Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson has made it official. His featured preliminary bout against Charles Radtke at UFC 334 on Saturday will be the last fight of his career. The 43-year-old former welterweight title challenger confirmed it on Nov. 5, and he has spent fight week in New York soaking in every moment of the farewell.
“It's my last one, brother.”
"It's my last one, brother," Thompson told journalist James Lynch. "And what better place to have it than Madison Square Garden, New York City?" The fight is Saturday, Nov. 14, at Madison Square Garden — the same building where he fought Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title at UFC 205 in November 2016.
Thompson has been clear about why now. On The Ariel Helwani Show on Monday, he said the title is no longer in his sights. "I don't see the title anymore," he said. "These guys are just young studs coming up. I'm not trying to get hurt."
The body has had its say, too. After his loss to Gabriel Bonfim on July 12, 2025, Thompson split his shin. "I was back into training about three months after the fight," he told Helwani. "I wanted to get back out there, but my knee started giving me problems. The body's not healing up like it used to. I ended up hurting my neck — I had to get that looked at."
Fatherhood changed the math as well. Thompson's baby daughter is five months old. "I have a baby girl... she just turned five months old... and obviously that changes a lot of things," he said. He plans to keep teaching martial arts and training, but the fighting stops after Saturday.
At Wednesday's UFC 334 media day, Thompson sounded at peace with the decision. "This week, this has been probably the only time — and I wish I did this every time I came to a fight — was soak all of it up," he said. "I've really focused on bringing it all in and knowing that this is my last one. I've got Pops over there taking pictures of every moment so we can have those memories logged."
He made the announcement early on purpose. "I wanted to get it out there," he said. "I wanted people to know so I'm not surprising them on fight night. At least they can get their questions out now and not afterwards. I'm glad I did. No regrets, for sure."
"No regrets at all," he added. "I've won some, had some really good fights, I had some I lost, and there's always that 'should have, would have, could have' thought in your head. I don't tend to dwell on that. These guys that beat me, they beat me at my best. I gave it my all, so they deserve it."
Thompson also wants the way he fought to be part of the legacy. "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. "Sometimes that's a breath of fresh air. You don't have to be the guy to talk trash all the time. You can be the 'NMF' — Nice Motherf*cker."
The record he walks away with is 17-9-1 overall and 12-9-1 in the UFC, built over 14 years in the promotion since 2012. The recent run has been hard: three straight losses, to Shavkat Rakhmonov, Joaquin Buckley and Bonfim, and one win in his past six fights. His last victory came against Kevin Holland, a fourth-round stoppage in December 2022. He has not won in nearly four years. Against Radtke he is a slight betting favorite — the first time he has not been an underdog in nearly five years.
Madison Square Garden brings the career full circle. Thompson fought Woodley for the welterweight title twice, drawing at UFC 205 at the Garden in November 2016 and dropping the rematch by decision at UFC 209 in March 2017. Later that year, in the same building, he beat Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision at UFC 217. Saturday is his fourth appearance at the Garden.
Radtke, 12-5 overall and 5-2 in the UFC, has won his last two fights, most recently a unanimous decision over Francisco Prado at UFC 327 in April. He knows what the night means to the man across the cage. "There's a lot of emotions heading into it because this being his retirement fight," Radtke said at media day. "This is not my retirement fight. This is my opportunity to provide for my family." He has also called himself "like the Jorge Masvidal of my generation" — the same Masvidal Thompson beat at the Garden in 2017.
Thompson has said he is open to competing in Real American Freestyle, the wrestling promotion, but that is not a contract and not a booked match. His retirement is from mixed martial arts, and UFC 334 is the last MMA fight.
"My goal for this week is to soak in as much of it as possible, with this being my last one," Thompson said. His goal on Saturday is simpler still: "My goal is to end my career with a 'dub' and have my hand raised." Win or lose, he walks away at Madison Square Garden, where the title chase began, on his own terms.
UFC 334 is headlined by Ciryl Gane's heavyweight title defense against Josh Hokit, with Kayla Harrison defending the women's bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes in the co-main event.
