Tyron Woodley is thinking about making the move to middleweight.
Woodley is the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight title holder. He’ll be putting his gold on the line against Kamaru Usman on March 2. The bout is scheduled to serve as UFC 235’s co-main event.
“The Chosen One” Moving On Up?
Woodley appeared on ESPN’s Ariel Helwani MMA Show earlier today (Jan. 14). On the show, Woodley said that a move up to the middleweight division might be in the cards before 2019 is out (via BJPenn.com):
“I’m not about to BS this year. I’m about my business, and people at middleweight, you need to watch out too. I might slide on up by the end of the year. Why not? Why not? What better year? Wipe out the division clean at welterweight and go up and there and beat either [Kelvin] Gastelum up again or take out Robert Whittaker. They’re both welterweights anyway. They just don’t gotta cut weight.”
A move up for Woodley has its pros. If “The Chosen One” defeats Usman, then perhaps a bout with Colby Covington would be all the 170-pound champion feels is left in the welterweight division. Leaving the division means that Woodley would open the door for his Roufusport teammate Ben Askren to be a potential title contender as the two have been firm in their stance of not fighting each other.
Given that the current middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was once a welterweight, it wouldn’t be a total shocker to see Woodley compete at an elite level at 185 pounds. Even Whittaker’s next challenger, Kelvin Gastelum, is a former welterweight.
Do you think Tyron Woodley can make some noise at middleweight?
