That shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering Zuffa’s hatred of Paul Daley; the company likely wants to avoid any situation in which they might have to refer to him as a “champion.” So maybe Woodley will get a shot at Strikeforce’s now-vacant welterweight title if he wins this fight. And at that point, Strikeforce’s 170-pound division will be so thin and cleaned out that their welterweight belt will have about as much prestige as a goddamned Burger King crown.
That shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering Zuffa’s hatred of Paul Daley; the company likely wants to avoid any situation in which they might have to refer to him as a “champion.” So maybe Woodley will get a shot at Strikeforce’s now-vacant welterweight title if he wins this fight. And at that point, Strikeforce’s 170-pound division will be so thin and cleaned out that their welterweight belt will have about as much prestige as a goddamned Burger King crown.
Woodley has won six fights under the Strikeforce banner, most recently a decision over Tarec Saffiedine in January. Meanwhile, Daley will be looking to dust himself off after getting TKO’d by Nick Diaz in April.
One fight that won’t be on the 7/30 card is the scheduled light-heavyweight battle between BJJ scion Roger Gracie, and former Strikeforce champ Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal. Gracie has withdrawn due to a foot injury, and both fighters have agreed to meet at the September 10th event instead.
For one, both men are coming off losses. Sure they were to Diaz, who was as dominant of a champion as Strikeforce has ever known, but why not make them earn a shot at the title like everyone else. You could argue that undefeated Tyron Woodley, (who we were told by a source close to Daley a few days prior to Santos being pulled from his bout with Tarec Saffiedine to instead face the brash Brit was Semtex’s original opponent) deserves a shot before either fighter.
Secondly, why should Daley and Santos get back-to-back title shots? Doesn’t that somehow cheapen the belt and make it a runners up prize? Why not just give it to the second place finisher then like they do with the Miss America title when the winner is unable to fulfill her duties?
Anyway, Daley is of the opinion somehow that he thinks he deserves to immediately fight for the belt again, like a do-over is common in MMA championship bouts.
“Nothing’s been said but, to me, it makes sense,” Daley said ESPN ‘s UFC Podcast. “Nick Diaz vacates the title, we were the last two guys to contend for the Strikeforce welterweight title, so it’s the only thing that makes sense to me. I would suggest, if I was promoting it, that the next fight is for the title.”
He would also like to suggest that he be allowed back in the UFC and be given a coaching gig on season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Josh Koscheck in spite of Dana White’s assertion that he will never fight for the Zuffa-owned promotion again. Can’t balame a guy for tryin’.
“[TUF] would be good! That would be very interesting. Would Dana White let it happen? I doubt it. I don’t mind TV, I don’t mind going up against Koscheck,” he explained. “My season would definitely be interesting because I say things how they are. I don’t play up for the cameras. It would be funny.”
If White doesn’t go for that suggestion, Daley says he’s got many more suggestions about how he should run his business that involve him being given plenty of big opportunities.
“I want a Diaz rematch. If Diaz loses to GSP and my fight’s for the title, I’ll get the title and then use it to line up a rematch with Diaz. I know it’s within my power to beat Diaz. It sounds stupid because I lost to him, but had I not have got caught with a certain shot around the two-minute mark, I wouldn’t have been fighting on instinct and the fight would have been a lot different,” he said. “He had the ability, the skill or the fortune to land that shot to the temple, which I couldn’t recover from with the pace he was setting.”
As far as his loss to Diaz, Daley sees the finish a lot differently than pretty much everyone else. He maintains that, in spite of the close-up that clearly showed him wobbly and stunned sitting on the stool and asking what the hell happened after eating a slew of shots from Diaz that saw Big John McCarthy step in and save him from taking more damage, he wasn’t in trouble and likely would have recovered sufficiently to mount a come-from-behind win.
“A different ref, a different day… we’ve recently seen the Jose Aldo versus Mark Hominick fight, we’ve seen the Shane Carwin v Junior Dos Santos fight. Those guys were in far greater trouble than I was and the fight was allowed to go on. John McCarthy refereed the Hominick fight and let it continue, but he was different with me. He stopped it with three seconds to go, yet when I landed six shots after Diaz face-planted he didn’t even bat an eyelid. There’s frustration about that because I think McCarthy is a good ref, but there is no consistency. If you’re gonna let a fight continue when Hominick’s got a big f***ing lump on his head and on numerous times he’s in bad spots, you can’t stop a championship shot with three seconds to go. I had my guard up, I was kicking Diaz’s legs… had Herb Dean been refereeing I think the fight would have been allowed to continue.”
Sure, buddy. Keep telling yourself that.
As far as regretting the punch he threw at Koscheck, Daley obviously hasn’t learned how to “play the game” like Diaz.
“[The punch ] is a bit hard to comment on, but I would have thought I could have thrown a better punch and knocked him out, given that Koscheck wasn’t expecting it.
Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsNo sooner had Nick Diaz retained his Strikeforce welterweight title in April when he started discussing his future possibilities. There was a potential boxing match with Fernando Vargas thrown around, t…
No sooner had Nick Diaz retained his Strikeforce welterweight title in April when he started discussing his future possibilities. There was a potential boxing match with Fernando Vargas thrown around, then another one against Jeff Lacy. There was a suggestion that he could face UFC champion Georges St-Pierre in an MMA superfight.
One option that Diaz seemed to immediately dismiss, however, was a rising star in his own company, within his own division, Tyron Woodley. The unbeaten Woodley, in Diaz’s opinion, would be “in a little over his head” moving so quickly into the title picture.
And so the waiting game for Woodley began. At 8-0, he seems stuck in a purgatory between prospect and top-flight contender, and with no easy route to his intended destination at the top. Woodley hopes that road will begin this summer, when he is expecting to fight at a still officially unannounced July 30 show, against an opponent yet to be determined.
While he says the uncertainty of his opponent is not a source of frustration for him, he believes he should only be fighting one of two men: Diaz or Paul Daley. By their account, he’s not ready for them. And by his own, he’s beaten most of the contenders directly below him in the division, and facing anyone else wouldn’t make much sense. What we’re left with is a matchmaking stalemate.
“I think the fans want to see it,” he told MMA Fighting. “You check Twitter and message boards, and the fans want to see me fight these guys. These guys had to fight someone to get a name. Diaz had to beat someone, to knock them out, like he did with Robbie Lawler in the UFC. Daley had to knock out Martin Kampmann. I’m not going to stop asking for these fights.
“They’re calling out people they want to fight, people with names,” he continued. “And I have to sit back and hear them say, ‘Oh, he’s not ready yet,’ or ‘I’ll mess this kid up.’ That’s what they’re saying to the camera, but deep down inside, they don’t believe that.”
Woodley went into his Jan. 7 match against Tarec Saffiedine with the belief that a win would get him a crack at the belt. He handled Saffiedine in a unanimous decision victory and waited to see what would happen next. First, Daley took a fight in the UK and missed weight, but ended up winning. That set him up to fight Diaz, and the fight ended in a first-round TKO for the champion.
Under the currently accepted Strikeforce rankings, Daley is the only contender ahead of Woodley that is free to fight in the summer. He has no idea if it’s a fight being considered, but he doesn’t think it’s one Daley wants.
“For Daley, his wrestling and jiu-jitsu are his weak points,” he said. “He doesn’t want to get put on his back like Josh Koscheck did, like Jake Shields did, like Pat Healy did, especially by a kid who is not in the top 10 rankings, who doesn’t have the same name recognition that these guys have. Daley? I don’t think he wants to fight wrestlers.”
He views the Diaz situation entirely differently. He says straight-up, “I don’t think Diaz avoids bouts with anybody” and that he’s a “fan” of watching him fight. At his best, he can even look at Diaz’s situation objectively, even if it means he’s the odd man out.
“I can’t knock him, I can’t hate on him for what he’s doing,” Woodley said. “Realistically, it’s a lose-lose situation for him. If he fights me, he’s gonna hear he’s not fighting top guys because I’m not as well known. And if he loses, he lost to a prospect while I made my mark off of him. Now where do you go? So he looks around and says, ‘Maybe I’ll get the fight with Georges St-Pierre.’ Why not fight the No. 1 guy in the world? Look at the risk vs. reward, and I can see where he’s at.”
When he shifts back into sportsman mode though, he says things should be more simple. In any other sport, when it gets to postseason or tournament format, or more specifically, when you’re fighting for a championship, winners fight other winners. Victors move forward, and losers are weeded out. And he hasn’t lost. Look around the rest of the division, and few others can say that. Daley lost his last fight. So did Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, and Scott Smith, and KJ Noons and Saffiedine, and the list goes on.
With his six Strikeforce wins, he’s a proven winner, and he emphasizes that he is not “calling out” anyone out of disrespect, but out of ambition. He says he won’t be upset if he doesn’t get Daley or Diaz next, and it won’t change his target.
“If I don’t keep moving towards a world championship, what the heck am I in MMA for?” he said. “I respect these guys as fighters and competitors, but do I want to fight you? Yes, if you’ve got the belt, I do. It’s nothing personal.”
Last week, Zuffa held its annual fighter meetings in Las Vegas, and Woodley looked around the sea of fighters, saw a few he’d fought in the past, others he wants to fight in the future. Diaz was not one of them. He never got a look at him. He did see Daley, however, and the two shook hands and exchanged quick pleasantries.
Afterward, Woodley returned back home, where he is helping his wife take care of their newborn, 3-month old Dylan. Back in the gym, Woodley is working to refine his striking and get back to basics on his considerable wrestling skills, well aware that the highest levels of MMA will require him to be more than proficient at both. Diaz and Daley are very different fighters, and will require very different preparation.
He just doesn’t think they have the preparation to beat him.
“I’m not a good fight for either one,” he said. “I’m faster, more explosive and a much better wrestler than Diaz. He has gas for days, can take a punch better than anybody at 170, and his jiu-jitsu is world class, but look at his three losses: Diego Sanchez, Joe Riggs, Sean Sherk. Nobody recently has fought Diaz on their own terms. They always engage him in his war and they always lose.
“As far as Daley, I just think it’s a good fight for me, a cool bout,” he continued. “Realistically, I don’t get to decide who’s next, but my next fight needs to see a performance like I had against Andre Galvao, like in my first couple bouts. I watched [Bellator’s] Michael Chandler fight the other day, and I was thinking, ‘That’s how I used to fight.’ Putting pressure on guys, heavy pressure. After the second round, he made a gesture with his hands like he was breaking a stick. He was saying, ‘I broke him.’ I’ve got to get back to that. I’m so excited to train, and I’m looking forward to getting back in the cage. I need a big fight.”
Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsDana White told MMA Fighting earlier this month that Nick Diaz “could be a big star if he would just calm down a little bit and not be so angry with everybody.”
Dana White told MMA Fighting earlier this month that Nick Diaz “could be a big star if he would just calm down a little bit and not be so angry with everybody.”
But UFC color analyst Joe Rogan said on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour that he likes Nick Diaz just the way he is.
“I like Nick Diaz as Nick Diaz. I don’t think he has to do anything different,” Rogan said.
“I think what Nick Diaz needs is big fights. I think what Nick Diaz needs is promotion and big fights. Obviously, I’m biased when it comes to this whole Strikeforce-UFC thing, both under the same umbrella, but what I hope it leads to is super-fights. I want to see Nick Diaz against the very best in the UFC. I would love to see Nick Diaz vs. Josh Koscheck. I would love to see Nick Diaz vs. Georges St-Pierre.”
Filed under: Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsHere’s what we know is true about Tyron Woodley: he’s 28 years old; he made his MMA debut two years ago; he’s 8-0; and he just signed a new four-fight deal with Strikeforce.
Here’s what we know is true about Tyron Woodley: he’s 28 years old; he made his MMA debut two years ago; he’s 8-0; and he just signed a new four-fight deal with Strikeforce.
Here’s what Woodley would like you to know: he should be fighting for the Strikeforce welterweight title as soon as possible.
“I think I’m the No. 1 contender at this point,” the American Top Team member said on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour. “I think, realistically, from the communication I got from Strikeforce, me and Tarec [Saffiedine] wasn’t just an irrelevant fight. It meant something. It meant that we were fighting for either the No. 1 contendership spot or to bang heads with [Paul] Daley, and I’m more than willing to go against Daley to solidify that I’m the No. 1 contender and I deserve a title shot.
“But quite frankly, I believe he don’t want to fight a wrestler. He wants to fight KJ Noons. He wants somebody to stand in front of him and bang with him. He don’t want somebody that can strike, somebody that can put him on his back, somebody that can dominate him.”
It’s Monday, which means it’s time for another two-hour live edition of The MMA Hour.
On this week’s show, we’ll talk to:
* Strikeforce welterweight Tyron Woodley about his recent win over Tarec Saffiedine and the upcoming title fight between Nick Diaz and Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos.
No sooner had 
Dana White 
It’s Monday, which means it’s time for another two-hour live edition of