EXCLUSIVE | Tyron Woodley “Stephen Thompson doesn’t have a champion’s mentality”

Earlier this month, we interviewed top UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson about his upcoming rematch with current division title holder Tyron Woodley.

Thompson told BJPENN.com that he wasn’t “Mentally there” in his first fight with Woodley at UFC 205 and added that fans would see a different “Wonderboy” in their rematch at UFC 209.

Chris Taylor recently caught up with Tyron Woodley on BJPENN.com’s “Rapid Fire” segment where he discussed Thompson’s comments which prompted the champ to fire off with the following.

“Oh my god,” Woodley said in disgust. “He wasn’t mentally there? He’s making all of these excuses. He wasn’t mentally there. He was too heavy. He didn’t know I was going to be that strong in the clinch. He didn’t know I’d have that much ground control. He should have kicked more. Like in general it is a fight. How many times have I walked out of the octagon, winner or loser, knowing that I could have done more in there?”

He continued:

“He had his chance to show the world that he was the best welterweight and had five rounds to do it. But he didn’t. I could go back and easily say I could have done this and could have done that. I could have taken him down every round. If I would have done that I would have won the decision and won every single round. But I’m not coming out making excuses for what happened. I let the cards drop as they did and now I’ll go back there and this time I will do more (at UFC 209). It just goes to show that Stephen doesn’t have a champion’s mentality.”

Who do you think will win the rematch between Thompson and Woodley at UFC 209? Sound off PENN Nation!