– Paul Dollery reports from New York
UFC WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION Tyron Woodley has expressed his interest in a title defence against Conor McGregor.
The development of a rivalry between Woodley and McGregor was a somewhat unexpected sideshow of this week’s events here in New York for UFC 205.
Last night at Madison Square Garden, McGregor stopped Eddie Alvarez in the second round to add the UFC lightweight belt to the featherweight strap that he has held for the past 11 months.
Prior to McGregor’s victory, Woodley fought to a majority draw against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in his first outing as champion in the 170lbs division.
“I’m going to talk to my management team and see what’s next for me,” Woodley said. “I don’t know if Mr McGregor wants to go for a third belt. It looked like he was talking a little noise in the back. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.”
UFC president Dana White has already suggested that a rematch between Woodley and Wonderboy is likely, while Demian Maia is also long overdue a shot at the welterweight title. But McGregor has seemingly found himself in the picture after last night’s historic triumph.
At Friday’s weigh-ins, the Dubliner and Woodley were involved in a couple of verbal altercations, which also resulted in a Twitter spat between them that same day.
Conor McGregor / Twitter
Conor McGregor / Twitter / Twitter
“I’m a professional at the end of the day. It was obvious that the majority of the crowd was here to see Conor McGregor. He’s built this mystique about himself that everybody wants to watch him fight and watch his antics and all the things like that.
“So it’d be silly for me to go out there and try to turn the crowd on my side, when I know that 99.99% of the people are here either to watch Conor win or lose. I really took myself out of that,” Woodley said when asked about the tension between he and McGregor.
With the exception of his two welterweight fights against Nate Diaz earlier this year, all of McGregor’s career bouts have been contested at featherweight and lightweight. Woodley subsequently doesn’t believe that McGregor belongs in the 170lbs division.
He said: “To be straight up honest, Conor McGregor is a guy that fought at 145 [pounds] all his life. I haven’t weighed 145 since my sophomore year in high school.
“He’s tall, he has long arms, he has good timing, and when you’ve got good timing and things like that you can place good punches. But I’m 100% positive that he’s never been hit with the shots I’ll hit him with.
“I just don’t think Conor understands the pressure I can put on him, the power I can put on him and all the different attacks. I think it’s good for media, but in general I don’t know how I can win. If I beat him, everybody will say I’m supposed to beat him, he was a former featherweight. If I lose to him then obviously we know what’s going to happen there.”
In his own post-fight comments, McGregor suggested that he’s now likely to take some time off, with his partner expecting their first child next year. When asked if a fight against McGregor is likely to happen, Woodley said: “If he wants the fight we can sign it right now. I’m good in the fight. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for him to fight me.”
Woodley added: “This is sport but it’s also entertainment. If Conor McGregor wants to fight me, I think all you guys are going to want to see that fight. It’s going to suck for Wonderboy and Maia because those guys will feel that they deserve the shot, but maybe they can fight each other in the meantime. We’ll see.”
