UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson is currently slated to face former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis this March. It was a matchup that seemingly came out of left field, but for Pettis, it is more of a bucket list fight.
According to “Wonderboy”, Pettis was not his first choice.
“I tried to get (Robbie) Lawler. I was pushing (for) Lawler really hard,” Thompson said on a recent appearance on The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting). I was pushing it, the UFC was saying that it may or may not happen, Lawler was saying it was going to happen, and I was in New York helping Chris Weidman get prepped for his fight against ‘Jacare’ Souza and then they announced that [Lawler] was fighting (Ben) Askren.