EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson Doesn’t Think Georges St-Pierre Fights Tyron Woodley

By Justin Golightly - January 19, 2018

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is sidelined waiting for his shoulder to heal, but he’s made no question that he wants Georges St-Pierre when he comes back. After vacating the middleweight title due to health issues from gaining weight, it seemed like it was a fight that made sense for St-Pierre. Meanwhile, former title challenger Stephen Thompson is coming off a win over Jorge Masvidal and is gunning for another fight with Woodley himself. Friends with St-Pierre, Thompson recently sat down and gave us some insight on the potential welterweight title fight told us why he believes it doesn’t happen.

Tyron Woodley

“Do I see [Tyron Woodley] fighting Georges [St-Pierre]? Hell no. Well, that’s the thing. [St-Pierre]’s a very good friend of mine. I really, I don’t want that to happen. He understands that that’s my goal is to get that belt, you know what I mean? If that does come down to it, I would actually put that in his arena if he would like to [fight me] or not because he would be the champion if he beats Tyron. I would put that in his arena and say, ‘Hey,’ — make UFC go to him and say — ‘Hey, does this fight seem right?’ or whatever. Cause before I fought Tyron, we talked. [St-Pierre]’s like, ‘Man, I’m coming back. I have no interest in fighting you,” stuff like that as a friend.”

“[St-Pierre] was my inspiration to switch from kickboxing to MMA. He’s the one that pushed me to do the MMA thing, so he was my inspiration to do that. And, I don’t know, it doesn’t feel right for me to go out there and face off against somebody that important to me. But you never know, man. That’s just something we’ll have to see in the future. I mean is it just kind of up in the air? [Tyron Woodley] is gonna have to face somebody here pretty soon. I know he’s coming off of shoulder surgery, so I’m really not sure where or how, where he’s at with that and how serious the surgery was. So I mean if he’s out for a while, then they may have to find somebody to fight Rafael dos Anjos until then. So hey, I’m down to do that if that’s the case, but I don’t know, man. Tyron’s kind of acting like it’s not a big deal and he’ll be back in there pretty soon.” — Stephen Thompson speaking to our own Jason Kindschy.

Although Stephen Thompson doesn’t think Georges St-Pierre will fight Tyron Woodley due to their relationship, St-Pierre could always immediately vacate the title just like he did at middleweight to avoid a fight against Thompson. As for Wonderboy himself, he says he’s willing to fight Rafael dos Anjos if Woodley is unable to make a prompt return to the Octagon. Will we end up seeing Thompson and Woodley finish their trilogy this year? One thing is for sure, welterweight is once again an exciting division again fulled with suspense where anything can happen.

1/19/2018.

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


Topics:

Georges St. Pierre Stephen Thompson Tyron Woodley