Tyron Woodley explains campaign for Georges St-Pierre superfight

Last year, after winning the UFC welterweight championship by knocking out Robbie Lawler in the very first round of their UFC 201 scrap, newly crowned UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley immediately began to call for a superfight with either former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, or MMA veteran Nick Diaz. While the idea of a potential Georges St-Pierre superfight had fight fans talking, at first it wasn’t for the best reasons.

Many fans perceived this as Woodley ducking welterweight #1 contender Stephen Thompson, and Woodley ultimately signed to fight Thompson at UFC 205 in New York to close out the year after negotiations between St-Pierre and the UFC failed, resulting in both Woodley and UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping missing out on a potential Georges St-Pierre superfight.

Ahead of Woodley’s UFC 209 rematch with ‘Wonderboy’ in March, the welterweight champ spoke to Fox Sports to explain his campaign for a superfight:

“Legacy is really important to me,” Woodley told FOX Sports. “It’s more important than dollars to me. So with that said, I try to find the fights that would solidify my legacy. Beating (Michael) Bisping, winning two belts in two divisions, maybe starting a rivalry and controversy with a fighter and then also knocking off legends like Nick (Diaz) and GSP.

“Those sort of things solidify me and also yeah it puts me in the position to maximize myself as far as being awarded the highest purses. So I’m just trying to kill two birds with one stone.”
…
“Knocking off these big names in fights really solidifies me as the best welterweight that’s ever done it. Fighting Georges St-Pierre really puts the exclamation point at the end of it. It sounds like (GSP) is serious about coming back and I don’t think it should be a question of anybody fighting him before me.”

on 2/3/2017.