Tyron Woodley Targets August Return from Chronic Hand Issue, Robbie Lawler Still Ready for Rematch

Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is on the mend after visiting a hand specialist to deal with the injury that knocked him out of his upcoming fight against Robbie Lawler in June.

According to Woodley, the latest flare up in his thumb stems more from an onging issue rather than a new injury but he just wasn’t at 100-percent to compete as early as June.

“I went to go see a hand specialist earlier this week and the hand specialist basically looked at my x-ray and looked at the MRI and he said I have chronic arthritis in my joint right here [in the thumb],” Woodley revealed when speaking to TMZ. “There’s three joints that allow me to grab and grip. One has chronic arthritis and this one has severe arthritis. So he said there’s a few different ways to heal and fix the problem permanently but it’s something you wouldn’t do if you’re still active and fighting cause it limits your range of motion and grip.

“He said the temporary fix is to rehab it, get it stronger, get the flexibility where you can actually start to grab and grip and then 10 days before a fight, let’s try and do a cortisone shot. So I have the UFC checking on dates and cities and states that actually accept, that allow you to have a cortisone shot.”