Tyron Woodley Planning To Undergo Surgery
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has made a big decision that will keep him on the sidelines for the near future, and that is to get surgery to fix his injured shoulder.
Woodley suffered a partial labrum tear early in his recent title defense over Demain Maia, which he won by decision.
Since then, he has gone back and forth about whether or not he should go under the knife to repair the injury in the months since.
He went on record by stating that he would’ve liked to compete at the UFC 219 PPV (pay-per-view) event on December 30th against lightweight superstar Nate Diaz.
However, that fight isn’t happening right now. Thus, Woodley has decided to ultimately go through with the surgery that will sideline him for several months.
“I’m going to go ahead and get this shoulder repaired,” Woodley said Wednesday on TMZ (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “I’ve been saying, ‘You know what, I don’t want to get it cut on, I don’t want to get it repaired.’
But if there’s no fight that really makes a ton of sense for me to take the risk, to not be 100 percent with my shoulder, then I’m going to go ahead and have it repaired. They’re not going to do a full orthopedic rehabilitation, but they’re going to do a scope and they’re going to anchor down some sides. Then I’m going to get some PRP (platelet-rich plasma), some stem cells. I’m doing everything.”
Woodley went on record earlier this month at UFC 218 that he was reconsidering getting his planned surgery and was “highly considering going a different route.” Woodley will indeed get shoulder surgery, which will allow the weight class to figure itself out in his absence.
Woodley has been a fighting champion as he has defended it twice this year with winning decisions over Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia. This tied with three other fighters for the most active 2017 schedule by a UFC champion.
The UFC has already announced that when former UFC titleholders Robbie Lawler and Rafael dos Anjos collide at UFC on FOX 26, it could create the new No. 1 contender for Woodley.
Woodley said he was unworried by the challenges that could face him when he returns.
“All these fights are warm-up fights now. I beat all of the tough people. They’re all a warm-up fight,” Woodley said.
“I want to fight Georges, man. I offered to go up and fight him at middleweight, and he faked some backside injury, and now he’s vacating the belt. So, I don’t know, man. I’m going to get my shoulder fixed, and I’m going to watch the game be as ridiculous as it’s been and see who’s next.”
