Tyron Woodley Was Told He Would Get Next Title Shot With Win Over MacDonald

Former Strikeforce title challenger Tyron Woodley was under the impression that he would be getting the next shot at Johny Hendricks’ title with a win over Rory MacDonald on Saturday night.

However, his hopes were shot down when it was revealed Matt Brown and Robbie Lawler would headline UFC on Fox 12 in what has been confirmed as a title eliminator. Woodley explained his reaction to the news in this week’s edition of “The MMA Hour”:

“”I was pretty upset because I was told verbally through Dana White and Lorenzo that I would fight this kid in his hometown, and the winner of this bout would get a shot at the world title.” Woodley said. “For me, I thought the risk matched the reward.

I was prepared to go up to this kid’s hometown, steal the show and upset the party in his own hometown. In my mind it was worth doing that for a shot at the world title.“

It certainly does seem unfair, but as we all know, being promised a title shot by White doesn’t mean much (if anything at all) these days.

If “T-Wood” is able to get past MacDonald on Saturday it will be his third win over a top competitor in the UFC and his second straight over the No. 2 ranked fighter. That alone should be enough to give him a crack at the title but if the UFC are still intend on giving the shot to the Brown/Lawler winner, Woodley says he will have to convince them with his performance.

“Though they said that, I think performance conquers all. I think I can go out their and outperform all of those guys. I will have beaten the No. 2 guy back-to-back. So I think I put myself in that category to fight for a world title.

I think if the fans get behind me and really rally up, I think you still can see me fighting for the world title. I didn’t put too much into it. I think people always remember your last performance and I’m going to give them something to remember.”

He certainly has the right mindset going into the fight and he could be right – a big win over MacDonald on Saturday could leapfrog him into the No.1 contender spot. But first, he will need to get past “Aries” in the co-main event of UFC 173. Do you think he will do enough to get a title shot?