UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley says he would like to make a fight with Conor McGregor happen.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Woodley was also reacting to news that the UFC lightweight champion has obtained a boxing licence in California.
Woodley retained his welterweight belt at UFC205 after a fight with Stephen Thompson on the same night that McGregor added the lightweight title to his featherweight one.
And the St Louis, Missouri based fighter has suggested that UFC 209 at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York in February 2017 is a date and location that he and McGregor could agree on - although the fact that McGregor is set to become a father in the first half of next year means a pre-summer date is unlikely.
"I know he already has an MMA licence, so if he wants to scrap it up with me at UFC209 in Brooklyn, then that's what I'm focused on," said Woodley.
"I'm trying to make that fight happen and put that on the map."
The UFC recently confirmed that McGregor had vacated the featherweight belt, although the Dubliner's coach John Kavanagh said that he "was very disappointed with how they (UFC) went about doing it".
After success at featherweight and lightweight grades, McGregor has hinted that he would even consider trying his luck for the welterweight title at some point in the future.
McGregor's move to apply for a California boxing license may be seen simply as a veiled threat towards the UFC and he has been endlessly linked with a mega-money super-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Woodley says he can understand why a fight against Mayweather would be tempting for McGregor.
"If Conor decided that 'you know what, I want to walk in and take this $100 million fight against Floyd Mayweather, no one including myself can knock him for doing that," he said.
"I respect Conor for what he's done for the sport and the moves that he's trying to make for himself."
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