Rory MacDonald and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson ready for welterweight showdown at UFC Ottawa

UFC FIGHT NIGHT in Ottawa features a fascinating main event as welterweights Rory MacDonald and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson get set to face off for the number-one contender spot.

The welterweight division is one of the most talent-rich in the UFC, with a growing queue of hugely talented contenders jostling for position to face the teak-tough champion Robbie Lawler.

Up next for the Floridian is Tyron Woodley, but this weekend sees a bout that could well decide the identity of the next man to get a shot at the UFC’s 170lb title.

Montreal native MacDonald has carried the mantle of being Canada’s next big thing following the meteoric success of Georges St-Pierre.

And the Canadian engaged in a fight for the ages with Lawler at UFC 189 in 2015’s Fight of the Year, ultimately succumbing to a badly broken nose – and a TKO finish – in the final round of a bout he may well have been winning on the cards.

Despite the bloody, brutal, nature of that fight – and the fact he lost – MacDonald hailed that fight as “the greatest moment of my life”.

And now, following an extended layoff, ‘The Red King’ is back and looking for another shot at the gold.

He faces Thompson, a spectacular striker with the sort of techniques you rarely see outside of a movie set.

Known to fight fans simply as ‘Wonderboy’, Thompson’s flashy striking game has recently been bolstered by a rapidly-evolving wrestling and grappling game that has allowed him to fend off wrestlers and keep fights firmly in his sweet spot, the stand-up.

And the best illustration of that came in his last outing, a first-round TKO finish of former world champion Johny Hendricks, a heavy-handed wrestler who had never previously been stopped in his mixed martial arts career.

So comprehensive was Thompson’s dismantling of the former champion there were calls for ‘Wonderboy’ to get an instant shot at the gold.

But with the UFC opting to grant Woodley the shot, Thompson was instead pitched into that looks set to be a world title eliminator with MacDonald this weekend in Ottawa.

It promises to be a spectacular contest.