Tyron Woodley Hints at Looming Fight Announcement, Addresses Georges St-Pierre Matchup
Just before signing off the broadcast on Saturday night after covering UFC Fight Night in Virginia, welterweight champion Tyron Woodley dropped a hint that he may be returning to action much sooner than expected.
Following a lopsided win over Demian Maia in July, Woodley was expected to be out of action for several months with a shoulder injury but it seems he’s still healthy enough to entertain a fight offer from the UFC.
While he couldn’t give too many details, Woodley revealed the news when speaking to the Fight Society podcast this week.
“Don’t be surprised if you see me in the next couple days announce a fight,” Woodley said. “It’s a sport about risk and reward. It’s a sport about becoming a legend. You look at guys that have stepped up on last minute and it changed their lives. I don’t think that I should be any different.
“There’s a lot of guys in my weight class that are talking, they’re chirping, everybody wants the title, everybody wants to fight me, everybody thinks they can beat me. People are talking because they think I can’t fight. They think I’m injured to the point where I can’t compete and I’m not going back and forth with them so that gives them more wings to keep flying. At the end of the day, none of the people in my division right now are the fight that are going to get me to legendary status. Get me to the point where I’m a household name. I’m looking for that and I might have found that fight.”
Woodley wouldn’t reveal any names or dates for the proposed fight but it would almost certainly be UFC 219 on Dec. 30 as the promotion is still hunting for a main event for the year end card.
Woodley did give an update on his shoulder injury that was expected to keep him out of action until next year.
“The shoulder is good,” Woodley said. “In the six-week period of training camp, a big portion of my training camp is going to be rehabilitation. I don’t have to act like my shoulder is 100-percent, it’s not. Guess what? I’ve had a labrum tear on my left side, I had the surgery and my left side has never been 100-percent. That’s part of the reason I’m always so heavy handed on the right because I felt like my left was not as strong.
“Now in rehab, I’ve been rehabbing my left and rehabbing my right to get together so when I come back, I’ll be a stronger puncher form the left and the right. So I’m going to be a bit more of a problem than just an overhand right for a lot of my opponents.”
In the interview, Woodley also addresses his recent conversation with Georges St-Pierre following his victory against Michael Bisping at UFC 217.
Woodley has long wanted to face St-Pierre to finally establish himself as the No. 1 fighter in the history of the welterweight division. After his recent talk with St-Pierre, it appears Woodley isn’t exactly holding his breath that the fight is going to happen any time soon.
Listen to the rest of Woodley’s interview where he reveals what happened in that conversation with St-Pierre well as his thoughts on potential challengers such as Darren Till, Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman.
