A welterweight title fight between current champion Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson has been confirmed for the UFC 205 event at Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 12th.
This will be Woodley’s first defense of the belt after bringing Robbie Lawler’s title reign to an end with a first round knockout at UFC 201 in July.
Woodley’s run to the title was a little unusual in that he was only on a two-fight winning streak at the time, having defeated Dong Hyun Kim and Kelvin Gastelum, plus he’d actually been out of action for a year and a half before being handed the biggest opportunity of his career.
Woodley seized the opportunity with both hands though and afterwards he’d initially been dismissive of the idea of fighting Thompson next, indicating that he was looking for a money-spinning match-up with the likes of GSP or Nick Diaz.
As it turns out he will be fighting ‘Wonderboy’ after all though, and that only seems right given that Woodley is the No.2 ranked contender behind Lawler and has been in scintillating form over the past three years, racking up seven wins in a row.
The level of competition Thompson has faced during that run has gradually ramped, yet his performances have only got better over time, with his best wins coming against the likes of Jake Ellenberger, Johny Hendricks and most recently Rory MacDonald.
So, UFC 205 will play host to at least one title fight, but even with Woodley Vs Thompson on-board the main event of the evening is still to be unveiled, so it could well be that another belt will be on the line in NYC.
Other fights so far confirmed for the star-studded show include Chris Weidman Vs Yoel Romero, Rashad Evans Vs Tim Kennedy, Donald Cerrone Vs Kelvin Gastleum and Frankie Edgar Vs Jeremy Stephens.
