Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson won’t need surgery on broken hands from UFC 244

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson will have to wait another month or two before hitting anything. But he got some welcome news this week after suffering two broken hands in his win over Vicente Luque at UFC 244.

In a text message to MMA Fighting on Thursday, Thompson wrote he’ll need approximately six to eight weeks to recover. But the damage isn’t bad enough to warrant surgery.

“Hands are doing OK,” Thompson wrote. “Still hurting. but they’ll be all right,”

The former welterweight title contender was dominant over Luque at the Nov. 2 pay-per-view event, showcasing pinpoint accuracy while damaging his opponent. After three rounds, he took home two scores of 30-26 with one tally of 29-27.

After the fight, Thompson’s left and right hand ballooned up, indicating both were broken. He later verified the injury in the days following UFC 244, but he visited a specialist this week to see if they required surgery.

The South Carolina native previously has dealt with serious hand injuries; he suffered two broken thumbs after an impressive win over Jorge Masvidal back in 2017.

While the injury will require Thompson to miss out on hitting pads or full sparring for the next month or two, he should still be able to compete again in early 2020. He remains a top-10 ranked welterweight and continues to hunt for another shot at UFC gold.