Attempting to become a two-weight champion is becoming increasingly popular in today’s UFC.
Recently on Ariel Helwani’s MMA show, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley claimed that he’s clearing out his welterweight division and is ready to move up to middleweight to challenge the winner of Whittaker vs Gastelum at UFC 234 in Melbourne.
In the interview, Woodley said his goals for 2019 are to defend his title against Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 and then take out Colby Covington, saying the toughest fights in the division are “behind him” in the likes of Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit.
“Usman can’t beat me, Colby can’t beat me, Till was supposed to beat me, Kamaru is a version of myself 5 or 6 years ago,” Woodley said.
Clearly confident he can beat all the contenders at 170, Woodley mentioned setting his sights on 185 once he’s done with Usman and Colby.
“People in the middleweight division need to watch out too, I might slide up on one of y’all by the end of the year,” he said.
“Why not? Wipe the welterweight division clean then go up and beat up Gastelum again or take out Robert Whittaker, they’re both welterweights anyway, they just don’t know how to cut weight”.
The move is most certainly an interesting one seeing as Woodley has beaten Kelvin Gastelum in the past at UFC 183 and Whittaker fought at 170 before going up to middleweight and becoming champion. Both fights create some intrigue but a fight with Whittaker would obviously be great for Australian MMA and is a great matchup between 2 great champions.
Woodley mentioned making a claim at becoming fighter of the year and having two title fights at welterweight and winning the middleweight belt would be a good way to go. If things go to plan for Woodley, he could very well become the fighter of the year and cement himself as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
