Tyron Woodley is looking forward to his opportunity to shut up Jake Paul.
Jake Paul is not leaving the combat sports world any time soon. The ‘Problem Child’, a 3-0 pro boxer (versus all 0-0 boxers), is now signed to Showtime and is booked to face former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley on August 28.
Woodley, who saw his long time friend and training partner Ben Askren knocked out by Paul in April, spoke at length about the contest on a recent Instagram live broadcast.
“Surprise, surprise, surprise, we back at it August 28,” said Woodley (ht MMA Fighting). “You would visualize Jake Paul getting his head knocked smooth off his neck. Sometimes you talk yourself into a situation that you can’t back yourself out of. My mom used to say, ‘Your mouth wrote a check that your ass can’t cash.’ That’s exactly what happened.”
Woodley is free to compete against Paul after fighting out his UFC contract. Woodley lost his last four bouts in the Octagon. That run started with his loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 in 2019, a defeat that cost him the title he’d held since 2016.
Woodley has said that his upcoming fight with Paul is set to be the biggest payday of his decade-long pro combat sports career. But it sounds like the purse is just one motivating factor for ‘The Chosen One’.
“All the clout chasing, all the yelling, all the blah, blah blah, ‘I’m a fighter, all the MMA guys don’t never want to fight me.’ Now, you got a motherf*cker that’s going to fight you like you ain’t never been fought before. Ain’t no sparring you can do to motherf*cking get ready for it. Ain’t no meditation. Ain’t no kum ba yah. Ain’t no mama se mama sa mama coosa. Ain’t sh*t you can do. You getting your ass beat. I’m pumped up about it.
“We gonna break some records, and I’m going to break a motherf*cking jaw while I’m at it. Get ready to make motherf*cking history. Breaking records.”
Woodley, a former NCAA Division I wrestler, two-time All-American and Big 12 Conference champion, also revealed that he has always wanted to try boxing.
“I started doing MMA in 2005 because I was like I’m too old to just box,” he revealed. “I was 23 years old out of college wrestling, so I did MMA. I’m like sh*t, I can wrestle and punch.”
Woodley said he would be using his long time boxing coach Eric Brown to prepare for Paul. He added that a number of people had reached out to him to help him train for this fight, including former world middleweight and light heavyweight champion Andre Ward.
“Andre Ward, my dog, reached out. I cannot miss the opportunity [to work with him], it would be an honor and a blessing. Find some time to work with Andre Ward as well. After that, I’ll know more today.”
Woodley also shed some light on what he felt while observing Paul and his camp during his win over Askren at Triller Fight Club.
“I was quiet. I let him do his little bling, bling, bling, say whatever he wanted to say. Like I said before, it was my dog [Ben Askren] chance to fight. It was not my fight. These dudes out here fitting to clout.
“He came into this sh*t out for clout. His cornermen out for the clout. Everybody’s out for the clout. Now your clout fitting to get you hit in the motherf*cking mouth.”