EXCLUSIVE | Tyron Woodley: UFC 209 is the date the UFC is giving me right now

Tyron Woodley is fresh off the holidays and ready to get back to defending his UFC welterweight title in the Octagon.

Coming off a majority draw against Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 in his first welterweight title defense, BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor caught up with the Woodley on Tuesday’s episode of Rapid Fire to get the latest from the champ.

Taylor: “How are things with the welterweight champion of the world?”

Woodley: “Things have been crazy for me. I have all of these options all of a sudden. Things have been good. I am just trying to settle down after the crazy New Year’s Eve weekend. I’m gearing up to start training camp so I’m good.”

Taylor: “I reported last month that a rematch with yourself and Wonderboy was in the works to headline UFC 209, is that still the plan?”

Woodley: “I mean this is where I am at with that. I don’t have an issue with it. But nobody is going to make me feel like he deserves it or that I owe him the rematch. If you look at the fight, people can argue that round 1 and round 4 both could have been 10-8 rounds. And actually, two judges scored those rounds differently. The judge that had me winning the fight didn’t even give a 10-8 round, he gave me the third round. So in reality, one judge gave me round one 10-8, another gave me round three 10-9 and one gave me round four 10-8. So the score could have been 48-45 in the very best situation when scoring the fight towards me. So there is no controversy on if he actually beat me, there is just a question of if I won or if the fight was a draw. Thompson didn’t win. He wants a rematch based on the fact that two judges thought the fight was a draw. Nobody thought he won the fight and got screwed.”

Taylor then brought up current #3 UFC ranked welterweight Demian Maia and a potential match with the grappling wizard.

Taylor: “How do you feel you match-up with Demian Maia?”

Woodley: “Yea I have fought a similar match-up. Actually one of his teammates, Andre Galvao, who at that time was the best Gi-grappler on earth. And we saw what happened there. He couldn’t get me down. He barely could ever touch my leg. You know Jake Shields, who dominated Demian Maia on the mat, tried to take me down 18 times and came up short. So I just don’t think he has the striking to clip me and knock me down or the wrestling to actually get me down. I don’t think he could get me to fight the fight that he got Carlos Condit and Matt Brown to partake in.”

Taylor: “What is the plan going forward?”

Woodley: “The UFC has talked to me about UFC 209. That is the date they are giving me right now. If something better comes up that would take place more down the road then I would consider that. It is not like I have to fight at 209. I won’t be on the corner asking for change if I don’t fight on 209. But my plan is to get all of the fights we talked about. Before I retire I want all those fights. I told my manager these are the fight I HAVE to have. I have to fight Georges (St-Pierre), I have to fight Nick (Diaz), I have to fight Conor (McGregor), at some point I will fight Maia and at some point, I will rematch Stephen Thompson.”

Taylor: “Is there any chance we see you and Nick square off at 209?”

Woodley: “Who is on UFC 209?”

Taylor: “The biggest fight so far is Alistair Overeem vs Mark Hunt”.

Woodley: “Ok. Well, they need at least one Diaz brother on the card. But it is not looking good in negotiations from my understanding. I think me and Bisping or me and Thompson will be the fight they (the UFC) make. Me and Michael know the game and could promote the hell of that fight. We could fight each other and then work FOX the next week with no hard feelings.”

Who do you want to see Tyron Woodley fight next? Sound off in the comments!