UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley will rematch Stephen Thompson at UFC 209 on March 4th.
Forget about Tyron Woodley fighting Michael Bisping, or Nick Diaz, or Demian Maia, because the UFC’s current welterweight champion isn’t facing any of those three next. On The Morning Wood Show (hosted by Woodley and Din Thomas), Woodley confirmed that he’ll be rematching Stephen Thompson at UFC 209 in March.
“March 4th, UFC 209 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at what I believe to be the T-Mobile Center, you will see ‘Wonderboy’ get the worst ass-whooping of his life,” Woodley said (Transcription via MMA Fighting). “And hopefully all of his fans and all of his over-entitlement deceases at that moment and we can do a eulogy for it.”
UFC president Dana White later confirmed with MMAjunkie’s John Morgan that the fight is now official.
Woodley (16-3-1) fought Thompson (13-1-1) to a thrilling majority draw at UFC 205 last November in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The fight nearly ended in the 4th round, as Woodley badly hurt Wonderboy and knocked him down twice, then came close to submitting the karate specialist with a guillotine choke. Thompson survived the round, won the 5th, and while the result was initially (and erroneously) read as a majority decision win for Woodley, it was actually a majority draw. Either way, Woodley had retained his title in his first defense of the belt he won from Robbie Lawler in July. Also of note from their first matchup, only one judge had the 4th round as a 10-8 for Woodley.
UFC 209 is also expected to feature a fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, as well as a heavyweight rematch between Mark Hunt and Alistair Overeem. The night’s main card airs live on pay-per-view.
Update: Woodley vs. Thompson is confirmed as the main event.
