UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley didn’t think too highly of the fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.
Tyron Woodley doesn’t think the lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor back at UFC 229 last October was good at all.
Woodley, who is set to defend his welterweight title against Kamaru Usman this Saturday at UFC 235, was working for FOX Sports on the night Khabib fought McGregor. Although Khabib put on a dominant performance and won by submission in the fourth round, Woodley wasn’t full of praise for either man involved in the fight.
“It wasn’t that great a fight,” Woodley told MMA Fighting. “I don’t care what anybody else said … they both kind of looked bad. They both looked like old men at the nursing home fighting each other. But then we glorified this fight. It wasn’t like this great strategic fight where one person was strategic.”
To say Woodley and McGregor are on good terms wouldn’t be entirely true. The two have traded words in the past, most infamously before UFC 205 in November 2016 when both men had fights on the card. Despite this, Woodley respects the ‘mystique’ McGregor brings with him to the octagon.
“This is a person that, I don’t give stats, he’s lost a few times and won a few times, but look at his mystique he has,” Woodley said. “So it’s telling you it’s not so much about winning. It’s about the showmanship. It’s about what you bring to the table. It’s about making people give a f*ck. You gotta find a way to do both. You gotta find a way to do both of it. You’ve got to find a way to make people invested, want to see me lose, want to see me win.”
UFC 235 will take place this Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In the main event, Jon Jones will aim to defend his light heavyweight title against Anthony Smith, Woodley vs. Usman will serve as the co-main event.