Erick Silva Out, Tyron Woodley in Against Jay Hieron at UFC 156


(“Come on, you guys, give him a hand for trying.”)

If you were looking over the UFC 156 fight card and thinking to yourself “Hey, this card is almost too stacked. I could really use a lackluster fight to make a sandwich or go to the bathroom during,” well then do we have some great news for you. Now that Erick Silva has fallen victim to the great injury curse of 2012 (2013 status pending), it appears that Strikeforce welterweight Tyron Woodley has been called over to the UFC in his absence. As was the case with future highlight reel victim Lucas Martins, Woodley will be making his promotional debut on short notice against a much more experienced opponent. However, unlike Martins, Woodley actually finds himself in a matchup that he stands a good chance of winning.

Woodley will be squaring off against Jay Hieron, a Bellator/IFL/Strikeforce veteran who has simply not been able to put it together in the octagon, going 0 for 3 in the promotion thus far. After we hyped the hell out of his UFC return, Hieron put on an incredibly disappointing — not to mention tepid — performance against Jake Ellenberger at UFC on FX 5, resulting in a unanimous decision victory for the Omaha native. You guys remember that fight, right? Anyone? Who am I kidding, not even Hieron’s mom remembers that fight.


(“Come on, you guys, give him a hand for trying.”)

If you were looking over the UFC 156 fight card and thinking to yourself “Hey, this card is almost too stacked. I could really use a lackluster fight to make a sandwich or go to the bathroom during,” well then do we have some great news for you. Now that Erick Silva has fallen victim to the great injury curse of 2012 (2013 status pending), it appears that Strikeforce welterweight Tyron Woodley has been called over to the UFC in his absence. As was the case with future highlight reel victim Lucas Martins, Woodley will be making his promotional debut on short notice against a much more experienced opponent. However, unlike Martins, Woodley actually finds himself in a matchup that he stands a good chance of winning.

Woodley will be squaring off against Jay Hieron, a Bellator/IFL/Strikeforce veteran who has simply not been able to put it together in the octagon, going 0 for 3 in the promotion thus far. After we hyped the hell out of his UFC return, Hieron put on an incredibly disappointing — not to mention tepid — performance against Jake Ellenberger at UFC on FX 5, resulting in a unanimous decision victory for the Omaha native. You guys remember that fight, right? Anyone? Who am I kidding, not even Hieron’s mom remembers that fight.

Anyway, considering he’s fighting one of the most prominent lay-n-pray artists in the sport in Woodley, expect this one to go down in similar fashion to Hieron’s Bellator 56 title scrap against Ben Azzzzkren. In other words, Hieron will spend most of the fight fending off takedowns and scoring minimally from the outside, his jabs doing little to stifle the chorus of boos from the audience. By the end of three rounds, he will have emerged a clear victor, yet the fight will be scored a split decision in favor of Woodley. Hieron will then walk away in disgust and rant and rave in his post-fight interviews that Woodley “Didn’t come to fight” and yadda yadda yadda I’m really tired today.

Who do you like for this one, Potato Nation? And more importantly, how do you plan on entertaining yourself for the loong fifteen minutes this fight will ultimately last?

–J. Jones