Kamaru Usman says Tyron Woodley will move up to middleweight after he beats him
UFC 235 appears to possibly be the card of the year. It features two title fights, and in the co-main event, welterweight king, Tyron Woodley is looking to defend his belt against Kamaru Usman.
Many believe Woodley will be able to beat Usman, but ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ is confident he has what it takes to beat Woodley. Once he does that, he is confident Woodley will leave the welterweight division.
“I believe that he wants to move on and that’s fine,” Usman said to MMANews. “On March 2 after I win the belt, you can move up to middleweight, you don’t have to cut weight anymore, you’re in the latter part of your career and you’re starting to kind of wind down.
“I completely agree with him on that if he wants to go to middleweight. On March 2, you have to pass me that title first.”
Meanwhile, Usman is confident Woodley is underestimating him and maybe doesn’t even want to be the champion anymore. If that is the case, Usman says he will gladly take the belt from Woodley so he can move up.
“He wants to move up,” Usman said about Woodley. “Tyron is in his mid to late 30’s, he’s been fighting for a long time, he’s been competing for a long time. The same as I have been. There’s a lot of pressures that come with being champion and being champion for a while. There’s a lot of pressures.
“You saw it with Anderson Silva where he almost had that release when he got defeated, it’s almost like he felt better. You saw it with Georges St-Pierre, he had to leave the game because of it. There’s that release.”
The fight is now just days away in what should be a good fight. If what Usman is saying is true, well this may very well be Woodley’s last fight at welterweight.
