen-thompson-is-owed-one-by-dana-white-and-he-wants-robbie-lawler-in-south-carolina\/\">Stephen Thompson<\/a> has already proven that he is one of the best welterweight fighters to ever step foot in the octagon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWonderboy\u201d holds stoppage victories over current UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and former welterweight title holder Johny Hendricks. He also scored a unanimous decision victory over current Bellator welterweight champion <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rory-macdonald\/update-rory-macdonalds-title-throughout-bellator-welterweight-tournament\/\">Rory MacDonald<\/a> in June of 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Reports recently surfaced that <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/stephen-thompson\/breaking-former-champ-robbie-lawler-set-to-return-in-january-against-stephen-thompson\/\">Stephen Thompson was set to fight former champion Robbie Lawler <\/a>on the UFC\u2019s first ever ESPN fight card set for January 18. However, according to \u201cWonderboy\u201d those reports are very premature.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019m definitely up for it. Unfortunately at this time there is just nothing set in stone when it comes to me fighting Robbie. It has been mentioned by the UFC but that is about it. I don\u2019t even know if Robbie would be ready by January. So at this time I really don\u2019t know who I\u2019ll be facing next. It could really be anybody at this point.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UFC welterweight standout Stephen Thompson is in the midst of recovering from recent knee surgery. The former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger was recently rumored to be fighting former division champion Robbie Lawler this January on ESPN. However, according to &#8220;Wonderboy&#8221; a fight with &#8220;Ruthless&#8221; is far from a done deal. In a recent interview [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":279531,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[2674,10132],"tags":[39616],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson has four opponents in mind for his next octagon appearance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson has four opponents in mind for his next octagon appearance.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-01T15:40:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-11T03:55:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stephen-Thompson.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/fe444b8007aa9105494afef8547151ff\"},\"headline\":\"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-01T15:40:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-11T03:55:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"UFC Exclusive\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Exclusive MMA Interviews\",\"Stephen Thompson\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/\",\"name\":\"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-01T15:40:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-11T03:55:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson has four opponents in mind for his next octagon appearance.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Exclusive MMA Interviews\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/fe444b8007aa9105494afef8547151ff\",\"name\":\"Chris Taylor\",\"description\":\"Manager of former two-division UFC champion BJ Penn and his website bjpenn.com. Follow me on Twitter - @CTaylor_96\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ctaylor_96\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/chris-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight | BJPenn.com","description":"Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson has four opponents in mind for his next octagon appearance.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight | BJPenn.com","og_description":"Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson has four opponents in mind for his next octagon appearance.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2018-09-01T15:40:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-11T03:55:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stephen-Thompson.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chris Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/fe444b8007aa9105494afef8547151ff"},"headline":"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight","datePublished":"2018-09-01T15:40:29+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-11T03:55:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/"},"wordCount":355,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"keywords":["UFC Exclusive"],"articleSection":["Exclusive MMA Interviews","Stephen Thompson"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2018","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/","name":"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-09-01T15:40:29+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-11T03:55:14+00:00","description":"Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson has four opponents in mind for his next octagon appearance.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-stephen-thompson-has-four-potential-opponents-in-mind-for-his-next-fight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Exclusive MMA Interviews","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson has four potential opponents in mind for his next fight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/fe444b8007aa9105494afef8547151ff","name":"Chris Taylor","description":"Manager of former two-division UFC champion BJ Penn and his website bjpenn.com. Follow me on Twitter - @CTaylor_96","sameAs":["http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ctaylor_96\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96"],"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/chris-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}