A Stephen Thompson title shot? No, that'd be crazy ... right?

The conventional wisdom on Stephen Thompson before his main event fight with Johny Hendricks at UFC Fight Night 82 in Las Vegas was that he was a fun striker, an entertaining presence, and a doomed man walking.

It wasn’t necessarily that we worried for the health and safety of Thompson (12-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) against the former UFC welterweight champ Hendricks (17-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC). It was more that, while “Wonderboy” had managed to tool up a series of mostly unranked welterweights with kicks that looked like something you’d see at a shopping mall karate demo, he was about to be put back in his place by a truly high-level opponent.

Because, come on, Hendricks? He’s a former NCAA Division I national champion wrestler, not to mention a former UFC champ who, prior to Saturday FOX Sports 1-televised bout, had never lost a fight in which he couldn’t have made a semi-plausible claim that the judges had robbed him.

If you were going to build a fighter to beat a wide open, creative kicker like Thompson, you could do a lot worse than a seasoned wrestler with a heavy left hand like Hendricks.

But then, there’s a reason we go through with the formality of fighting the fights rather than relying on that conventional wisdom to tell us who’s superior.

That reason swatted Hendricks upside the head a couple dozen times in the span of three and a half minutes. It also left him crumpled against the cage by the end, blindly shielding his head against the hailstorm of strikes that he couldn’t stop and couldn’t escape.

So now, on the Sunday after the fight, the conventional wisdom has changed. It has no choice, really.

No longer is Thompson just the nice karate kid who’s fun to have around, but bound to bump into a rough ceiling for his particular skill set. Now, with a dominant win over Hendricks, you could actually talk about a Thompson title shot without hardcore fans looking at you like they’re waiting for the punchline.

That could be very bad news for some other, more established UFC welterweights. Guys like Tyron Woodley, or even the very rematchable Carlos Condit, have reason to look at Thompson’s big win and feel a little bit worried. If you’re looking for a bankable opponent to take on UFC welterweight champ Robbie Lawler, you have to admit that Thompson offers a fresher challenge than Condit, and a more ascetically pleasing style than Woodley.

Especially after a killer performance in a bout that got the main-event spotlight via heavyweight injury default, it’s starting to seem like the stars might be aligning in favor of the “Wonderboy,” who just kicked his way out of the middle of the welterweight pack, and at just the right time.

But no, that’s just us getting carried away, right? Thompson vs. Lawler? Why, that’d be a bloodbath. Everyone knows that, while he might be fun and fresh, Thompson isn’t ready for those elite welterweights with serious title fight experience.

Then again, as of Saturday afternoon, almost everyone knew that he wasn’t ready for Hendricks, either.

Ask those same people what they know now, one day later. See if our collective knowledge isn’t subject to more change than we thought, especially after it’s been violently reshaped by a precision fighter who just might be more than we gave him credit for.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 82, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.