UFC star Stephen Thompson has been taking advice from an unlikely source as he looks to snap his current losing streak.
‘Wonderboy’ is set to square off against fellow welterweight contender Kevin Holland in the UFC Orlando main event at the Amway Center on December 3.
The 39-year-old heads into the fight on the back of successive defeats against Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns who both outwrestled him over three rounds last year.
Thompson will be glad to have been matched up with Holland who is known for his love of striking and will be confident of standing up with the karate expert on Saturday night.
Despite being one of the best strikers on the roster, the two-time UFC title challenger is always learning and recently took some kicking advice from comedy actor Jack Black.
The Jumanji star showed Thompson how to throw a front kick in a hilarious video that quickly went viral after it was uploaded to social media.
“So, Wonderboy, what you wanna do is you wanna snap f***ing high. But you never take your eyes off target. Locked on, target,” Black says as he shows off his kicking skills.
Thompson mimics his new sensei who said he was ‘getting there’ before the UFC fighter feigned injury and Black told the cameraman to stop filming.
Most read in MMA
The unlikely duo struck up a friendship when Black watched UFC 264 in July 2021 and found out Thompson walks out to Tenacious D’s song ‘Wonderboy’.
Thompson started his MMA career with 13 wins and just one loss, beating the likes of Robert Whittaker, Jake Ellenberger, Johny Hendricks, and Rory MacDonald to earn his welterweight title shot.
Despite getting two cracks at Tyron Woodley’s belt, he was not able to become UFC champion and has suffered for form ever since, picking up just three wins from his last seven fights.
Meanwhile, Holland is 2-1 at welterweight since dropping down a division earlier this year to beat Alex Oliveira and Tim Means before running into Khamzat Chimaev.
‘Trailblazer’ was no match for Chimaev who took him down and tapped him out in just over two minutes after they brawled backstage ahead of UFC 279 in September.
ncG1vNJzZmiskaG4tLzOq6tnm5%2BifLS8zquraKWdlnxyfpRybmtvX5%2BupLeMm6Oam5tisLCtwqGcrGWjqbKxtMSnZK2gn6K9tLvNZqyfm12kv62tzZ2mZqOVq7aveceoo6WZnpl8