Tyron Woodley talked his way into his biggest career fight, as he got a bout against former UFC interim and WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit.
Saturday, Woodley walked the walk at UFC 171 in Dallas. The St Louis native went toe-to-toe with the popular veteran for seven minutes before Condit went down with an unfortunate knee injury.
Woodley improved to 13-2 with the victory, which goes into the books as a TKO at 2:00 of round two.
“I heard him say ‘ow’ when I took him down,” said Woodley. “So I thought, I’m going to test him with a left and a right, one of those things is going to hurt.”
The opening round was the exciting, back-and-forth battle we’ve come to expect from Condit over the years. Woodley scored several times with his huge right hand, earning Condit’s respect. Condit got his bearings later in the round and began to mix up his strikes, using kicks to set up his boxing. Woodley scored a takedown, and Condit worked for submission from the bottom.
The second round was just starting to heat up when the fight came to a sudden end. Woodley threw a right leg kick behind Condit’s knee, which caused Condit’s leg to visibly dislocated. Condit (29-8) crumpled to the mat and the referee waved off the bout.
“He’s a really tough guy,” said Woodley. “I landed some really hard right hands in the fight.”
With the victory, Woodley feels he is deserving of the next shot at the welterweight title.
“We know what’s next, the world title,” Woodley said. “This is all about. I stepped up to the plate when nobody would and I fought the toughest guy in my weight class.”