#5 Where next for Welterweight?
Trending
When all was said and done, I scored Woodley/Thompson II a 47-47 draw. There, I said it.
The fight, though, was terrible. Massive periods of inactivity polluted the fight and while the first meeting felt like a tactical war, this was just boring. Rather than pulling the trigger more after the five rounds in November, both men seemed even more tentative.
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
This was perhaps the worst UFC main event since UFC 129’s putrid GSP/Shields affair, or even UFC 119’s disastrous mess between Frank Mir and Mirko Cro Cop. At least that one had a brutal knockout, though!
Thompson for me clearly took rounds 1, 2 and 4. Woodley's third round wasn't great either but in the fifth, he almost put Wonderboy away again, enough for a 10-8 in my eyes.
I don't see which of the other rounds he won, but as weird as this sounds, I don't care. I'm just glad we can move on from this now, even if Woodley didn't really warrant the win. Maybe an argument could be made for rounds 1 and 2 being 10-10, which would give Woodley the win at 49-47, but obviously, 10-10’s are very rare.
Where next, though?
With GSP confirmed for the Michael Bisping fight, the next top contender at WW should be the winner of Demian Maia vs. Jorge Masvidal at UFC 211. That is unless Woodley gets his way.
Woodley keeps calling for a "money fight" which probably - now GSP is out of the picture - means Nick Diaz. I'm with Dana White, though, for me, Woodley doesn't warrant that, and I'm a fan of his.
He needs to build his own popularity before he can call for a non-contender like Diaz, and a performance like last night's won't do that. A dominant win over Maia or Masvidal though? That might do the trick. As Dana keeps saying, make yourself the money fight, Tyron!
Anything else from UFC 209 you'd like to discuss? Tell us!
Until next time....
Send us news tips at [email protected]
