The farewell has a date now. “Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson has confirmed that his #UFC334 bout with Charles Radtke next weekend will be his MMA retirement bout,” MMA Orbit wrote on X on Thursday, crediting James Lynch (@LynchOnSports) and @Ozoon_CA for the news.
MiddleEasy, relaying Lynch’s reporting, said Thompson cited fatherhood as the reason he’s stepping away. The same report carries a detail worth circling. Thompson remains open to other competition, with RAF named as an example. Read the wording closely: this is an MMA retirement, and he hasn’t closed the door on competing in some other form.
Thompson, 41, has been on the UFC roster since 2012, a stretch Sports Illustrated framed as nearly 15 years. He challenged for the welterweight title twice. He carries a 17-9-1 record into this one, still representing Upstate Karate, and sits No. 49 among welterweights in Knockout Daily’s Cagefile rankings.
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The layoff matters too. His last fight came on July 12, 2025, which means he’ll have been out of the cage for roughly 16 months by the time he walks out against Radtke. That’s a long gap for anyone, and longer still at 41, against an opponent who gets to treat this as a career-defining name on his résumé.
I’ll say this. Fighters rarely get to choose the moment, and far too many of them hang around until a referee or a doctor chooses it for them. Thompson is announcing his exit ahead of time, with his kids as the reason, and that’s about as clean an ending as this sport hands out. It also gives the UFC 334 crowd a reason to stay glued to the undercard of a card headlined by Ciryl Gane vs. Hokit.
Thompson and Radtke meet on Nov. 14 at UFC 334. Win or lose, the next headline with Wonderboy’s name in it could come from RAF.
