It wasn’t the UFC.
But it was still one of the best fights we’ve seen all year.
“I was super stoked from the second the weigh-ins began,” Lloyd Woodard (12-1) told Bleacher Report.
If you haven’t caught on yet, Woodard is coming off one of the greatest Bellator performances of all time where he defeated Patricky Freire via Kimura at Bellator 62.
“I wanted to fight bad and I know he wanted to get out there and get things started too,” Woodard said. “We both wanted another shot at Michael Chandler and we both thought we could beat him.”
“I knew he was going to bring it. He’s a great striker and I pride myself in my striking as well. I knew it was going to be a battle and that’s why I brought it the way I did. I always try and bring the heat,” Woodard said.
Woodard certainly brought it in the opening frame but a series of strikes from Freire would quickly change the pace of the fight.
Instead of a dominating first round, Woodard found himself on his back as the opening round came to an end.
“The announcing always makes it sound much worse than it is. He’s got good hands so I can see why they were like that but I wouldn’t say I was badly hurt. But I did get hit,” Woodard said. “The number one mistake was that I started going backwards and I’m a fighter who comes forward.”
“He caught me but I was able to rebound. I went for the knee to return the favor to take him out and all of a sudden he went to taking me down. I didn’t expect that at all. I didn’t think he’d want to go to the ground. It probably scored him some points,” Woodard said.
After the action-packed opening round, just one question remained.
Who won the round?
“When I was fighting I thought he won the first round just because he ended up on top of me at the end of the round,” Woodard said. “I actually went back and watched it and I thought I won due to my striking, my aggression and when I was on top I did a lot more damage than what he did when he was on top.”
1:46 later, Woodard earned the 12th win of his career, pushing him one step closer towards his desired rematch with current lightweight champion, Chandler.
However, “Cupcake” Woodard will now take some additional time to enjoy his first win of 2012 and reminisce on what many consider one of the greatest fights of all time.
“I’m a fight fanatic so I know all of the great fights. That’s such an honor to even be considered in that category. You begin to think about it and you have your Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar fight, the Pat Barry and Cheick Kongo bout,” Woodard said. “There are so many great moments like that and I think it’s impossible to pick just one.”
“It’s just an honor to be apart of one of the best fights of all time.”
For additional information, follow Garrett Derr on Twitter.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com