Tyron Woodley has stated that he believes he will meet the winner of this weekend’s UFC middleweight title bout between Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre
Should Woodley land a shot against the middleweight champion, he will become just the second fighter in UFC history to hold two belts at the same time.
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor achieved this feat in 2016 by defeating former 155-pound king Eddie Alvarez having taken the featherweight title from Jose Aldo the year prior. Woodley, who is the incumbent welterweight champion, opened up on the possibility of landing a shot at another title having dethroned Robbie Lawler in 2016 (via the Anik and Florian Podcast):
“I think my next opponent is going to be the winner of Bisping and Georges St-Pierre. I think that’s my next fight. Victorious in that fight, I think you see me move up to a different weight class. At one point in time, you look at 1, 2 and 3, and I beat them. I beat 1, 2, 3, 5. Kelvin Gastelum and Johny Hendricks were in the mix, I beat them as well. Tarec Saffiedine, who just got bumped out [of the top 15], Dong Hyun Kim, who just got bumped out. “People have short-term memories on what my resume is, and my finishing ability. Out of 17, 18 victories, 11 of those were finishes, 9 of those in the first round.
“Sometimes when you’re fighting the actual number 1 contenders — which very few champions are doing this day and age — you’re fighting the Stephen Thompsons, the Demian Maias, these fights aren’t going to be blowouts. Sometimes it’s the 4th quarter field goal that wins the fight. Sometimes it’s the grind, and sometimes it comes down to the last straw. If you know you can do that, you can come out fast and blitz someone in the first round, you can be losing a fight and come behind and win, or you can pull out a close one — It’s like bowling. Everything is not a strike, you’ve got to be able to catch those spares in there.”
