Tyron Woodley has two options – get shoulder surgery or fight Nate Diaz in December.
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley injured his shoulder in his last trip to the Octagon against Demian Maia. He claims the knock requires surgery, but that has been postponed until he hears the final word on his proposed bout against Nate Diaz.
“The Chosen One” has supposedly already signed his bout agreement to fight the Stockton native in UFC 219’s main event on December 30, but notoriously tough negotiator Diaz has yet to put pen on paper.
From a rankings standpoint, the fight makes no sense. Natural lightweight Diaz isn’t anywhere near the shark tank that is the 170 lb top 15. He holds a 3-3 record in that division with his losses coming against Rory MacDonald, Dong Hyun Kim and Conor McGregor.
Get real https://t.co/TcnTLnOFMu
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 20, 2017
It does, however, make sense for Woodley who has been desperately seeking a ‘money fight’ since he knocked out Robbie Lawler to claim that coveted golden strap. Unfortunately, it just hasn’t happened for him yet.
However, as he explained on Monday’s MMA Hour, this ‘money fight’ against Nate could lead to two even bigger ones down the line.
“I’ve been looking for that name, man. This will be the first opponent that I get to fight that will be that high profile fight that actually means something. The Carlos Condit was a high profile fight, but those guys weren’t into having a huge star power – neither was Robbie Lawler. Neither was some of the other guys I’ve fought and beat.”
“This is a guy that’s directly connected to his brother, Nick, directly connected to Conor McGregor, so it could really set me up with fighting one of those guys afterwards.”
The people who like the sausage don’t enjoy seeing how it gets made. Woodley may have just shot himself in the foot with that comment, and sure, he already has a gammy shoulder!
