UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is the latest to weigh in on the situation surrounding Michael Bisping’s two bouts in three weeks
Bisping lost both fights, yet headed into the second fight on a turnaround of just three weeks removed from being choked out by Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217.
Everyone from Joe Rogan to Chael Sonnen has given their takes on the situation. Tyron Woodley, who declared Georges St-Pierre as the ‘greatest welterweight of all-time’, asked why Bisping would have jumped into bout just three weeks removed from his title loss to GSP:
“You know, I never want to tell a fighter what they should do,” Woodley told BJPenn.com. “But you (Michael Bisping) just got choked unconscious three weeks before. You just fought, and headlined, a huge card at the most world-famous arena. It turned out to be the second-best showing in Madison Square Garden’s history. You went out and fought the greatest welterweight of all-time (Georges St-Pierre), I hate to say that, but right now it is true. But you fought him (GSP), got choked out, and then the thing you want to do is go back and fight Kelvin Gastelum in Shanghai on Fight Pass? I just don’t feel like that is a very intelligent move.
Woodley also questioned if Bisping had been given the right advice in taking the fight, given that he wasn’t exactly a huge favorite heading into the clash. “The Chose One” believes that Gastelum was essentially a considerable risk for the former champion, regardless of the time he had to prepare for the bout:
“I don’t know who is managing him and who thought that is was a good idea. I mean Kelvin Gastelum is a hard matchup for him. He may have never beat Kelvin Gastelum even with a six-week camp and no brain trauma or concussions. I mean the freshest Michael Bisping possible and he still might not have won. One thing about Kelvin, he may not make weight, but he shows up and performs better than when he practices. Everybody that is in the gym knows, he (Gastelum) is that guy, there is something about the fight game where the odd guy just over performs better in the cage than they do in practice. That is Kelvin. He performs so well in the cage. Well except against me, then he’s just swinging at the air missing,” Woodley said.
“Michael Bisping hasn’t even got the pay-per-view money yet for UFC 217. That doesn’t come for ninety days after the event. He will get that fat check sometime in February. I mean it’s not like Bisping needed the money. The guys constantly on FOX, he does movies here and there and just got a huge payday with Georges. What was the logic in fighting Gastelum? Who weighed the risk and reward? It proved to be a huge risk that he shouldn’t have taken.”
