When Tyron Woodley won the UFC welterweight title at UFC 201 last July, he immediately began angling for “money fights” with Nick Diaz or Georges St-Pierre. This was a point of contention for many fans who dubbed Woodley, “The Choosey One” - a play on his “The Chosen One” sobriquet - because Woodley had two clear-cut challengers waiting in the wings while both Diaz and St-Pierre hadn’t fought in years. But now that Woodley has defended his belt three times in the last year, all against No. 1 contenders, and there is no obvious contender for him to face next, Woodley is back to dreaming big, and this time, his calls for marquee fights might carry a bit more heft.

Speaking recently with Sports Illustrated, the welterweight champ says he wants the next headline about him to read: "Tyron Woodley is going up to middleweight to face Georges St-Pierre if he beats Michael Bisping," because that would establish himself as the greatest welterweight of all time and cap off the best run in the history of the welterweight division.

"I wanted to fight one more time, I was being greedy. I wanted to go out here and beat [Demian Maia] and I wanted to fight Georges St-Pierre in November in New York City. This would've been the greatest year competitively, and after I beat Georges, there is no question that I'll be Fighter of the Year. I fight five title fights in 18 months and beat the greatest welterweight of all time, nobody has done anything like that in our sport. . .

"My brother-in-law just asked me [who I’m fighting next] and I said you know what, if he wins I'm going up there to fight him cause you can't keep running from me."

St-Pierre is the long-time welterweight kingpin who retired with the belt in 2013. He is set to make his return at UFC 217 where he will challenge Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title. If he wins, St-Pierre will be only the fourth person in UFC history to have won belts in two divisions; but if he loses, St-Pierre may possibly retire from the sport for good, leaving Woodley without his preferred money fight. Woodley says that would be suboptimal for him but in the end, he would be happy to fight whoever wins that fight, even if it is Bisping.

“I would fight Bisping as well, to be honest. I'm not just saying I want to move up to middleweight because at welterweight I'm a larger size and I feel comfortable at the weight. I have no issues making it, it's not easy but I always get it done.

“To fight Bisping or Georges, I'd love fight either one. But mainly I want to fight Georges.”

There’s one more impediment to Woodley’s grand designs: Robert Whittaker just won the interim UFC middleweight championship and will ostensibly be next in line for a fight with the winner of St-Pierre vs. Bisping. But Woodley scoffs that off, noting that in the fight game, particularly nowadays, meritocracy always takes a back seat to economics.

“There is no such thing as a stipulation, you're a sub-contract worker. You're not obligated or required to do anything. What about when Johny Hendricks was the clear-cut winner and it was time for him to fight for the title and he got passed over by Nick Diaz who lost to Carlos Condit? It's a game of what fight makes money, that's all it is.

“There is no No. 1 contender, I've fought them all, right? At the end of the day, you don't get rewarded for beating someone whose claim is the No. 1 contender, the No. 1 guy outside the champion. There is no reward for that. . .

“But guys can go out and fight guys that aren't even in their weight class, aren't even ranked in the top-10. Bisping's last fight against Dan Henderson, was Dan Henderson even in the top-15 at the time? Conor fought Nate Diaz at 170 and neither one of those guys are true 170-pounders. It's not a matter of No. 1 contendership anymore. It's a matter of money and business.”

But for now, Woodley is just another fighter on the outside looking in, hoping to land a superfight, the same one he’s been chasing for over a year. But as he continues to press onwards towards his goals, he’s has faith everything will work out for him.

"I know when you do things systematically, non-stop, and repetition, that's how you make things happen in your life.”

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MUST-READ STORIES

$20M. Nate Diaz’s coach says he needs to get paid at least $20 million for Conor McGregor trilogy.

PEDs. Rory MacDonald is convinced Robbie Lawler was on PEDs when they fought.

I wanted it. Amanda Nunes responds to critics saying she’s afraid of Valentina Shevchenko.

Results. Invicta 25 took place and here are the results.

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VIDEO STEW

Free fight.

And so the rematch talk begins.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Cowherd says some things that aren’t bad here.

Paulie gonna ride this wave as long as he can.

AXS TV free fight.

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LISTEN UP

The MMA Circus. Kajan Johnson and Jeremy Lopez interviews.

Believe You Me. MayMac, Conor’s cardio, and Jon Jones are discussed.

Submission Radio. Kevin Lee and Richard Perez interviews.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Conor laying that groundwork for a rematch with Floyd in the cage.

Floyd is spot on.

Jon working through things with Twitter.

Respect.

See? Nate has already been whittled down $80M.

WANT. THIS.

Tremendous marketing gimmick.

Enjoy.

I would tell you you are wrong.

If Condit is coming back, that’s awesome for all of us.

Mickey Gall teasing a return to action soon.

Banger.

Sick burn.

Future tag team champs.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Zach Freeman (9-2) vs. Saad Awad (20-9); Bellator 186, Nov. 3.

John Dodson (19-8) vs. Marlon Moraes (18-5-1); UFC Fight Night: Norfolk, Nov. 11.

Alex Chambers (5-3) vs. Nadia Kassem (4-0); UFC Fight Night: Sydney, Nov. 19.

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TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

1995: Bas Rutten won the King of Pancrase title when he submitted Minoru Suzuki with a guillotine choke at Pancrase: 1995 Anniversary Show.

2012: Greg Jackson killed MMA when UFC 151 did not go on as scheduled. 151 was to be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Dan Henderson but Henderson was forced to withdraw and Jones refused to take on a short notice opponent, forcing the UFC to cancel the event.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

First fight weekend in a long time and it’s...... not great. Still, nice to have fights back even if there are only 3 weekends for the rest of the year that won’t have a UFC event and we’ll all be burnt out soon. Ahead of UFC Fight Night: Rotterdam, check out this piece by Karim Zidan about Abdul-Kerim Edilov, a fighter making his UFC debut this weekend who also happens to work for Ramzan Kadyrov, among the most notorious people on the planet.

Take it easy, enjoy the fights, and see y’all Monday.

Oh, and since we do have polls, let’s start bringing these bad boys back.

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