Dana White Rips Tyron Woodley, Rebooks Georges St-Pierre vs. Michael Bisping
Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley may have defeated Demian Maia at UFC 214, but he simultaneously lost his shot at fighting Georges St-Pierre later this year.
Ahead of the event on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif., UFC president Dana White had stated that the winner of the welterweight title fight would then move forward to face St-Pierre in his return to action later this year.
Unfortunately, White wasn't all that impressed by Woodley's title defense and ultimately decided that St-Pierre would now get rebooked against middleweight champion Michael Bisping instead.
“Yep,” White confirmed when asked if he was moving forward with St-Pierre vs. Bisping. “Cause I know Michael Bisping will fight. Michael Bisping will show up and fight. So yeah, I'm going to give it to him.”
The on again, off again saga of Bisping vs. St-Pierre has been going on for months after the fight was announced in March and then canceled weeks later after it was revealed the former welterweight champion wouldn't be able to return until late in 2017.
Earlier this week, White doubled down on St-Pierre no longer fighting Bisping by saying that “ship had sailed,” but after witnessing Woodley vs. Maia on Saturday night, he changed his mind.
“That ship (expletive) turned around and sailed back,” White said.
White confirmed it was Woodley's performance against Maia that made him alter his decision on who would face St-Pierre in his return to action later this year.
“(Expletive) round five [of Woodley vs. Maia],” White said about when he decided against booking Woodley against St-Pierre. “It definitely affected this fight, that's for sure. I know Michael Bisping will show up and fight. No doubt about it.”
From the sound of things, White doesn't sound all that optimistic about booking Woodley in any marquee fight in the near future although he did seem to like the idea of a rematch against Robbie Lawler for his next title defense.
“You ask fans if they want to see Woodley fight again. I think that would be flat out no. Who wants to pay to see Tyron Woodley fight again?” White said. “He is an absolute physical specimen. The guy could have finished that fight at any time he wanted to, but he didn't want to take the risks.
“You take no risks, you get no rewards.”
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