Stephen Thompson surprises Johny Hendricks with TKO win

Johny Hendricks vs Stephen Thompson Fight Night Las Vegas EA Sports UFC 2

LAS VEGAS -- Johny Hendricks has shared the Octagon with the likes of Georges St-Pierre, Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit.

As it turned out, those battles were easy compared to sharing it with Stephen Thompson.

Thompson (12-1) dominated the former welterweight champion Saturday, knocking him out with right hands at 3:31 of the opening round. The 170-pound bout headlined UFC Fight Night at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

A former NCAA champion wrestler, Hendricks (17-4) tried to close distance on the rangy kickboxer but repeatedly walked into counter punches. He failed to secure a single takedown and landed 11 total strikes compared to Thompson"s 25, according to Fightmetric.

The finish came after Hendricks came up well short on a straight left hand. Thompson stepped slightly out of range and came back with a big counterpunch. After Hendricks retreated to the fence, Thompson threw a spinning kick that left him wobbled and referee John McCarthy stepped in shortly after.

"That"s exactly what I planned to do," said Thompson, who fights out of Simpsonville, South Carolina. "I knew he was going to try and get me to the cage, use his hands to get to the fence and try to get the takedown. I didn"t look for the knockout, I just let it happen.

"He kept coming and I knew he would until he ran into something."

The win improves Thompson"s UFC record to 7-1. His only loss came in his second appearance in April 2012, via unanimous decision to Matt Brown.

"I came here to put on a good show," Thompson said. "Hopefully the fans were impressed and hopefully next, we can get that title belt, baby."

Hendricks, who trains out of Dallas, falls to 2-3 in his last five bouts. The 32-year-old won the UFC championship in March 2014 but surrendered it nine months later to current titleholder Robbie Lawler. Before this weekend, he was coming off a weight cutting failure in October during which he was hospitalized. His bout against fellow welterweight contender Tyron Woodley was canceled as a result.

He worked into the clinch early Saturday, but Thompson defended a single leg takedown and eventually disengaged. Hendricks appeared to struggle badly with Thompson"s size. A former world champion kickboxer, Thompson enjoyed a six-inch reach advantage.

"I hesitated," Hendricks said. "Whenever I closed the distance, he moved away. When I thought the cage would be there, it wasn"t. He bounced off it very well. Hat"s off to him. What else can I say? He did an awesome job. I"ll be back. It"s a new start. You"ve just got to move forward."

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Source: http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/14730059/stephen-thompson-surprises-johny-hendricks-tko-win