Tag: Georges St-Pierre vs Robert Whittaker

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has witnessed how fluid weight classes have become in the promotion; with former 170-pound kingpin Georges St-Pierre now middleweight champ, Conor McGregor going from featherweight to welterweight and eventually lightweight, it’s fair to say that weight classes are perhaps not as important as they were in the past.

Woodley was initially aiming for a fight with GSP prior to his announcement of moving to 185 pounds, so now the welterweight champion will have to consider moving up a division as well in order to secure that fight.

Woodley was also rumored to have had a fight agreement with Nate Diaz but said that Diaz failed to sign the contract. Without a fight in the foreseeable future, the welterweight champion discussed his desire for a fight with GSP and what he would have to do in order to do so:

“If I went up to 185 – before Georges started having whatever the condition he had, I considered making a move up to 185 and fighting at that weight class. (I’d give) up my belt at welterweight (if close friend and retired ONE FC champ Ben Askren were to sign with the UFC), and fight (GSP) for the middleweight title and stay at middleweight.”

“I’m not going up to middleweight because I think that would boost me on the pound-for-pound. I want to fight Georges, and he’s not fighting in my weight. So I’ll come up and see you there. And I do think there are some guys I can compete with in the middleweight division. I’m going to be so much faster. I don’t think I’m giving up that much power in the punching.

“Guys like Chris Weidman, Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, Luke Rockhold – (those) brothers have got some size on me. I have to be real creative. But in reality I think I’m a competitor and I will find a way to do what I need to do.”

Woodley acknowledged the possibility of his friend Ben Askren making the jump to the UFC following his retirement fight against Shinya Aoki. Askren said the only thing that could convince him to come out of retirement would be a shot at the UFC welterweight title.

These factors combined mean Woodley could be a middleweight in the near-future. With so many possibilities at both welterweight and middleweight, the champ says he wants to keep his options open:

“I’m open to any fight – anything that makes sense for me. But right now, I’m not putting myself on a box and saying, ‘These are my next guys.’ Who else is doing that? What other division beside my division is forced to actually compete against the No. 1 contender?

“That’s forced to say you have to fight this guy? Nobody else is in that position. With that said, I’m just keeping my options open.”

How would Woodley perform at 185 pounds? Could the welterweight champion hang with the middleweight division’ elite?

The post Tyron Woodley Says He’d Relinquish WW Title To Fight GSP appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

News, unfortunately, arrived today that recently-crowned UFC middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre was going to be on the sidelines for an indefinite period of time due to a battle with colitis after winning the belt from Michael Bisping at November’s UFC 217.

The debate was already rife with uncertainty as to whether or not St-Pierre would unify the titles with deserving interim champion Robert Whittaker, who is recovering from an injury himself and issued a statement of encouragement to St-Pierre.

The champion then issued a statement of his own to his official Facebook page, where he detailed his symptoms and how is he is combating them before declaring his health was obviously his number one priority:

“I now understand the health issues that I had during my last training camp… I hoped my condition would improve after the fight but unfortunately it got worse and I had to go straight to the hospital for a colonoscopy when I came back from vacation last Wednesday. The diagnosis is ulcerative colitis and I am now taking medication that will hopefully appease the symptoms. My health is my #1 priority right now, I’m still a very happy man, thanks for your support!!!”

The news has also unfortunately fueled the flames of those who believed St-Pierre did not intend to defend the middleweight title in the first place because even if he wanted to, he could not for an indefinite period of time regardless.

It’s unknown when Whittaker plans to return to action after sustaining an apparently serious knee injury while winning the interim title versus Yoel Romero this July, but reports have ‘The Reaper’ looking to return at March’s pay-per-view (PPV) card from Perth, Australia.

Now, he may be looking for a new opponent even if St-Pierre was never truly a realistic possibility in the first place.

The post Georges St-Pierre Issues Statement On Recent Health Issues appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Disappointing news hit the UFC early today when UFC President Dana White confirmed that newly-crowned middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre was going to be sidelined ‘for a minute’ due to colitis.

The all-time great former welterweight boss made a triumphant return to the Octagon after nearly four years in semi-retirement at last month’s (Nov. 4, 2017) UFC 217 from Madison Square Garden, dropping and submitting former champ Michael Bisping to become the unlikely champion in his first bout at 185 pounds.

The win set him up for a title unification bout with surging 26-year-old interim champion Robert Whittaker, who had locked up the placeholder belt by defeating Yoel Romero at UFC 213 this summer. However, St-Pierre revealed he had suffered a concussion during his fight with ‘The Count,’ and will now deal with a serious digestive system disease.

Not surprisingly, many fans took it as a sign that St-Pierre was trying to get out of defending the 185-pound title, something many felt he wouldn’t do even before winning it. But true to his always-classy style, Whittaker reacted to the news by encouraging St-Pierre to heal up on his Instagram account:

@georgesstpierre @danawhite @ufc #unify #anywhere

A post shared by Robert Whittaker (@robwhittakermma) on Dec 2, 2017 at 1:01am PST

Known as one of the nicest and classiest fighters outside the cage while quickly becoming one of the steamrolling forces of nature inside it, Whittaker doesn’t appear to be in a rush to get his rumored title bout with St-Pierre.

Part of that may be the fact that he significantly injured his knee while fighting Romero and could still be healing up, but the uncertainty surrounding St-Pierre’s return to middleweight could lead to what most thought would happen actually happening – that St-Pierre never defends his title like he promised he would prior to his UFC return.

If he doesn’t, the UFC may be better off making Whittaker the interim champion due to the constant state of flux at 185 recently after Bisping shocked the world by knocking out former champ Luke Rockhold in June 2016, only to defend it against the retiring Dan Henderson then sit on the sidelines for more than a year waiting for St-Pierre to return.

It could be argued no UFC division save for possibly lightweight is a bigger mess right now, and with 185 being one of the most talented arenas in all of MMA, the UFC will need to sort out the mess heading into 2018 if they want the dismal pay-per-view numbers of 2017 to bounce back in any fashion.

Despite Whittaker’s calm reaction, should the UFC truly let ‘Rush’ hold up a division he may have never intended to defend the title in?

The post Robert Whittaker Reacts To Georges St-Pierre Being Sidelined appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.