UFC champion Tyron Woodley explains why he deserves to pick his next opponent
Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has his eyes set on a matchup with former 170-pound king Georges St-Pierre, and he doesn’t care what the detractors have to say about it.
Woodley finished then-champion Robbie Lawler in devastating fashion last Saturday night to become the third welterweight titleholder since GSP left the sport in 2013.
Consensus around the MMA community was that Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson would get the next crack at the belt, regardless of who came out victorious at UFC 201. But when Woodley instead turned his attention to welterweight greats Nick Diaz and St-Pierre, he and podcast co-host Din Thomas said they were inundated on social media with reasons why Thompson deserved the shot.
Woodley, however, says he’s just following the precedent the UFC — itself set when other deserving fighters were passed over for title shots.
“Think about Johny Hendricks. First time Johny Hendricks got his shot, he beat [John] Koscheck, he knocked out [Martin] Kampmann, he knocked out [Jon] Fitch, he beat Carlos Condit,” Woodley said on his podcast, The Morning Wood. “He got skipped over by who? Nick Diaz because he was a bigger draw. Think about Frankie Edgar. Completely wiped out the division. Did he get an immediate shot against Conor? Or was Conor able to jump weight classes? And then when that falls through, he gets to go and fight Nate Diaz. Loses the fight, is still the champion and rematches the guy.
“This is not a sport anymore, folks, and I’m not entitled to give any super smiley [expletive] a shot because I won, and they’ve been watching some Conor McGregor videos and think they can talk me into a fight.”
The UFC has strayed a bit over the last year and a half from its relatively loose rankings-based title shot formula to more of a fan-friendly method that appears to also be more financially beneficial to the promotion.
As Woodley mentioned, McGregor was able to jump up and over the lightweight No. 1 contender to challenge for the lightweight strap despite not defending the featherweight title. And more recently, it appears Dan Henderson will be granted a title shot over deserving No. 1 middleweight contender Jacare Souza against Michael Bisping.
Woodley feels that as champion, he should be granted those same privileges — even though up until the time he actually signed the contract to fight Lawler, he felt like the last choice in a pick-up basketball game.
“Here’s the thing, people need to realize, my career — especially this latter portion of it — if Conor beats Nate, he might fight Robbie next. We might let Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ fight Robbie. If freakin’ Spiderman comes off the roof and swings by web, he might fight Robbie. It was a situation where basically I was the last choice, I was the last pick, and it was all dictated on another individual — another man’s victory or defeat — if I was going to get the title shot. If this person was injured, if Georges St-Pierre came out of retirement.
“It was never, ‘Hey, Tyron, you’re the No. 1 choice being that you’re an OG, you been in the game a long time, you’ve been professional, you made weight, you returned money back to guys when they missed weight and have been penalized by the commission. You always showed up. …’ It wasn’t that. So now it’s my turn. You fight me if I want to fight you. And if you don’t, you need to be quiet — I’m the champ, not you.”
So where does that leave Thompson, the division’s No. 1 contender and winner of seven straight, including four by knockout? Well, on the outside looking in ... for the moment.
“I’m not trying to diminish [his wins], but if people are going to try to take a shot at me, [Thompson] didn’t beat these guys in their prime," Woodley said. "You didn’t beat these guys when they were the opponents we were competing against. So yeah, you did go on a run, you did beat some great guys — Robert Whittaker, Johny and Rory — kudos, man. You are the No. 1 contender. But in the entertainment aspect, the No. 1 contender doesn’t always get the shot.”
