Midnight Mania! Tyron Woodley vs. Nate Diaz in the works for UFC 219

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There is no official announcement yet, but the rumors are swirling that Nate Diaz vs. Tyron Woodley is in the works to main event UFC 2…

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

There is no official announcement yet, but the rumors are swirling that Nate Diaz vs. Tyron Woodley is in the works to main event UFC 219 on December 31st. Holly Holm vs. Cris Cyborg, one possible headliner, died in the negotiation phase; if McGregor was ever in the running, he isn’t now after shoving a referee and slapping a Bellator official. Earlier today, Nate’s strength and conditioning coach deleted an Instagram post saying Nate is back in fight camp; meanwhile, Tyron Woodley has been hinting he’s close to announcing a fight with someone outside his division. Via Damon Martin of FloCombat:

“Don’t be surprised if you see me in the next couple days announce a fight,” Woodley told FloCombat. “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,” he added. “Get me to the point where I’m a household name. I’m looking for that and I might have found that fight.”

Woodley’s comments have since been backed up by Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, who confirmed the fight is “the rabbit in the hat” as the traditionally huge year-end event draws nigh. It isn’t finalized yet, according to Helwani, but it would make sense for both fighters.

From Woodley’s perspective, Nate Diaz represents a recognizable name that will sell a pay-per-view (PPV). That’s a big deal, especially as his last two fights, against Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson, didn’t exactly set the world on fire. No one else in the weight class has the name Nate Diaz does. Woodley admits that the fact he hasn’t been able to turn himself into more of a draw as champion is embarrassing to him.

“I’m not one of those names yet and it’s kind of embarrassing,” Woodley said. “I’ve beaten Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, Demian Maia, all those guys that have the name. How can I beat those guys and I don’t get the name or be put in the position where people are like this guy’s amongst the greats? So I want to fight those types of fighters.

“Nobody in my weight class presents that. Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler, those two guys I would say have a larger name in the sport for what they’ve done, but I’ve beaten both of those guys. Now what do I have to do? All those things add up, obviously I’m going to get paid well, that’s just the business side of it.”

This fight, if indeed booked, will naturally generate a good deal of criticism, particularly after such creative matchmaking as George St. Pierre vs. Michael Bisping and the circus that was McGregor-Mayweather. Woodley had an answer to those objections, saying that after he defended the title against two top contenders in a row, the 170-lb. division needs time to sort itself out anyway. The new crop of talent needs time to mature.

“There are no contenders right now in the welterweight division,” Woodley said. “They should have to shuffle the deck and emerge. We have to see what happens with [Rafael dos Anjos] and Robbie. We saw what happened with [Donald] “Cowboy” Cerrone and [Darren] Till. We saw what happened with Demian Maia and Colby Covington. Kamaru Usman’s fighting somebody. [Santiago] Ponzinibbio and Mike Perry.

“After those guys win, they’ve got to reshuffle the deck. Now they’re in a position to be in contention. Now they’re in a position to be talking about a title shot but until then, they’ve got to get they’re weight up.”

For Nate Diaz, the fight makes a lot more sense than any lightweight fight, including against interim title champion Tony Ferguson. A loss against Ferguson would put his trilogy fight with Conor McGregor in jeopardy; Tyron Woodley represents no such risk, and huge upside; if Diaz were to win, it would set up the inevitable rubber match with McGregor- for the welterweight title. It no doubt also represents a sizable payday for the younger Diaz brother; time is ticking away, and the UFC is no doubt willing to shell out the cash to make sure UFC 219 has a worthy headliner.

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