Woodley: My next opponent is the winner of Michael Bisping vs Georges St-Pierre

There doesn’t seem to be a clear cut contender at the welterweight division right now, but there are a few upcoming bouts that could determine the next challenger. Among those in the mix include the winners of Rafael dos Anjos vs Robbie Lawler and Stephen Thompson vs. Jorge Masvidal, Colby Covington, and the returning former interim champ in Carlos Condit.

With Tyron Woodley still nursing a shoulder injury, the timing makes sense and we’ll likely be able to wait and see how the title picture unfolds in the coming months. If you ask the welterweight champion though, his next bout won’t be against any of the welterweights listed above.

“I think my next opponent is going to be the winner of Bisping and Georges St-Pierre,” Woodley said on the Anik and Florian Podcast. “I think that’s my next fight. Victorious in that fight, I think you see me move up to a different weight class.”

Woodley, who has constantly spoken about deserving that “money fight,” made his case for the champion vs champion bout. He says he’s beaten multiple top welterweights and his resume should speak for itself.

“It’s tough for me to say, because at one point in time, you look at 1, 2 and 3, and I beat them. I beat 1, 2, 3, 5. Kelvin Gastelum and Johny Hendricks were in the mix, I beat them as well,” he said. [Editors note: Hendricks never made it to their bout as he had a bad weight cut] “(I beat) Tarec Saffiedine, who just got bumped out (of the top 15), Dong Hyun Kim, who just got bumped out.

“People have short term memories on what my resume is, and my finishing ability. I have 18 victories, 11 of those were finishes, 9 of those in the first round,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re fighting the actual number 1 contenders — which very few champions are doing this day and age — you’re fighting the Stephen Thompsons, the Demian Maias, these fights aren’t going to be blowouts. Sometimes it’s the 4th quarter field goal that wins the fight. Sometimes it’s the grind, and sometimes it comes down to the last straw. It’s like bowling. Everything is not a strike, you’ve got to be able to catch a spare in there.”

It is true that Woodley does have a nice resume that includes several top welterweights from this era, and I also think that Woodley moving up to middleweight could be interesting to see. Unfortunately for him, his goal of fighting the winner of UFC 217’s main event seems highly unlikely.

Apart from the fact that Dana White already said he isn’t keen on rewarding Woodley with super-fights, the interim middleweight champion in Robert Whittaker has already been lined up to compete in Perth, Australia. This will be UFC 221 on February 11, and officials are expecting it to be a title unification against the winner of that very bout between Bisping and GSP.

Stranger things have happened in the sport, but Woodley facing the winner of the UFC 217 main event next just seems unrealistic at this point.