Stephen Thompson confirms UFC 334 fight with Charles Radtke will be his last

Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson will retire from MMA after he fights Charles Radtke at UFC 334 on Saturday, November 14. Thompson confirmed it to journalist James Lynch on Thursday, and Lynch posted the news on X, as Heavy reported.

MMA Insight was already calling the Radtke bout his retirement fight on September 21. What's new is that Thompson has now said it himself. In August he had only said this was the last fight on his contract, according to Athlon. We found no statement from the UFC.

Lynch wrote that Thompson wants to step away since becoming a father to a baby girl four months ago. He is open to other competition, such as RAF freestyle wrestling, but nothing has been announced. He had already named fatherhood as part of the reason in comments MMA Sucka published on October 1:

"When you have a little one that comes in, it's such a big responsibility."

Outside the cage, he teaches kids at Upstate Karate in South Carolina, and in August he called that his real job. "This is what I love to do," he told Lynch, according to Athlon.

The farewell fight

The welterweight bout is the featured prelim, the last fight before the main card starts at 9:00 PM ET on the official card. Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit for the heavyweight title headlines, with Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes in the co-main event.

Thompson chose Radtke himself, to give an unranked fighter a chance. "Why not give this guy a chance to, if he beats me, move up the rankings?" he told Full Mount MMA, as relayed by BoxingNews.

Radtke, 36, from Chicago, is 12-5 and 5-2 in the UFC. He has won two straight, submitting Daniel Frunza in the third round and outpointing Francisco Prado. Both of his UFC losses were knockouts, to Carlos Prates and Mike Malott.

The venue matters to Thompson. "I love fighting at MSG," he told Lynch in August. Madison Square Garden is where he fought Tyron Woodley for the title the first time.

The career

Thompson grew up in his family's karate school and started training at 3. He debuted at UFC 143 in February 2012, knocking out Dan Stittgen with a first-round head kick. After a loss to Matt Brown, he won seven straight, beating Robert Whittaker, Jake Ellenberger, Johny Hendricks and Rory MacDonald. That earned him a shot at Woodley.

Their first fight, at UFC 205 in November 2016, was a majority draw. Woodley won the rematch at UFC 209 in March 2017 by majority decision, and Thompson never got the belt. The two are friends now, and Woodley has backed the farewell fight. "Wonder Boy is my brother, man," he said, according to BoxingNews.

He is 17-9-1 overall, but 4-7 since the Woodley fights, with wins over Jorge Masvidal, Vicente Luque, Geoff Neal and Kevin Holland. Holland, in December 2022, was his last win. He has since lost to Shavkat Rakhmonov, Joaquin Buckley and Gabriel Bonfim. The Bonfim loss, a July 2025 split decision, is one many fans felt he won.

The odds

Thompson is a slight favourite. FanDuel has him at −130 and Caesars has Radtke at +118, about 55% to 45% once the bookmakers' margin is removed, per our fight page. These are current prices and can move before fight night.

He has been a poor bet lately. Since 2020 he is 2-5 at closing prices, down 3 units, per his page. His win over Holland came at +150, and he closed at +460, +183 and +365 in the three losses. Radtke is 4-2 as a bet and 3-0 as a favourite.

We think the small edge for Thompson is fair. Rakhmonov and Buckley were on the rise when they beat him, and the Bonfim fight was a split decision. Radtke is unranked, and both men who have beaten him in the UFC knocked him out. Against that, Thompson is 43 and will have been out for 16 months.