UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley could have put off surgery on his injured shoulder if a rumored fight with Nate Diaz had come through.
Instead, Woodley will go under the knife, but as he explained on UFC Tonight, the surgery is not a “full reconstruction.”
“The situation with my shoulder, I was trying to rehab it. I was trying to see if I could not have to undergo surgery,” he said. “I was actually going to take a fight with Mr. Nate Diaz prior to the surgery and then have it afterwards, but that fight did not shake out. So therefore, I’m going to undergo not a full reconstruction, they’re going to clean my shoulder out, anchor down the parts that they need to anchor down and then it will be on the road to recovery after that.”
Woodley (18-3-1) improved to 5-0-1 in his last six when he defended his title with a decision victory over Demian Maia this past July. The win, though, came under heat from UFC president Dana White and fans who claimed it to be “boring.”
Now, with a potential Diaz bout up in the air, Woodley is looking at maybe lining up with Georges St-Pierre now that he has vacated the middleweight title.
“What other champion is willing to give up their belt? They want to fight for the belt when they have the belt,” he said. “I was willing to put it all on the line. I don’t have to do that now. Will he be coming down to 170 for me? Who knows? We’ll find out soon.”
