Laying the law down.
The only thing more exciting than witnessing a big upset, is planning the next fight. It seems that as soon as a fighter gets a check in the win column, the first question is always, “What’s next?”. This was the question for Tyron Woodley…at least for a little while. After pulling off a jaw dropping upset over the 3x defending champion Robbie Lawler via 1st round K.O., everyone wanted to know where The UFC would take this welterweight division. The Missouri native and new welterweight champion however, he knew exactly where he wanted to go. 
“Nick Diaz is a top-five welterweight of all time in my eyes. Georges St-Pierre is the No. 1 welterweight in my eyes. If I’m an athlete in this sport, in this division and I want to say I’m the best in the world, I feel like I should compete against those guys. So I don’t feel any obligation to go by the rankings. We all know how those rankings are produced anyway. And I want to go out there and I want to fight the money fights.”
And almost as fast as it was put into the atmosphere it was quickly snuffed out. In an interview yesterday on UFC.com, Dana White responded to the champions request with a resounding, no! During the interview Dana White confirmed that Tyron Woodley’s next fight would be against rising star Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. 
“There are other guys deserving of a title shot. Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is going to fight for the 170-pound title and then we’ll see what happens with Nick and Nate.”
With no disrespect to wonderboy Thompson, because he fully deserves the shot, one might be able to call favoritism on this one. It seems Dana White’s definition of fairness is highly dependent upon who the fighter is. The UFC obviously doesn’t believe Tyron Woodley can carry the division. They’ve already made him wait over a year just to begrudgingly give him a title shot he was suppose to lose. As champ they’ve denied his request at a big money fight, meanwhile ageing #12 middleweight Dan Henderson is fighting for the title against Michael Bisping. Did we mention the McGregor vs. Diaz II fight that holds no mma significance other than settling a personal grudge that will put butts in seats. I’m not saying this is the wrong strategy, but I am saying at least be consistent. Everyone deserves their shot at a big money fight. Show Tyron the money! No date has been set for this fight as it has not yet become official. Stay tuned for breaking news. Catch the full interview here.
