UFC welterweight Tyron Woodley intends to wait for his title shot in 2016

Tyron Woodley was supposed to fight Johny Hendricks last month at UFC 192, but Hendricks' fight week hospitalization killed the co-main event and left Woodley without a fight. It was almost the 2nd time it'd happened to him this year, with Kelvin Gastelum (rather questionably) fighting despite coming in 9 pounds overweight and reportedly battling the flu leading up to their UFC 183 co-main event. Woodley won by split decision for his 4th win in his last 5 fights, and he's currently ranked #2 (above Hendricks) in the UFC's top 15 welterweight list.

When the Hendricks fight was scrapped, Dana White said that Woodley would get the next title shot, before going the non-committal route in an interview with Fox Sports 1. UFC Tonight's Ariel Helwani reported on Wednesday's show that Woodley has no intention of taking another fight, and will wait to receive his title shot. In the meantime, he's working on some movie projects and will be a studio analyst for Fox Sports 1 when welterweight champion Robbie Lawler fights Carlos Condit in the UFC 195 main event on January 2nd.

Assuming Woodley stays true to his word, he will have had a 1+ year gap between fights, which would be the longest layoff of his career. On the plus side for Woodley, there aren't too many other welterweights (if at all) ranked below him who are in a prime position to leapfrog him, but there's always the risk that Lawler/Condit has an outcome that results in an instant rematch, which would really make his next decision interesting.

Also, if there's one thing that you can always rely on as a UFC fighter, it's that things will fall into place and that your spot at the front of the line will remain secure. I sure can't think of any recent examples of that not being the case.