Tyron Woodley is coming off of a successful welterweight title defense over Damien Maia at UFC 214.
The champions perceived poor performance in the fight cost him a chance to compete against former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre later this year.
If GSP is refusing to fight Woodley, then the champion says that he is the best welterweight of all time by default.
“[St-Pierre] should have to fight me. If you are the best welterweight of all time, you’re gonna come back into the sport and go up a weight class? I guarantee you if Demian Maia would have won, he would have been talking about fighting Demian Maia. I guarantee if Stephen Thompsonwould have won, he’d have been looking to fight Stephen Thompson. He doesn’t want to fight me because I’m a better version of him. When was the last time Michael Bisping fought? Think about it. I fought four world title fights against actual No. 1 contenders. Has he ever fought a No. 1 contender? I fought the No. 1 contender twice. I fought the No. 1 contender after that. And I fought the world champion who was Robbie Lawler at the time before that. I’m the only one that’s going by the old set of rules. So if it’s not Georges St-Pierre, let him run. But guess what? Whoever you put in front of me, I’m gonna run through them, I’m gonna beat them, and if he does not fight me, by default I will be the best welterweight of all-time,” Woodley said at the UFC 214 post-fight press conference.
GSP is now going to be taking on UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping later this year, it is going to be his first fight in over four years.
Woodley also believes that it should be UFC Interim Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker fighting Bisping next, not GSP.
“The clarity should just be Georges. I don’t understand, you have an interim title right? Robert Whittaker just beat Yoel Romero. . . He deserves to fight Bisping next. How long is Bisping going to milk this knee injury? Is his knee severed or what the hell is going on? He should be fighting the No. 1 contenders like I’ve had to do,” says Woodley.
Bisping and GSP are rumored to be facing each other at UFC 217 this November, although nothing has been made official at this time.