Tyron Woodley Reveals Lengthy Absence From The Octagon

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Although it was a lackluster fight at best, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley dominated Demian Maia in their UFC 214 co-main event bout, defending his welterweight title for the second (third if you count his draw with Stephen Thompson) time in the process.

The only issue, however, is that “The Chosen One” injured his shoulder in the bout, and he recently revealed that he has to ‘consider surgery’, although he’s obviously going to weigh his options in hopes of avoiding it:

“I didn’t completely tear it, but I tore it enough where I should consider surgery,” he told SiriuXM’s “MMA Tonight” on Tuesday. “I’m actually investigating stem-cell (platelet rich plasma) injections – things of that nature first – and rehab because obviously if I can avoid going under the knife, I obviously want to try to do that. So that’s my option right now.

“I tore my left labrum in 2008. At that time, I wasn’t really financially set up to go out and get PRP and stem cell (treatments), and I didn’t have insurance at that time, so my options were really limited. I actually had to wait like two or three years before I could actually get it done just because I didn’t have insurance.”

As of now, a timetable for his return is currently unclear, but Woodley feels as if that may actually benefit the 170-pound division.

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According to the champion, there’s no ‘clear-cut No. 1 contender right now’, but by the time he returns, a new challenger will likely have emerged:

“So, long story short, it’s gong to be a minute before I’m out in the octagon, which almost works to the division’s credit because the deck needs to be shuffled a little bit more,” Woodley said. “There’s no real and true clear-cut No. 1 contender right now, and once these fights take place and these guys get out there, compete, do a training camp and fight, the world champion will just be getting back in the mix. So it’ll be perfect timing.”

Who would you like to see Woodley defend his title against next when he returns in 2018?