Stephen Thompson expects Shavkat Rakhmonov to try and take him to the ground.

Thompson (17-6-1 MMA, 12-6-1 UFC) meets Rakhmonov (17-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) on the main card of UFC 296 on Dec. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Rakhmonov boasts a 100 percent finish rate with eight knockouts and nine submissions. Despite Rakhmonov’s varied offense, “Wonderboy” doesn’t see the fight playing out on the feet for too long.

“Now, do I feel like Shavkat is going to stand there and bang with me? I don’t think so,” Thompson told Submission Radio. “I think eventually he’s going to shoot. He’s going to shoot in and try to get the fight to the ground obviously. But he’s still a type of guy to try to finish. And I would rather go out on my shield than just somebody hold me there. You know what I mean?”

Regardless of what approach Rakhmonov takes in the fight, Thompson appreciates his killer instinct. He referenced his most recent setbacks to Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns, where he was suffocated in decision losses.

“One of the worst feelings that I have is after a fight, walking through the airport and not having a bump or a bruise or an ache to show the battle that I had the night before,” Thompson said. “And when I fought those two fights with Belal and Gilbert, I was literally walking to the airport (with nothing). The best feeling is walking through the airport the next day, can barely move, man. People are looking at you like, ‘What did this guy go through last night?’

“It’s that feeling that I just went through a battle, a war and survived. Or, you know, even win or a loss, I’m still here. You have those remnants of the battle of the night before. And I’m going to get that. And that’s what I’m most looking forward, to be honest, to fight with Shavkat.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296. 

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