UFC 205 Video: Woodley spars with Northcutt to prepare for Wonderboy

Tyron Woodley is working with a karate champion and UFC fighter to prepare for Stephen Thompson at UFC 205.

Tyron Woodley is defending his welterweight title at the highly anticipated UFC 205 card in New York. To prepare for an unorthodox striker in Stephen Thompson, Woodley trained with a Karate champ and UFC prospect in Sage Northcutt.

“These young guys, man. Old man got to whip out those new tricks, because they come at you,” Woodley said about Northcutt. “I work with Sage. He’s obviously in a similar style as the opponent I will be fighting against.”

“He, just in my opinion, is just a little bit faster, and his strikes come with a little bit more force. His takedown defense should be better,” he said about the Karateka who also has a wrestling background. “His power should be better, so I’m actually training with a better version of what I’m going to compete with.”

Woodley also spoke about having young and upcoming fighters providing that extra motivation to keep his game at a high level.

“I like to get my conditioning from the thing that I would actually like to do, which is spar. He would do another sprint, dammit I’m another sprint. He would want go another round, I have to go another round,” he said about working with Sage. “You get that hungry, ambitious fighter that’s driven, and you keep him with you and they raise your level.”

“When we get to the point that he’s wearing the belt, he’s going to have to locate and find that up and coming fighter. That one that wants it so bad, that’s willing to get it. That’s going to keep him at that level.”

“That’s how the circle of life goes in this sport,” he said. “The second you think you know everything — like yesterday, I’m going to be honest, he was catching me with all types of stuff that I didn’t see coming.”

“Like I said, put yourself in hellfire now. Don’t get out in the Octagon and somebody is going to come at you with something you didn’t know that’s coming.”

Not only did Woodley bring in a Karate-based fighter, continuing to set up camp in Roufusport, which is known for having dynamic strikers should only help him prepare. We’ll see on fight night if that’s enough to overcome such a tricky and technical fighter in Wonderboy, but Tyron seems to be taking a very smart and logical approach to his maiden title defense.

This doesn’t seem like a long term thing for Northcutt, but spending some time with a top camp like this could only help the 20-year-old shore up his game and help him integrate and adopt his Karate better for MMA.

Tyron Woodley is working with a karate champion and UFC fighter to prepare for Stephen Thompson at UFC 205.

Tyron Woodley is defending his welterweight title at the highly anticipated UFC 205 card in New York. To prepare for an unorthodox striker in Stephen Thompson, Woodley trained with a Karate champ and UFC prospect in Sage Northcutt.

“These young guys, man. Old man got to whip out those new tricks, because they come at you,” Woodley said about Northcutt. “I work with Sage. He’s obviously in a similar style as the opponent I will be fighting against.”

“He, just in my opinion, is just a little bit faster, and his strikes come with a little bit more force. His takedown defense should be better,” he said about the Karateka who also has a wrestling background. “His power should be better, so I’m actually training with a better version of what I’m going to compete with.”

Woodley also spoke about having young and upcoming fighters providing that extra motivation to keep his game at a high level.

“I like to get my conditioning from the thing that I would actually like to do, which is spar. He would do another sprint, dammit I’m another sprint. He would want go another round, I have to go another round,” he said about working with Sage. “You get that hungry, ambitious fighter that’s driven, and you keep him with you and they raise your level.”

“When we get to the point that he’s wearing the belt, he’s going to have to locate and find that up and coming fighter. That one that wants it so bad, that’s willing to get it. That’s going to keep him at that level.”

“That’s how the circle of life goes in this sport,” he said. “The second you think you know everything — like yesterday, I’m going to be honest, he was catching me with all types of stuff that I didn’t see coming.”

“Like I said, put yourself in hellfire now. Don’t get out in the Octagon and somebody is going to come at you with something you didn’t know that’s coming.”

Not only did Woodley bring in a Karate-based fighter, continuing to set up camp in Roufusport, which is known for having dynamic strikers should only help him prepare. We’ll see on fight night if that’s enough to overcome such a tricky and technical fighter in Wonderboy, but Tyron seems to be taking a very smart and logical approach to his maiden title defense.

This doesn’t seem like a long term thing for Northcutt, but spending some time with a top camp like this could only help the 20-year-old shore up his game and help him integrate and adopt his Karate better for MMA.