A welterweight fight between Carlos Condit and Tyron Woodley has now been officially announced for UFC 171 in Dallas, Texas on March 15th.
The UFC’s original plan had been to put together a rematch between Condit and Nick Diaz, but at last weekend’s ‘UFC On FOX 9’ event Dana White revealed that Diaz had turned down the match-up.
Following the post-fight press conference White said that Woodley wouldn’t be drafted in instead despite the fact he was constantly texting the UFC President asking for his next fight, but it appears that he has since had a change of heart and the former Strikeforce fighter now gets the biggest fight of his career to date.
This is something of a coup for Woodley as he’s currently not ranked inside the UFC’s top 10 at 170lbs, while Condit is considered the No.2 ranked contender. Woodley is coming off a ‘Knockout Of The Night’ victory over Josh Koscheck last month though which no doubt played a big part in helping him secure this opportunity.
The landscape at welterweight has shifted dramatically over the course of the past week due to long-time champion Georges St.Pierre announcing his decision to vacate his title in order to take time out.
Now, Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler will fight for the vacant title in the main event of UFC 171, and with Condit Vs Woodley also set for the main card, that bout could now establish who’s next in line to face the winner.
That would almost certainly be the case if Condit emerges victorious, though it’s unclear what would happen if Woodley pulled off the upset.
It should be noted that there’ll also be a third welterweight fight on the same card that will have a bearing on the top 10 rankings with the current 8th ranked contender Jake Shields set to go up against the hard-hitting Hector Lombard who marked his debut in the division with a first round knockout win over Nate Marquardt.
So, despite GSP’s absence the UFC’s 170lb division is still alive and kicking and a new chapter in it’s story is not set to be written on March 15th.
