Woodley: I want the winner of GSP vs. Bisping
Tyron Woodley: “Win, lose, or draw, I’m gonna want to fight the winner of that fight, Bisping or Georges.”
Georges St-Pierre is widely considered to be the greatest welterweight champion in history. He has not fought since 2013, and will be returning to the Octagon at UFC 217 on November 4, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, in a title challenge vs. middleweight champ Michael Bisping. If he wins, GSP would become only the fourth fighter in UFC history to win a belt in two divisions.
During his latest Morning Wood podcast, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley argued that GSP’s return a divsion up was a deliberate attempt to avoid the new champ.
Some guys have medium speed, medium power, good wrestling, good attacks,” he said, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “I’ve been blessed to have maximum speed, maximum explosion, maximum power, and then [Din Thomas] and Duke [Roufus] have helped me add the other stuff, economy of motion, knowing when to explode, when not to explode, how to fight five rounds. . .
They don’t want them problems, man. He had a chance to fight me and he said no. . .
Georges has been away for three years, almost four. By the time he gets in there, it’s gonna be just a few days shy of four years so the sport has caught up. Whatever advantage he had, whatever degree of separation he created by being such a great martial artist, people have played catchup. I think I’ve surpassed him. He was a person I looked up to but skill for skill, mindset, explosion, power, wrestling ability, timing, strategy, all those things, I feel like I’ve surpassed Georges and that’s why I want to go out there to fight him and prove it.
Rumor has it that if GSP wins he will call out UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. That superfight would presumably take place at 170, where Notorious has fought twice before. If it does, Woodley will take offense.
No, that’s a disrespect to me,” he said. [St-Pierre] probably [will call out McGregor], but he’s gonna have to be honest with the fans and say, ‘I’m here for money.’ And that’s okay. There’s no shame in that. . . Just know I’m gonna call him out on that. Win, lose, or draw, I’m gonna want to fight the winner of that fight, Bisping or Georges. Then I’m going to want to come back and see all this fresh new talent in the welterweight division and I’m gonna want to show them a lesson too.
Rather than a money fight, however, UFC president Dana White has said the next title challenger at 170 will be the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on FOX 26 on December 16 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Still, Woodley’s issue is not with GSP.
He’s smart,” said Woodley. “He’s a PPV king. He already did what he needed to do in the welterweight division. Win or lose, it’s not gonna do anything to tarnish his career against Bisping and also he wants to make money.
And making money is as the name implies the point of professional sports.