LOS ANGELES -- The UFC welterweight title held by Tyron Woodley has one of the richest legacies of any championship in the history of mixed martial arts.
It has has been held by a who’s who of the sport’s greats, from original champion Pat Miletich to Matt Hughes to B.J. Penn to Georges St-Pierre to Robbie Lawler and now on to Woodley.
The belt, though, originated in a more primitive time in which the UFC had fewer weight class. And with ongoing issues with weight-cutting rearing its ugly head on a seemingly monthly basis, the 15-pound jumps from lightweight (155) to welterweight and from welterweight to middleweight (185) seem too big for too many fighters.
As such, there’s been discussion of eliminating the current setup of the welterweight division, and instead going to classes of 155, 165, 175, and 185.
And as far as Woodley is concerned, if the 170-pound title disappears, so be it: He’ll go after both the 165 and and 175 belts, and maybe make a run at the 185-pound belt currently held by Robert Whittaker, too.
“I heard they were thinking about that,” Woodley said about proposed changes to weight classes. “I don’t know which one I would do. I mean, I could make 165, it wouldn’t be very sexy, but I could make it. And obviously 175 would be a little easier to make than 170. I make 175 and I could make 185, too. Those are three different weight classes that I could fight in and be extremely competitive in all of them.”
And hey, with Woodley at age 36, the idea of going a little higher up isn’t the worst idea.
“I would love to fight in a different division, you know?” said Woodley, who defends his title against Darren Till at UFC 228 in Dallas. “I walk around at 200 pounds, only having to drop 15 pounds wouldn’t be a bad look for me at all.”
While Woodley wouldn’t mind the opportunity to pursue new titles, one thing he’s not going to do is call out his opponents. Woodley tried to call out competitors from GSP to Nick Diaz, and they haven’t come to pass.
“I’m done,” Woodley said about callouts. “I’m done. My goal is always beating and dominating who’s in front of me. I’ll let you guys decide who that is, because any time I’ve ever taken to speaking about how I want to fight, it’s never taken the right way. My goal and the way I am going to become the greatest of all-time, is dominating, and annihilating whoever is in front of me, whoever that is.”