Tyron Woodley hasn’t completely given up on fighting Georges St-Pierre but his optimism that it ever happens has certainly waned.
The reigning UFC welterweight champion has wanted a shot at St-Pierre for years, but never more than recent months since the Canadian finally declared his return to the UFC after a near four long year hiatus.
Unfortunately, Woodley’s requests have fallen on deaf ears with seemingly no interest coming from St-Pierre after he decided to tackle the middleweight title in his first fight back at UFC 217 when he defeated Michael Bisping.
Still, Woodley wanted the fight so much that he recently considered surrendering his own UFC championship to move up to 185-pounds in hopes that he could finally lure St-Pierre into facing him.
“Before Georges started having whatever condition he has, I considered making a move up to 185 [pounds] and fighting at that weight class, giving up my belt at welterweight and fighting for the middleweight title and staying at middleweight,” Woodley revealed when speaking to reporters backstage at UFC 218 in Detroit.
The condition Woodley referenced was the recent revelation that St-Pierre has been stricken with colitis, an illness that can cause severe pain and inflammation in the colon that will keep the middleweight champion sidelined for an undetermined amount of time.
Meanwhile, Woodley is contemplating shoulder surgery that could put him out of action for several months but he’s still undecided on whether or not to go under the knife or trust that time off and rehabilitation could get the job done.
Either way, Woodley admits that facing St-Pierre has been a lifelong goal of his and that’s why he was willing to sacrifice something he worked so hard to obtain just for the chance to fight him.
“That’s the fight I’ve always wanted since I got in the sport,” Woodley said about St-Pierre. “He’s been the king. I can’t even sit here in front of you and act like he’s not the greatest welterweight of all time and I have the belt right now. Does Georges need to fight me? No. He’s done what he needed to do. He’s through the specialists, he’s been through the freestyle fighters, he’s been through the fighters that are wrestlers with heavy hands. He’s done that.
“He’s coming back in the sport because he built a blueprint for the pay-per-view, he seen it starting to take off, the sport really started catching fire, now he wants to come back and participate in some of those points.”
As much as Woodley wants the chance to prove he can beat St-Pierre, he’s finally coming to the conclusion that the fight is probably never going to happen and he just has to move on.
“Last week I came to grips, I may never fight Georges St-Pierre,” Woodley said. “And I’m OK with that.”
