Stephen Thompson will retire after he fights Charles Radtke on the UFC 334 prelims Saturday, Nov. 14, at Madison Square Garden. He laid out why on Monday’s edition of The Ariel Helwani Show. The first reason was blunt. “No. 1, I don’t see the title anymore,” he told Uncrowned, adding, “I’m not trying to get hurt.” The bigger reason was news to almost everyone. Thompson has a baby girl who just turned five months old, and he said becoming a father changed his mindset.
He had kept that quiet on purpose. Thompson said he has always shielded the people he dates, and now his wife and kids, from public view. “Fans can be a little mean, and I just don’t want to put them out in the spotlight like that,” he said. He also told Helwani he hopes to have more children.
The body has been sending its own notices. Thompson last fought in July 2025, a split decision loss to Gabriel Bonfim that plenty of people (Thompson included) thought he won. He split his shin in that fight, was back training about three months later, then his knee started acting up and he had to get his neck checked. “The body’s not healing up like it used to,” he said, pointing to a history of knee surgeries. For this camp he leaned into recovery and cut back on hard sparring, and he said he feels great heading into fight week.
The numbers on the way out
Thompson enters at 17-9-1 overall and 12-9-1 in the UFC, per MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts. He’s on a three-fight skid, the longest of his career, and hasn’t won since December 2022. He’s 1-5 across his past six UFC appearances. The résumé still holds up in the welterweight record book: his 10 knockdowns are tied for fifth-most in divisional history, and his eight fight-night bonuses rank fourth behind Chris Lytle, Vicente Luque and Matt Brown.
Asked for his favorite moments, he named two. The first was his debut at UFC 143 in 2012, when MC Hammer (then part of his management) walked him to the venue and Georges St-Pierre worked his corner. The second was UFC 205 at this same building in 2016, the majority draw with Tyron Woodley where Thompson survived repeated knockdowns and a deep guillotine in Round 4. The rematch went to Woodley by a split decision that’s still argued about. Thompson says he carries none of it. “I don’t have any grudges. I don’t look back wishing anything. I’ve got no regrets. Zero,” he said.
After Saturday he plans to keep teaching at his martial arts school in South Carolina and do broadcast work for the UFC. He didn’t fully close the door, either. Once his daughter is older, he said, a striking-only match could tempt him, even in his 50s. “I’ve been striking my whole life, and I feel like I’m still as good as I was striking-wise. It’s the wrestling and jiu-jitsu that mess me up. It injures me,” he said.
MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew called him a classic “Hall of Very Good” fighter, which is fair, though I’d argue two title fights decided by a draw and a split card leave him closer to the belt than that label suggests. Thompson told us exactly where the danger is: the clinch and the mat, so the whole fight hinges on whether Radtke can drag him there. I’m picking Wonderboy to keep it standing at range, win a decision, and leave the Garden the way he entered it in 2016, with the building on its feet. He’s the final slot at Wednesday’s media day, 2:45 p.m. ET.
