Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson will return to the cage this summer when the UFC heads back to Nashville.
The longtime fan favourite and two-time welterweight title challenger is set to face Gabriel Bonfim in a 170-pound bout on July 12, the organization announced Friday.
Thompson is 42 and 1-4 in his past five outings over the past four years. All of those losses, including a knockout to Joaquin Buckley in October, were to top welterweights. In addition to the Buckley loss, Thompson was submitted by Shavkat Rakhmonov in 2023, beat Kevin Holland in 2022 and lost back-to-back three-round decisions to Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns in 2021.
Bonfim is 27 with a 17-1 pro record coming off a submission win over Khaos Williams in February. All but four of Bonfim’s wins have been via submission.
The Nashville Fight Night card at Bridgestone Arena is scheduled to be headlined by a Derrick Lewis vs. Tallison Teixeira heavyweight bout and features an anticipated featherweight clash between Calvin Kattar and Steve Garcia.
