Tyron Woodley understands he still has some work to do in the welterweight division, but the UFC champ recently outlined he’s thinking about moving to 185 before the year is out…
The welterweight champ is currently booked to fight surging contender Kamaru Usman, at UFC 235 on March 2nd. That bout will mark the fifth time Woodley will attempt to defend the welterweight title, and it will be the first bout he’s had since he submitted Darren Till las September.
Well, recently the decorated wrestler appeared on Ariel Helwani’s “MMA Show”. During the interview, Woodley outlined why he’s thinking about jumping up to 185 and making a title run there (quotes via MMA Fighting).
“Those aren’t my decisions to make,” Woodley said, while referring to the fact he’s fighting Usman next rather than Colby Covington. “I’m just the welterweight champion of the world so when somebody steps up and thinks they want it, I’ve got to put them down. So Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington, and whoever else, this year I’ve got to fight those guys, this is just the order the UFC wanted to do it. . .
“People at middleweight, they need to watch out too. I might slide on one of y’all by the end of the year.”
“Why not?” added Woodley, before taking a verbal jab at Kelvin Gastelum. “What better year? Wipe out the division clean, welterweight, and go up there and either beat ‘Fatsum’ up again or take out Robert Whittaker. They’re both welterweights anyway, they just don’t know how to cut weight.”
So, this is pretty interesting to hear and it kind of makes sense, from a legacy perspective. If Woodley does defeat both Usman and Covington, there really isn’t another big fight for him at 170, as it stands right now. Sure, if Georges St-Pierre opted to come back and challenge Woodley at that juncture, then, one would think the latter would eagerly take that bout.
A big question is how Woodley would match-up against middleweights, particularly the bigger ones in the division. There’s no question that Woodley is big for the welterweight division, but he is only 5’9, so he’d be giving up a lot in length. That said, Gastelum is around the same height, and he’s clearly had success at 185, and the champ Whittaker is only 5’11.
But, first things first, and that’s getting past a fighter in Usman, who has won all nine of his UFC bouts to date.
UFC 235 will be hosted by the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.