B/R Exclusive: Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson Talks UFC 307 and Fighting Father Time | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

Many fans will have a hard time believing that Thompson is capable of winning the UFC welterweight title at 42 years old, and the older he gets, the less likely that will be the case. He knows that.

However, his track record against all but the very best welterweights remains quite good – just look at his recent victories over Kevin Holland, Geoff Neal and Vicente Luque. He has proven many doubters wrong in these competitions and he has no intention of stopping the habit.

“My goal is to go out and put on a show,” Thompson said. “My goal is to go out there and try to finish these guys in front of the whole world, in front of everyone, in front of the UFC, to let them know, yes, I'm 41 and getting ready to be 42 “But I still got it, just like I did with Geoff Neal.

Much of Thompson's recent success has come from continuing to improve, even in his late 30s and early 40s.

He attributes his continuous improvement to his never-ending quest to become the best martial artist possible.

“Even at 41 years old, my goal is to be the best martial artist I can be,” he said. “How good can I become as a martial artist? How much better can I become as a martial artist? How much can I improve my wrestling and jiu-jitsu?”

His desire to be the best martial artist possible in turn motivates him to train hard and give everything he has every time he steps into the Octagon.

“As a young fighter, the title was always the goal,” Thompson said. “When I thought about fighting, that was the goal. As I got older, I think there was a shift in thinking.” [I learned] from watching [fighters like] Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, because they are also lifelong martial arts.

“I always come to the gym with an empty cup. With the attitude of 'In a week or two I want to have this submission done' or 'I want to be able to get past this guy's guard like that' or 'I want to.' If you land three, four or five headbutts in that sparring session, you will always grow with that attitude.

“With that mindset, there are no limits, and then when you get in the cage, for me that’s the ultimate test to see how I grow as a martial artist, whether I win or lose.”

“For example, my last loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov, the guy is a beast, but there were a lot of things that I did during that camp that I worked really, really hard on, and in the Octagon with him I was successful. “There were a lot of things I did right. Even though I lost it, I was still happy to see my progress.

“With this change in mindset, success will come.”