Stephen Thompson addresses Twitter spar with Shavkat Rakhmonov

Shavkat Rakhmonov sent a tweet the way of Stephen Thompson after his latest win against Geoff Neal. The two welterweights had a brief Twitter interaction regarding Rakhmonov's grappling in his UFC 285 matchup.

In an interview with Submission Radio, Thompson addressed his to-and-fro with Shavkat Rakhmonov. He mentioned how he thought Rakhmonov was not responsible for the tweet and also spoke about his own reply.

Thompson said:

“No, I didn’t [expect the tweet]. I don’t know if he even knows that that tweet is out there. I don’t think he sent that out there. I think he has a manager or something, you know. Kinda like Khabib [Nurmagomedov] had Ali [Abdelaziz] tweet stuff out for him. But, yeah, he was like ‘Who’s the grappler now?’ And I’m just like, you did try to take him down like, just because Geoff Neal defended, you’re 0 and 4 in takedowns doesn’t mean you’re not a grappler. And how did you finish the fight? Did you finish standing or striking? No! You finished with a submission.”

Thompson also spoke about having only a single draft for his response and maintaining a respectful tone in interactions with other professionals:

“I’m a straight professional when it comes to that guys. Just one, man. I already had, you know, I’m just like that all time. You guys know me, any time I’m talking about anybody, I try to be respectful. You know how I be, you know how I be!”

Check out the two welterweights' tweets below:

Who’s grappler now? @WonderboyMMA

All due respect to you and your great performance but 0/4 on takedowns doesn’t make you “not” a grappler! Congrats on your victory! Let’s not forget you won by submission! But much love! 🙏🏻👊🏼 twitter.com/rakhmonov1994/…

Stephen Thompson believes Shavkat Rakhmonov beats Khamzat Chimaev in a fight

Stephen Thompson also mentioned how he would love to see a potential Shavkat Rakhmonov matchup against Khamzat Chimaev.

In the same interview, Thompson rued the missed opportunity with Chimaev moving up to the middleweight division after failing to make weight in his last fight.

'Wonderboy' also backed Shavkat Rakhmonov to get the win over 'Borz' with his superior striking abilities:

“You know what I would have liked to see? If he wouldn’t have gone up to 185 [middleweight], was Shavkat vs. Khamzat. Ooh, that would have been a headliner right there! Like that would have been a great, great fight. And I think Shavkat would have the edge on him, his takedowns and his striking. I think his striking’s a lot better than Khamzat’s.”

Check out Stephen Thompson's full interview with Submission Radio below: