Tyron Woodley Doubles Down on Moving Up for Middleweight Gold

Things have changed. It’s the era of the superfight and Tyron Woodley is looking for a greater challenge that will earn him larger profits. Last week, he talked about there is a shortage of contenders and he’s ready to jump up to middleweight to earn a second belt. This isn’t the first time, he wanted to arrange a fight with Michael Bisping at the very beginning of this year. Since then, he’s beat Stephen Thompson again and took out the most dangerous grappler in the division, Demian Maia. At this point, Tyron Woodley feels like the only thing separating him from being the best welterweight of all time, is beating Georges St-Pierre. In a comprehensive and in-depth interview by Mike Dyce from Sports Illustrated, Woodley made sure people knew he’s serious about this.

“I wanted to go out here and beat [Demian Maia] and I wanted to fight Georges-St Pierre in November in New York City. This would’ve been the greatest year competitively and after I beat Georges, there is no question that I’ll be Fighter of the Year. I fight five title fights in 18 months and beat the greatest welterweight of all time, nobody has done anything like that in our sport. God does things on his time. He wanted me to sit down and wanted me to get some other aspects of my life back in order.”

“My brother-in-law just asked me [who I want to fight next] and I said you know what, if [Georges St-Pierre] wins I’m going up there to fight him cause you can’t keep running from me. I would fight Bisping as well, to be honest. I’m not just saying I want to move up to middleweight because at welterweight I’m a larger size and I feel comfortable at the weight. I have no issues making it, it’s not easy but I always get it done. To fight Bisping or Georges, I’d love to fight either one. But mainly I want to fight Georges.”

Georges St-Pierre has gone on record saying he would retire if he loses to Bisping at UFC 217, but Tyron Woodley is hoping that doesn’t happen. However, Woodley may be able to convince GSP to fight one more fight at his career weight of 170lbs. It looks like Woodley is still willing to leapfrog the middleweight division to fight Bisping if no other options come up that gets his attention, but it’s clear that St-Pierre is who Woodley really wants and a win would solidify his legacy.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/31/2017.