Tyron Woodley discusses plans at welterweight, middleweight

Former UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley is planning to move up to middleweight, but no quite yet.

Speaking at fan Q&A ahead of last weekend’s UFC Vancouver card, Woodley divulged that he first plans on fighting his welterweight nemesis Colby Covington, as well as the man who ended his reign as welterweight champ, Kamaru Usman — twice. From there, he plans to head north to the 185-pound middleweight division.

“Obviously it’s going to be a lot of emotion in the Colby Covington fight. It’s going to be a lot of emotion in the (Kamaru) Usman fight,” Woodley said (via MMA Junkie). “But outside of those two fights in that division, those are the ones that excite me the most.

“After I get my belt and defend, if I fight Usman and beat him, I got to give him the rubber match. I can’t just say, ‘Nah-nah-nah, you can’t get me.’ I’ve got to give him a chance to get back out there and prove it. Then fighting Colby, obviously. Then I’m looking at 185 (pounds) after that.”

While Woodley is interested in moving to middleweight in the future, his number one priority is reclaiming the welterweight title from Usman. When the pair first fought earlier this year, Usman dominated Woodley to a unanimous decision. Yet Woodley, who is adamant he simply had a bad night at the office, claims things would be much different in a rematch.

“Kamaru Usman, skill set-wise on paper, I’m a nightmare for him every day of the week,” Woodley said.

“It was a silhouette of Tyron in the octagon (in the first fight). But something happened when I jumped up and stomped down. I think my spirit left my body. So I can give him credit for what he did. He stayed focused. He executed. But we all know that wasn’t Tyron Woodley.”

What do you think of this plan from Tyron Woodley? Do you think he can pull it off?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/16/2019.