If Tyron Woodley gets his way, Wonderboy won’t be getting the next title shot.
Tyron Woodley knocked out Robbie Lawler after landing a massive right hand at UFC 201 (video here), and he took home the welterweight title in the process. There are a couple of contenders lining up to face him, but Woodley suggested a different higher profile match up next.
“You know, I want to make some money now, to be honest,” Woodley said about what’s next for him. “The goal, one, was to be the welterweight champion of the world, but I’ve put too much time in and I’m away from my family way too often.”
“This is a sport where we can make cash now, so instead of just saying ‘this person deserves it, he worked his way up the ranks’ — I think Nick Diaz comes out of suspension in 2 days. I would love to fight him at UFC 202, I know his brother is fighting (there).”
“I think he deserves it. He’s a guy who has been around the sport. He puts a lot of butts in the seats, sell a lot of pay-per-views, so why not put him on a big card with Conor and his brother?” I know he’s already been training. Let him cash out.”
“I would like to give him that opportunity, or I would like to fight Georges St-Pierre in New York City.”
As for Stephen Thompson, who most people have as the current number 1 contender, Woodley brushed him off as he brought up Wonderboy’s old comments about him.
“Stephen Thompson said he wanted to fight Robbie Lawler, said it was the better match up the fans would be excited to watch. He’ll get the opportunity to have that fight.”
“Diaz is a top 5 welterweight of all time, in my eyes. Georges St-Pierre is the number 1 welterweight, in my eyes,” he said. “If I’m an athlete in this sport, in this division, and I want to say that I’m the best in the world, I feel like I should compete against those guys.”
“I feel no obligation to go by the rankings. We all know how those rankings are produced anyway,” he said. “I want to fight the money fights.”