UFC welterweight champion Tyron ‘The Chose One’ Woodley would once again look to defend his title against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson at UGC 209 in May. Image: UFC.com
Looks like ‘Wonderboy’ will have a second crack against the ‘Chosen One’ after all.
After their gruelling five-round war ended in a majority draw at UFC 205 in November last year, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley (16-3-1) would once again face off against the division’s number one contender Stephen Thompson (13-1-1), in the main event of UFC 209 in Las Vegas.
The two highly touted combatants fought tooth-and-nail for 25 minutes, but two judges could not determine the winner and scored it a draw, while the other one gave the nod to the champion.
Both fighters received ‘Fight of the Night’ bonuses and sparked debates between MMA pundits as to who really won the bout. Even UFC president Dana White said that a rematch is in order after the match was done.
Woodley, meanwhile, spoke on his podcast ’The Morning Wood’ on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) and immediately went off on the challenger.
“He got under my skin so much that I’m just going to go ahead and fight this dude,” the Roufusport fighter said. “Like straight up. He got under my skin that bad where I don’t even care about the ration and the money and what fight makes the most sense. You need to be careful what you ask for. ‘Wonderboy’ you want it — come get it. You want a fight, you want to get done worse than you did the first time?”
On the other hand, Thompson—who almost got finished in two separate occasions during the bout—acknowledged his previous shortcomings and vowed to finally achieve his dream of becoming UFC champion.
“I know for a fact I wasn’t at my best. He was at his best. He hit me with two big shots that put dudes to sleep and he couldn’t do it with me,” he was quoted as saying in a Fox Sports report.
“He tried to finish me with the guillotine and couldn’t do it. In the fifth round, I felt great. I felt like I could have gone another three rounds but I wasn’t at my best. I didn’t let my hands go the way I should have,” the former kickboxing star added.
After the UFC confirmed the rematch, the lively pair did not waste any time taking jabs at each other on Twitter.
Screen Grab from Twitter
UFC 209 is scheduled on March 4, 2017 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Other bouts for the main card include a rematch between heavyweights Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt and a featherweight clash between Darren Elkins and Mirsad Bektic. Khristian Ibarrola