Tyron Woodley on GSP: if he does not fight me, by default I will be the best welterweight of all-time

Former UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, who has not fought since late 2013, is widely regarded as the greatest welterweight of all time. Current UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley, who has now defended the title three times, is keen to usurp St-Pierre’s rep as the welterweight GOAT.

If Woodley could beat St-Pierre, of course, he’d have a much easier time claiming to be the best. Unfortunately, St-Pierre doesn’t seem interested in accepting a fight with Woodley, and is instead keen on fighting UFC middleweight Michael Bisping. Woodley thinks this is because St-Pierre is avoiding him – which should make him the welterweight GOAT by default.

Woodley gave his take on the situation shortly after his defeat of Demian Maia, at the UFC 214 post-fight press conference.

“[St-Pierre] should have to fight me,” Woodley said (h/t MMAFighting.com). If you are the best welterweight of all time, you’re gonna come back into the sport and go up a weight class? I guarantee you if Demian Maia would have won, he would have been talking about fighting Demian Maia. I guarantee if Stephen Thompson would have won, he’d have been looking to fight Stephen Thompson. He doesn’t want to fight me because I’m a better version of him.

“When was the last time Michael Bisping fought? Think about it. I fought four world title fights against actual No. 1 contenders. Has he ever fought a No. 1 contender? I fought the No. 1 contender twice. I fought the No. 1 contender after that. And I fought the world champion who was Robbie Lawler at the time before that. I’m the only one that’s going by the old set of rules. So if it’s not Georges St-Pierre, let him run. But guess what? Whoever you put in front of me, I’m gonna run through them, I’m gonna beat them, and if he does not fight me, by default I will be the best welterweight of all-time.”

Who do you think wins a fight between Tyron Woodley and Georges St-Pierre?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/31/2017.