Stephen Thompson will make his final walk to the octagon at Madison Square Garden. The 43-year-old welterweight has confirmed his UFC 334 fight against Charles Radtke on Nov. 14 will be the last of his career, and the final bout on his UFC contract (h/t MMA Junkie):
“It’s my last one,” Thompson told Ozoon. “What better place to have it than Madison Square Garden, New York City?”
The venue came at his own request. In August, Thompson told Home of Fight he had one fight left on his deal and wanted it at the Garden, a building he has fought in three times and calls his home away from home after years spent on Long Island.
The decision was not about his health. Thompson became a father to a baby girl in September, and a new role at home outweighed what he has left to give in the cage.
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However, Thompson claimed that he could be back in the future:
“My body feels good,” Thompson said. “I feel great. I can keep going. But I have a baby girl. … ‘Wonderdad’ now. That definitely changes your mindset a little bit. We’ll see as she’s older where I’m at. You might see me again.”
Stephen Thompson has lost five of his past six fights
That farewell arrives at the end of the roughest stretch of Stephen Thompson’s career. The slide began with decision losses to Gilbert Burns at UFC 264 and Belal Muhammad at UFC Fight Night 199 in 2021, and was interrupted only by a fourth-round corner stoppage of Kevin Holland in December 2022.
Three more defeats followed for Thompson. The first was a rear-naked choke from Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 296, the next was a third-round knockout by Joaquin Buckley at UFC 307, and the final one was a split decision loss against Gabriel Bonfim at UFC on ESPN 70 in July 2025.
For years before that, he was one of the sharpest strikers at 170 pounds. A seven-fight winning streak from 2013 to 2016, including wins over Robert Whittaker, Rory MacDonald and Johny Hendricks, earned him a title shot at UFC 205, where he fought Tyron Woodley to a majority draw. Woodley took the rematch by majority decision at UFC 209, and Thompson never got back to a belt.
Charles Radtke is a 36-year-old Floridian on a two-fight winning streak after a unanimous decision over Francisco Prado at UFC 327 in April. He has been stopped in the UFC by Carlos Prates and Mike Malott.
Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim
