Stephen Thompson

By FCF Staff

Many people believe that Luke Rockhold will provide Chris Weidman his toughest test to date, but according to Stephen Thompson, he’s not on the champ’s level.

Rockhold will challenge the middleweight champion at UFC 194, which will take place on December 12th in Las Vegas. The former Strikeforce champ has been tapped for the title shot, after putting together an impressive run, which includes finishes of Lyoto Machida and Michael Bisping.

Recently Thompson spoke to UFC.com about the success he’s been having as of late, and while doing so, he credited training with Weidman as a reason. When asked to weigh-in on Weidman’s upcoming bout, Thompson relayed the following:

“Chris Weidman is the man, dude. I don’t care what anyone says,” Thompson said. “He’s the champ for a reason. Of course I’m not taking anything away from Rockhold here, but he doesn’t have anything on Chris. Rockhold is a good striker and he uses it to set up his ground game, as we saw in his fight with Lyoto Machida. I don’t think he wanted to go toe-to-toe with Machida so he used his striking to get in on him, take it to the ground where he ended the fight with a submission. Good showing from Rockhold, but I don’t think he fought Machida at his best.

“Chris fought Machida when he was at his best and on point. Against Rockhold, Lyoto looked flat and just off his game, but that wasn’t the case when Chris fought him. Chris ended up banging out the victory and I think he’s going to do the same thing to Rockhold.”

Thompson, meanwhile, is coming off a memorable, head kick knockout over Jake Ellenberger and has moved into the #8 spot in the UFC’s welterweight division.