Tyron ‘The Chosen One’ Woodley vs. Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson 2
Tyron ‘The Chosen One’ Woodley vs. Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson 2
The UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley (16-3-1) will face Stephen Thompson (13-1-1) in a rematch at UFC 209 on March 4, 2017 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Tyron Woodley recently announced on his podcast, The Morning Wood Show talking to Din Thomas, that he intends to fight Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in a rematch. Before announcing this rematch, Tyron had shown desire of signing ‘Money Fights’ only, calling out multiple fighters including Conor McGregor, the current UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping, Nick Diaz, Georges St-Pierre and Demian Maia.
However, a recent tweet made by Stephen Thompson included a picture of a signed UFC bout agreement to fight Woodley but the champ had yet to sign the agreement.
This clever move by Thompson incited Woodley, his agitated response “he got under my skin so much that I’m just going to go ahead and fight this dude,” Woodley said on his podcast. “Like straight up. He got under my skin that bad where I don’t even care about the money and what fight makes the most sense. You need to be careful what you ask for.”
Further stating “March 4, UFC 209 in Las Vegas, Nevada, what I believe to be the T-Mobile Center, you will see “Wonderboy” get the worst ass whooping of his life,” Woodley said. “Hopefully all his fans and all his over entitlement will cease at that moment and we can do a eulogy for it.”
Stephens response, mentioned in a Fox Sports report, “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.”
Adding to his explanation, “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.”
In their previous clash held on November 12, 2016 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Woodley retained his title with the draw at UFC 205. Two judges scored it 47-47, while the third had Woodley winning, 48-47. It was chosen as the Fight of the Night.
The fight was highly controversial as Woodley dominated throughout the fight but the Thompson had scored enough points on the scorecard leading to a draw. Woodley was not happy about the decision, he was quoted saying “…I still won the fight. I had the only takedown. I had the control of the ground and pound. I had the only knockdown. I had the only submission attempts. He had the only cuts. He was the only person in harm’s way. He landed some strikes, but he never put me in a position where we thought the referee was going to jump in and save me. He was there quite a few times.”
The previous fight was indeed a brutal clash with both men showing relentless heart and tremendous vigour. There is no doubt the next fight will be a nail biter. The odds comparison is in the favour of the Champion but the question is, will Thompson be able to pull off an upset? Or Woodley, staying true to his word, maul ‘Wonderboy’ in the arena? The fans are anxious about this one.
