How Far Can Stephen Thompson Go in Stacked UFC Welterweight Division?

At 32 years old, it might be a little late for Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson to make a run in the loaded UFC welterweight division. 

But don't tell him that. 

The kickboxing phenom exhibits growth and evolution every time he steps into the cage, and he's earned a five-fight winning streak for his efforts. 

His most recent win—a masterful knockout of Jake Ellenberger at The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale Sunday in Las Vegas—was far and away his biggest and best victory yet. 

Let's make a checklist. 

1. Top-10 opponent? Check. Ellenberger was ranked No. 9 before this fight. Thompson's winning streak was impressive heading into The Ultimate Fighter 21 finale, but nobody on his hit list stacks up to Ellenberger in all-around skills and accomplishments. 
2. Battled adversity? Check. Ellenberger, famously dangerous in a fight's early going, starched Thompson with a shot from Hades, dropping his foe to the canvas and initiating a mad scramble for the finish. Thompson survived, reversed position and took control from there. 
3. Grappling improvements? Check. After getting dropped, Thompson scored a takedown on Ellenberger, a man who has an 85 percent career takedown-defense rate. From there, he passed Ellenberger's guard once as well. That's a big step forward for Wonderboy. 
4. X-factor? Check. Thompson's striking—particularly, his kicking game—continues to spell doom for opponents inside the Octagon. A lifelong martial artist, Thompson's skills in the stand-up department are simply more developed and more polished than other fighters'. That's a problem for future foes. 

Not bad, right? Even UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman agrees. He told MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani that Thompson is a "serious problem" for the entire 170-pound division. Sure, there's a little bias there, as the two train together and hang out beyond the mats, but Weidman is brilliant with his understanding of the fight game. 

His head coach, Ray Longo, told Bleacher Report's Duane Finley, "He's [Weidman's] got a fighting IQ that's off the charts. If they had Mensa for fighters, he's in Mensa. He's a genius, man." 

So needless to say, Weidman gets it, and his opinion carries some weight. Thompson is a problem for anybody with his stand-up skills and ever-evolving grappling attack. 

In his second fight in the UFC, Thompson was defeated by current top-five welterweight Matt Brown, largely because he could not defend the takedown or do anything off his back. Now, he's taking down lifelong wrestlers himself. 

That's impressive. 

Fun fights aplenty await Thompson now that he's proved his worth as a surefire top-15 UFC welterweight. The likes of Gunnar Nelson and Neil Magny feed near the bottom end of this upper tier, and further up, we have Carlos Condit, Tarec Saffiedine and maybe even a rematch with Brown.

Literally any of those fights is worth watching.

But I have to say, I worry about Thompson's chances once we start talking about the Condits and the Browns at 170.

Yes, Thompson's win Sunday was impressive. The finish was a work of art, artist's signature stamped in blood.

Ellenberger, though, hasn't been himself lately. It must be said. He's been taken down in each of his last three fights, and he's 1-2 during that stretch. Prior to that, he hadn't been taken down since 2009, a stretch of 11 fights largely contested against the division's elite.

I have a feeling this Thompson vs. Ellenberger matchup says more about the latter fighter than it does about the former, and that's a little sad. Thompson's knockout deserves praise, but it also might be a sign of dark times to come for Ellenberger.

Like Rashad Evans' knockout of Chuck Liddell at UFC 88, we'll remember the finish itself, but we'll also remember that it was the day one man's fighting spirit died.   

As Evans showed, though, that's not a terrible thing for one party involved. He went on to capture the light heavyweight title in his next outing. 

Thompson isn't Evans, and the welterweight division today isn't the light heavyweight division in 2008. Wonderboy will continue to put on fun, engaging fights, and he's can't-miss television at this point in his career, but I don't see him overcoming the razor-sharp fight games of the division's upper tier. 

Expect him to linger in the top 15 and perhaps even the top 10, but I think the train stops there. 

For a fighter who got a late start in this little thing called MMA, that's something special. It's not a slight to say he won't hoist gold. 

It's a compliment to even consider it.