UFC welterweight veteran Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson stepped outside his comfort zone recently, trading his striking game for a mawashi and stepping onto the dohyo to test his skills in sumo wrestling alongside two-time US sumo champion Sensei Seth.
Before any grappling took place, Seth walked Thompson through the basics, starting with getting the mawashi on. Thompson’s reaction to the traditional garment was honest: “What? Around my nether regions?”
Seth assured him it was perfectly secure, and Thompson quickly came around, admitting, “It’s actually kind of comfy.”
From there, Seth introduced Thompson to the shiko, the foundational stomping exercise that sumo wrestlers perform 300 to 400 times a day to build strength, balance, and to ward off evil spirits.
Thompson’s responded by saying, “No wonder their legs are so freaking big.” Seth then walked him through the suriashi, the movement pattern used to cross the dohyo, which Thompson picked up faster than expected.
It turned out Thompson was no stranger to watching sumo.
“It’s one of my all-time favorite YouTube things,” he said. “I always look up best of sumo, bro. And one of my all-time favorites is the sumo knockouts. Nobody knows that you can knock each other out in sumo wrestling.”
When the matches began, the UFC athlete’s ring awareness translated quickly. Seth noted that Thompson was already understanding key principles at play, recognizing how to keep his feet wide for friction, lower his base, and use his opponent’s energy against them.
Thompson connected the movements to what he does in the octagon: “It’s such a common thing for me. Let me get inside control and get this guy to the fence.”
After several rounds, Thompson picked up his first win, prompting Seth to admit, “I honestly did not expect Stephen to pick me up right here.”
Things got even more competitive when Thompson’s brother Tony joined the session. Tony’s size and football background made him a handful, and the brothers went back and forth trading throws and near-misses on the dohyo.
Reflecting on the experience, Thompson was candid about how much he still had to learn: “There’s more strategy here than just pushing somebody outside the ring. I’m super interested in learning the different methods of winning.” Seth noted that in sumo there are 82 kimari-te winning techniques, and Thompson had already started putting several of them together instinctively.
By the end of the session, Thompson was already planning his return. “I’m going to go home and watch nothing but sumo for the next three days,” he said, before issuing a challenge directly to Seth: “I want to show up to the next tournament. You’re going down.”
