The general consensus at the moment is that welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is heading into an immediate rematch with Stephen Thompson next, but it seems that the title holder has another potential match-up in mind.
“Tell @nickdiaz209 let’s get this money in #UFC209 @ufc,” Woodley wrote on his twitter page today.
Thompson will likely be feeling a sense of deja vu right about now as Woodley also did his best to sidestep ‘Wonderboy’ in favor of more lucrative match-ups with the likes of Diaz and GSP prior to their first fight being confirmed at UFC 205 in November.
Now he seems to be homing in on Diaz in particular, and timing wise that would work as the Stockton native was just cleared to continue his MMA career a few days ago by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after an issue related to unpaid fines was finally resolved.
However, it would be a questionable move to give Diaz an immediate title shot given that he’ll have spent over two years on the sidelines by the time UFC 209 comes along, not to mention the fact that he’s actually lost his last three fights in a row (although technically his defeat against Anderson Silva doesn’t count as it was later amended to a ‘no contest’ ruling due to the former champion testing positive for steroids).
On the other hand, Thompson is coming off a closely fought five round fight with Woodley that was declared a majority draw, and he’d won seven fights prior to that.
UFC 209 isn’t scheduled to take place until March 11th, so there’s still time left for the UFC to mull over their options, but barring an injury to ‘Wonderboy’ he still seems like the frontrunner to get the title opportunity, while Diaz could still end up elsewhere on the Las Vegas card.
