If there’s one thing Tyron Woodley wants you to know, it’s that he wants big money fights. Since winning the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title, Woodley has called out Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz. He was reluctant in defending his title against Stephen Thompson, but he did so at UFC 205.
“The Chosen One” and “Wonderboy” fought to a majority draw.
Even if you took Diaz and “Rush” out of the conversation, another name is in the fold. Reigning middleweight champion Michael Bisping agreed to fight his colleague at a catchweight backstage at UFC 207. Woodley later said he wanted to fight for the 185-pound title. “The Count” then threw shots at Woodley, who fired right back.
The bout itself isn’t official.
One fighter left out of the loop entirely has been Demian Maia. The Brazilian is riding a six-fight winning streak with three of those victories coming by submission. Maia recently vented his frustration with the UFC for not offering him a title shot.
Woodley recently appeared on MMAJunkie Radio, where he acknowledged Maia’s recent comments. While “The Chosen One” said he isn’t backing down, he believes it’s smarter for him to face other fighters first:
“I’m not running from the guy. He’s a tough fighter. All these fights are important to me and my career. It just when I take these fights and what time. It has to make sense for me on when I take these fights. I will fight all these guys. But it might make sense for me to fight Michael Bisping before I fight ‘Wonderboy.’ It might make sense for me to fight (Nick) Diaz at UFC 209 instead of Demian Maia. It’s just a scheduling and timing deal.”
Some fans believe that many welterweights, including the champion, are ducking Maia. Woodley feels those fans don’t understand the match-up.
“It’s not easy to take me down, so I don’t know how Demian is going to employ his world-class jiu-jitsu if he can’t take me down.”
