UFC 209 results: Tyron Woodley scrapes by Stephen Thompson, may be tasked with ‘Ruthless’ rematch

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) got its welterweight division unstuck from the mud last Saturday night (March 4, 2017), when Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson — who battled to a draw back in November — ran it back in the UFC 209 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, held inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

After (another) five rounds of tepid “action,” Woodley retained his championship title by way of majority decision, sending “Wonderboy” home empty handed (and to the back of the 170-pound line). For much more on how their ho-hum headliner unfolded, head over to our official fight recap here.

So ... now what?

The promotion made a puzzling decision last week, removing Demian Maia from the very short list of welterweight fighters worthy of pulling the sword from the proverbial stone. The Brazilian certainly earned his spot, capturing six straight with back-to-back submission wins over Matt Brown and Carlos Condit.

He waited like a dutiful employee, only to be given a new assignment (see it) just days before UFC 209. Had the returning “king” of PPV buys, Georges St-Pierre, opted to hang around at 170 pounds instead of testing his might in the middleweight division against the now-rich Michael Bisping, I could understand why the soft-spoken grappling phenom would be skipped over.

I would even be okay with the promotion telling Maia to hit the showers if Conor McGregor was jumping back up to welterweight to settle his flimsy score with the reigning champ. Not that a “Notorious” attempt to capture three crowns makes any sense at this point in time, but as Yoel Romero will attest, this is all about that Benjamins.

And they don’t get any greener than this.

So with Maia and St-Pierre out of the running, and McGregor changing diapers while trolling Floyd Mayweather, the only reasonable option is former 170-pound kingpin Robbie Lawler. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, “Ruthless” was chirping on Instagram about his return to mixed martial arts (MMA), a place he hasn’t been since coughing up his title to “The Chosen One” last July.

It hasn't unseated him from the No. 2 spot in the official rankings.

At this point, it makes the most sense to afford Lawler the opportunity to avenge his loss, though it hurts the potential bout, at least from a marketing perspective, that Woodley ended their first go-round so convincingly. Then again, “Ruthless” earned his nickname and is responsible for some of the greatest wars in the history of the welterweight division.

It sure beats Woodley vs. Thompson 3.

For much more on last night’s event, including live results, play-by-play, video highlights, recaps, and so much more, check out our UFC 209 live story stream by clicking here.