Stephen Thompson vs. Tyron Woodley | UFC Betting Sites

Tyron Woodley: Sage Northcutt Is Faster & More Powerful Than Wonderboy

UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley is headed for the biggest fight of his MMA career when he faces surging No. 1 contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in the co-main event of November 12’s blockbuster UFC 205 from Madison Square Garden in New York City. After winning the title with an earth-shaking first round knockout over former champion

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After winning the title with an earth-shaking first round knockout over former champion Robbie Lawler at July 30’s UFC 201, ‘The Chosen One’ will now meet an opponent whom many feel has the perfect to defeat his hard-charging style, as “Wonderboy” used his unique karate-based offense to defeat former title contender Rory MacDonald in his most recent bout at UFC Fight Night 89.

The one-sided decision win secured seven straight wins and a title shot for Thompson, who has finished Johny Hendricks, Jake Ellenberger, and surging middleweight Robert Whittaker during the streak. He may possess the most momentum of any fighter in the Octagon, yet Woodley believes Thompson isn’t even as good as his new training partner.

In a video released on his Youtube channel, Woodley is featured sparring with highly touted UFC lightweight Sage Northcutt. Apparently impressed with ‘Super’ Sage’s skills, Woodley made the bold proclamation that Northcutt is indeed faster, more powerful, and in possession of better takedown defense than the larger and more experienced Thompson (transcribed by Bloody Elbow):

“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. His power should be better, so I’m actually training with a better version of what I’m going to compete with.”

Those words could (will) evoke the collective ire of the online MMA community in a big way, as Woodley has already been the subject of many an online attack following his win over Lawler, including alleged instances of racism.

But aside from those ridiculous back-and-forths, Northcutt is still very inexperienced compared to Thompson, and has yet to display the pure knockout power that the flashy, pinpoint striking “Wonderboy” has used to win his way to the top of one of MMA’s deepest divisions.

Do you believe Northcutt comes close to outclassing Thompson in the areas Woodley focused on? Watch their training video and decide for yourself:

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UFC 205 Press Conference Live Stream

Hot on the heels of last night’s announcement that featherweight champion Conor McGregor would face lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez in the main event of November 12’s UFC 205 from New York, the promotion gets the hype for the huge event rolling with an official pre-fight press conference from the Big Apple tonight. McGregor and Alvarez

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McGregor and Alvarez will join fellow title fight participants Tyron Woodley, Stephen Thompson, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and Karolina Kowalkiewicz in addition to other main card fighters like Chris Weidman, Yoel Romero, Donald Cerrone, and Kelvin Gastelum. Watch the presser streaming live at 6 p.m. EST here:

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Breaking: Conor McGregor Won’t Fight At UFC 205

Finally, several bouts have been made official for November 12’s UFC 205 pay-per-view event from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Featherweight champion Conor McGregor just won’t be among them unfortunately. Speculation has recently predicted a Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez main event for the lightweight title, but UFC President Dana White seemingly

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Finally, several bouts have been made official for November 12’s UFC 205 pay-per-view event from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York.

Featherweight champion Conor McGregor just won’t be among them unfortunately.

Speculation has recently predicted a Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez main event for the lightweight title, but UFC President Dana White seemingly put the kibosh on those plans by saying top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov would get the next 155-pound title shot at the event.

White expanded upon that notion earlier tonight when Megan Olivi announced on ‘UFC Tonight’ that the president revealed McGregor was still rehabbing a foot injury from his five-round war with Nate Diaz at August 20’s UFC 202. That meant ‘The Notorious’ was unlikely to fight at the UFC’s first event from New York City. Alvarez vs. Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, was clarified by White as potentially headlining December 10’s UFC 206 from Toronto. Both fighters have been sent new bout agreements for the title tilt.

The five bouts that were officially announced were Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens, Kelvin Gastelum vs. Donald Cerrone, Tim Kennedy vs. Rashad Evans, Tim Boestch vs. Rafael Natal, and Liz Carmouche vs. Katlyn Chookagian. Hailing from nearby Toms River, New Jersey, Edgar will look to rebound from a loss to longtime former champion Aldo for the interim featherweight belt in at July’s UFC 200 from Las Vegas.

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley also guaranteed as ‘UFC Tonight’ co-host that he would be facing Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson at the card, a fight that he announced last Friday but is only being held up by a technicality in the contract according to ‘The Chosen One.’

The full card will be announced at a press conference from Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, three days before tickets for the historic card go on sale.

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Tyron Woodley Opens As Early Underdog Against Stephen Thompson

New UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley may have been aiming for a ‘money fight’ against Georges St. Pierre or Nick Diaz after he won the belt by knocking out Robbie Lawler in late July, but most MMA fans’ wishes were fulfilled at last Friday’s UFC Fight Night 94 weigh-ins when ‘T-Wood’ confirmed he would be

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Most regard ‘Wonderboy’ as the greatest threat to Woodley’s crown, as the general thinking is that Thompson will be able to keep out of Woodley’s early power range while picking him apart in the mid to later rounds where ‘T-Wood’ tends to fade. Apparently oddsmakers agree with this sentiment as well, as Thompson is a -150 favorite with Woodley a +120 underdog according to early numbers from MMAOddsbreakers’ Nick Kalikas, who explained his thinking for setting the line:

“Tyron Woodley is a deserving and dangerous champion, having knocked out Robbie Lawler to claim the welterweight crown, but he may have his hands full in Stephen Thompson. Thompson has proven himself as the best striker at 170 pounds. Woodley has explosive power and is an excellent wrestler, but he’s had major difficulty against technical strikers with excellent takedown defense like Rory MacDonald. Thompson uses distance expertly and recently proved he can push a solid pace for five rounds with his last win. I’m opening the title challenger Thompson as a -150 betting favorite because I feel as long as he survives Woodley in the first round and settles in, he’ll be able to control almost every dynamic of the fight.”

It’s far from the first time Woodley has been in this position, however. Despite his position as champion and arguably the hardest hitter in the talented UFC welterweight division, MMA Junkie pointed out that Woodley has opened as the betting dog in an alarming six straight fights against Carlos Condit, Rory MacDonald, Dong Hyun Kim, Kelvin Gastelum, Lawler, and now Thompson.

He only lost to MacDonald, but many believe that fight will paint the picture of why he will lose to Thompson as ‘The Red King’ was a lanky, technical striker whom ‘Wonderboy’ thoroughly out-struck in their meeting at UFC Fight Night 89 this June.

So it’s a role that Woodley has relished, mainly silencing his doubters with a mix of high-powered knockouts amongst a controversial decision win over Gastelum and his injury TKO victory over

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Demian Maia: I Just Beat The Guy Who Should’ve Been Champ

One week after the record-breaking UFC 202 pay-per-view where Conor McGregor outlasted Nate Diaz in a back-and-forth war, Demian Maia made a thunderous statement with a sub-two-minute submission win over Carlos Condit (watch full highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., August 27, 2016) UFC on FOX 21 from Vancouver, although it may

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One week after the record-breaking UFC 202 pay-per-view where Conor McGregor outlasted Nate Diaz in a back-and-forth war, Demian Maia made a thunderous statement with a sub-two-minute submission win over Carlos Condit (watch full highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., August 27, 2016) UFC on FOX 21 from Vancouver, although it may not have drummed up much attention.

Maia’s style, as perhaps the finest Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner in MMA today, has never been the most fan-friendly. He’s often been known to smother opponents in the early-going of bouts only to gas out later while still maintaining an irreversible top control due to the massive gap in skill he possesses over even most elite MMA fighters on the ground.

But that shouldn’t matter at all, because Maia has won six straight fights in arguably the most competitive and deep division in the UFC. Since returning to his roots of jiu-jitsu following his failed title bid at middleweight where he inexplicably got away from his most natural skillset in an attempt to out-strike his opponents, Maia has never looked more at home. That has him on the cusp of another title shot, this time at 170 pounds versus new champion Tyron Woodley, yet that’s been promised to No. 2 contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

Speaking up at the FOX Sports 1 post-fight show following his statement victory over Condit, Maia said he could see why the UFC may pass Thompson over for him due to his age. If that ends up not the case, then Maia just hopes they sign Woodley vs. “Wonderboy” soon:

“I think so. I respect very much Thompson, he’s a great guy. Of course, I’m much older than him so if they could give it to me first, that would be great.

“If not, I hope they give (it) to him really fast and they decide and I wait to see who wins the fight.”

Maia knows that realistically, however, the fight is most likely going to go to Thompson after UFC President Dana White recently made it clear that Woodley wouldn’t get the “money fights” he wanted with Georges St-Pierre or Nick Diaz that he called out for when he snubbed Thompson mere minutes after winning the belt with a title-clinching first round knockout over Robbie Lawler in the main event of July 30’s UFC 201.

With that being the direction the promotion will probably take, Maia said he’s willing to wait for the winner of Woodley vs. Thompson, because he feels like in Condit, he just beat the man who should have been champion based on his controversial split decision loss to Lawler at January 2’s UFC 195:

“I’ll wait. I can stay active in training and doing my teaching, doing what I do everyday. The guy I fought today is not just a former champion, but he is also a guy that many people including me and I was watching Octagon-side his fight against (Robbie) Lawler and many people including me thought he won and he was supposed to be the champ.

“So what else should I do? I have six wins in a row and that’s it.”

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