"Wonderboy" Thompson vs. Kevin Holland is one of the best fights of 2022

...and can you believe that it came on a Fight Night instead of an actual pay-per-view? Sometimes I just flat out skip the Fight Night showcases because they have an opportunity to be pretty weak cards. That was not the case here and there was 3 really good fights on the overall main card. I'm sure that for some people all the fights were good and I was entertained the entire time but it was the main event that really did it for me and in my mind, the Thompson vs. Holland fight was one for the ages, and I believe it to be one of the best fights of 2022.

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For starters, these guys were incredibly respectful of one another from the moment the fight was announced all the way to when the fight was over. While I used to enjoy the controversy created by fake beefs (or real ones) I think that the industry is starting to prefer fighters who respect one another rather than try to destroy the interview stage the way that Jon Jones and D.C. used to do with one another or how Conor McGregor would do it vs anyone he was against. I think that McGregor kind of ruined that avenue for everyone and only a few like Colby Covington are still hanging on to the "bad boy" persona.

That was just the start of the reason why this fight was going to be incredible. There was a time, as you might recall, where Wonderboy Thompson was a front-runner for the welterweight championship. That was before he stopped winning fights in 2019. I don't know exactly how this was possible for Thompson to fall off, but I suspect it was because of the fact that he is first and foremost, a stand-up striker. His 2 consecutive losses were to guy that were pretty adept on the ground. This was particularly evident when Stephen faced Belal Muhammad, who successfully took him to the ground 7 times. Thompson wasn't finished in either of these two losses but an "L" is an "L", even if it comes by decision.

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Thompson and Holland exchanged stunning blows early on in the fight and on a couple of occasions it appeared as though Holland was going to KO Thompson but he was able to stabilize and carry on. He was fortunate that one of these times happened so close to the end of the round because had it not, the result of this fight could have been very different.

The two of them seemed very equal on strikes and it was looking like the judges were going to have a very difficult time deciding this one. The consensus was that round 1 and 2 were tossups but then round 3 happened and this is where Stephen's kicks started to really take hold as he landed one after the other.

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While Thompson looked a lot worse for wear thanks to a massive cut above his eyebrow it was pretty clear that he had a lot more left in the tank than his opponent. The judges were in agreement that the fight, should it go to the scorecards, would be a unanimous decision in favor of Thompson.

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What won over a lot of people, including me, wasn't just that these guys looked very evenly matched, but they also seemed to have a lot of respect for one another to the point where they almost seemed friendly. I think it is difficult for those of us that do not fight to understand how you can be clowning and smiling with a person that recently kicked you in the head as hard as he can.

By the end of the 4th round the crowd was going absolutely nuts because neither guy showed signs of slowing down too much and nobody was going to stupid time-wasting tactics such as doing a takedown Johny Hendricks style and then simply lying on top of the opponent so they can have a rest mid-round.

Holland's corner threw in the towel before the start of round 5 and refused to continue, thus awarding the fight to Wonderboy.

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There was absolutely no hard feelings in this fight and they were both smiles and handshakes after the 20 minutes of pummeling that they both had endured. Kevin was transported to the hospital to treat a broken hand that he had at that point spent 3 additional rounds using. Now if that isn't a sign of a true tough guy, I don't know what is.

In my opinion I would much prefer to see these sorts of friendly affairs then to see the months of trash talking as a lead in, only to have the two guys give one another hugs after the fact anyway. Good sportsmanship kind of went out the window in UFC for around 5 years and once again, I think we have mostly Conor McGregor to thank for this. It is nice to see that the fans appreciate these guys keeping the fight in the octagon and not spilling it out to the streets and to the interviews.

Congratulations to Wonderboy Thompson and I really don't think we have seen the last of Kevin Holland. He is a trooper and despite 2 losses in a row (one of which was on less than 24-hours notice) I think he still has an opportunity for his best days to still be in his future.