To hear Tyron Woodley tell it, fellow welterweight Rory MacDonald is just about out of his mind if he thinks he deserves a title shot after beating Demian Maia at UFC 170.
Woodley, who faces former interim champion Carlos Condit at UFC 171 next weekend…
To hear TyronWoodley tell it, fellow welterweight Rory MacDonald is just about out of his mind if he thinks he deserves a title shot after beating Demian Maia at UFC 170.
Woodley, who faces former interim champion Carlos Condit at UFC 171 next weekend, says that a win over Condit should hold far more weight than a win over Maia.
“I hold everybody [at UFC 171] in high regard,” Woodley said during a Thursday conference call to promote the pay per view card. “For me to defeat Carlos Condit, that’s more important than him defeating Demian Maia any day of the week.”
Condit said during the call that he’s been told he’ll receive a title shot if he beats Woodley. Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler meet in the main event later that evening to determine the next UFC welterweight champion after former champion Georges St-Pierre went on hiatus late last year.
Woodley said it was MacDonald’s decision not to fight St-Pierre while his teammate held the belt that factors into his position in the division now, with St-Pierre gone.
“He should’ve taken that chance when he had it. You were ranked the third welterweight in the world, being the gatekeeper,” Woodley said. “And then when it comes down to fighting GSP, you didn’t want to do it.
“I’m pretty sure Carlos has had some training sessions with GSP at Greg Jackson’s camp. When came down to fight him, he stepped up to the plate and he was trying to take his head off. I think it’s kind of comical that he thinks all of a sudden he’s just going to jump in front.
Woodley compared MacDonald’s request for a title shot to another controversial welterweight.
“Same as Diaz. He thinks he’s just going to jump in front,” Woodley said. “I think they’re sharing the same bag of weed.”
With a win at UFC 171, Tyron Woodley believes that his future holds the same reward as that of his foe, Carlos Condit.
According to the UFC on Fox Twitter account, the UFC recently told Condit that he would receive a title shot if …
With a win at UFC 171, Tyron Woodley believes that his future holds the same reward as that of his foe, Carlos Condit.
According to the UFC on Fox Twitter account, the UFC recently told Condit that he would receive a title shot if he defeats Woodley on March 15, and “T-Wood” responded by saying it should be the same for him.
“I’m going to beat Carlos Condit,” Woodley told Bleacher Report. “I’m fighting for the world title. There’s no ‘if.’ I like how people automatically assume Carlos gets the bid if he wins, but I have to win by some devastating, crazy, miraculous way for me to get a title shot. I believe that the word ‘No. 1 contendership’ means that the winner gets the bout.”
He might have a point.
The former Strikeforce welterweight title contender has gone 2-1 since joining the UFC in February 2013. He has two ferocious knockout victories and one disappointing, debatable split-decision loss to one of the sport’s best game-plan neutralizers in Jake Shields.
Condit went 1-1 over the same stretch of time, so it would appear that each man resides in a similar place within the division.
While “The Natural Born Killer” possesses some of the best striking in the welterweight class, he faltered against top-tier wrestlers in his recent losses to Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks.
Woodley, a former Division I wrestler at Missouri University, realizes this potential advantage, but he does not intend to rely upon it to secure victory on fight night.
“For me, it’s not just going to the wrestling,” he said. “What if I don’t get the shots? What if I take him down and he’s doing damage from his back and making me look like I’m tired? I have to be able to go 15 minutes—hard—and have enough for another couple rounds if I needed it.”
While Woodley’s wrestling remains an integral part of his skill set, he has showcased ferocious knockout power of late, flooring Jay Hieron at UFC 156 in 36 seconds and blasting Josh Koscheck at UFC 167 within the first round.
These two knockout victories demonstrate his evolution as a mixed martial artist. He has pieced the game together better than some of his peers who came from similar wrestling backgrounds.
“Over the past five years, I’ve really been focusing on the striking aspect, I’ve been training with some of the top coaches. It’s all about getting those things to reflect in the cage,” Woodley said. “I’m just really focusing on letting as much out as I can every fight, and I think that’s what separates me…I have the training, and now I have the confidence, and I’m willing to let it go.”
Beyond Condit, Woodley—should his declaration come true—might receive the winner of the night’s main event between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler. While Woodley respects both men and their respective repertoires, he sees one man as the clear front-runner of the welterweight division.
“Like it or not, Johny Hendricks is the leader of the pack now. He’s the national champion wrestler that has stupid-heavy, powerful hands, and he’s the leader of the new generation of MMA in our division,” he said. “Johny Hendricks is, in my opinion, a harder style matchup than GSP for me.”
Still, he acknowledges that his friend and teammate Lawler presents a unique challenge with his own brand of power and skill.
“That fight is going to be ridiculous. They both have the exact, pure power that I’m talking about,” Woodley said. “Robbie is like somebody who’s just been baling hay and beating steel his whole life. He just has the stupidest, dumpiest, heaviest hands that you could ever imagine. He looks so relaxed, but he just comes down like you got hit with a cast iron skillet.”
At the end of the night, he hopes to notch another victory, settle in after post-fight interviews and watch the main event unfold. While he maintains that he will fight either guy for the UFC Welterweight Championship, he cannot deny his allegiance to Lawler and his camp at American Top Team.
“Robbie Lawler is a teammate and a friend of mine, and when I do what my job is, and that’s to beat Carlos Condit, I’m going to be supporting him,” Woodley said. “I’m going to be sitting there and hoping that he wins because he’s a teammate, and American Top Team has never had a UFC world title before…and once the fight’s over with, we’ll address those issues of what’s next.”
For now, he sees only greatness in his near future, beginning with his scrap against Condit.
“If we fight hard and we fight like we should, it can’t be a boring fight,” Woodley said. “[And] I think winning over him is going to put me in world title contention.”
The UFC has told welterweight competitor Carlos Condit that he will receive the next title shot in the 170-pound division if he wins his UFC 171 showdown against Tyron Woodley.
According to a tweet from UFC on Fox, the stipulations are simple: If…
The UFC has told welterweight competitor Carlos Condit that he will receive the next title shot in the 170-pound division if he wins his UFC 171 showdown against TyronWoodley.
According to a tweet from UFC on Fox, the stipulations are simple: If Condit wins, the shot is his. He does not need a finish, he does not need to look overly impressive. He just needs to have his hand raised at the bout’s conclusion.
For Condit, a win against Woodley would serve as his second straight victory following back-to-back decision losses, one to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 154 and one to Johny Hendricks at UFC 158.
Despite these setbacks, Condit‘s stock in the division never fell too far, a product of the success he has found in fights, even in defeat.
Currently, Condit is ranked No. 2 in the 170-pound division by the UFC’s official rankings system, and his well-rounded skill set has made him a fixture in the top 10 of the division since his UFC debut in 2009.
“The Natural Born Killer” previously won the interim welterweight championship against Nick Diaz at UFC 143, but he was unable to cash in on his opportunity to merge this distinction with the “real” title against St-Pierre at UFC 154.
Since that time, Condit has stayed busy, continuing to prove his worth as a top contender by going 1-1 in 2013, with the loss a somewhat controversial decision to Hendricks at UFC 158.
Conditout struck Hendricks throughout the bout, but he also gave up 12 takedowns, stuffing only three attempts in the process. This inability to stop Hendricks’ wrestling attack directly led to Condit‘s defeat, and it prolonged his next chance at the welterweight strap.
Now, however, Condit again sees his opportunity arise against Woodley March 15 at UFC 171.
Win, and the title shot is his. Lose, and he gets thrown back to the ever-deepening pack of killers at 170, forced once again to kick, punch, elbow and knee his way back to the top.
Former dominant welterweight champion Matt Hughes doesn’t believe his old rival Georges St-Pierre will ever return to the Octagon, and he believes Johny Hendricks plays a big role in that.
Speaking to Sportsnet, transcription via MMA Fighting, th…
Former dominant welterweight champion Matt Hughes doesn’t believe his old rival Georges St-Pierre will ever return to the Octagon, and he believes Johny Hendricks plays a big role in that.
Speaking to Sportsnet, transcription via MMA Fighting, the UFC’s Vice President of Athlete Development and Government Relations explained that GSP has nothing more to prove and probably wouldn’t hold up in a rematch with “Bigg Rigg.”
People have been catching Georges a little bit, and I’m talking the past three or four years. People have been catching up to him, to his abilities. He’s at the age where he’s going to start slowing down just a little bit. Georges has made a lot of money. Gosh, what’s he got to prove? What’s he want to do? I wasn’t real surprised. I would probably be a little more surprised if he ever came back. I don’t think he wants to go in there and face Johny Hendricks again … He beat GSP up. In the rounds Georges won, he barely won. So I don’t think he wants to go back in and take another beating like that against Johny Hendricks.
There are some statistics to support Hughes’ theory, as color commentator Joe Rogan noted days after the St-Pierre vs. Hendricks bout that GSP had taken 50 percent of the strikes in his career in his past three fights, per Fighters Only.
Hughes, who retired after a knockout loss to Josh Koscheck in September 2011, has a 1-2 mark against St-Pierre.
The Illinois native won their first encounter at UFC 50 with an armbar but was finished by “Rush” in their subsequent meetings at UFC 65 and UFC 79, respectively.
Hughes was among the many fighters, fans and analysts who felt “Rush” was given a gift decision over Hendricks at UFC 167 in November since the widespread belief was that Hendricks would be crowned the new champion after five rounds.
However, two of the three judges in Las Vegas, Nevada scored the bout in favor of the French-Canadian superstar, so he managed to retain the belt.
Shortly afterwards, GSP relinquished his belt in favor of some time off, recently attributing his recent stresses to obsessive-compulsive disorder, per CBC News.
As St-Pierre enjoys his time on the sidelines, Hendricks gets another crack at the belt when he faces Robbie Lawler in the main event of UFC 171 on March 15.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
No Georges St-Pierre, no problem MMA fans. Your friendly neighborhood Nick Diaz is ready to suit up and save the day for the UFC.
Things have been wide open at 170 pounds ever since St-Pierre’s December 13 media conference call, where he announce…
No Georges St-Pierre, no problem MMA fans. Your friendly neighborhood Nick Diaz is ready to suit up and save the day for the UFC.
Things have been wide open at 170 pounds ever since St-Pierre’s December 13 media conference call, where he announced that he would be going on an indefinite hiatus and vacating the UFC title.
As chants of “GSP” fade into obscurity, Diaz is looking to lend a helping hand to a division starving for bona fide star power.
Sure, Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler are currently ranked as two of the top welterweights in the world. They are slated to compete on March 15 for the vacant welterweight title at UFC 171, an event Diaz plans on attending in person (h/t Los Angeles Times).
But is either fighter a pay-per-view star? Would casual fans be willing to shell out $55 to watch them fight?
Diazdoesn’t seem to think so. Despite retiring from MMA nearly a year ago, the controversial welterweight star still believes he is the top draw in the division, especially now that St-Pierre is out of the picture.
Jake Shields, Diaz’s close friend and teammate, will also be competing at UFC 171, but fans can rest assured knowing that Diaz has bigger plans for his trip to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. One of those plans will be convincing UFC President Dana White to give him the winner of the vacant title bout, even though he is coming off two losses.
“A lot of the fan base can conceive why I would be a good fight for either guy,” Diaz told the LA Times in Las Vegas at UFC 170. “Either one of these fights would be a good fight for me.”
Diaz continued, “I’m the No. 1 draw in this weight division, that’s just the way it is. I win by submissions, knockouts. There’s guys ranked above me, but no one’s interested in seeing them fight. They want to see me fight. You want to make a good fight, this’ll be a good fight.”
Diaz already owns a highlight-reel knockout victory over Lawler dating all the way back to April 2, 2004 at UFC 47.
Hendricks, on the other hand, has shown the propensity for turning the lights out on opponents in a much more devastating fashion than even Diaz. The bearded welterweight contender became an overnight star last November when he came within one scorecard of defeating St-Pierre for the UFC title.
In St-Pierre’s absence, a general consensus amongst fans is to go ahead and anoint Hendricks as the next welterweight king. But overall, Diazisn’t that impressed with the two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champ.
“The guy he’s beat haven’t been stand-up guys,” said Diaz. “He’s a wrestler who punches hard.”
The ball is once again in the UFC’s court to decide whether to give the title shot to a deserving contender or make a big money fight. For all of Diaz’s pre-fight antics and perpetual drama, there is no other surefire way at a pay-per-view blockbuster.
No Georges St-Pierre, no problem MMA fans. Your friendly neighborhood Nick Diaz is ready to suit up and save the day for the UFC.
Things have been wide open at 170 pounds ever since St-Pierre’s December 13 media conference call, where he announce…
No Georges St-Pierre, no problem MMA fans. Your friendly neighborhood Nick Diaz is ready to suit up and save the day for the UFC.
Things have been wide open at 170 pounds ever since St-Pierre’s December 13 media conference call, where he announced that he would be going on an indefinite hiatus and vacating the UFC title.
As chants of “GSP” fade into obscurity, Diaz is looking to lend a helping hand to a division starving for bona fide star power.
Sure, Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler are currently ranked as two of the top welterweights in the world. They are slated to compete on March 15 for the vacant welterweight title at UFC 171, an event Diaz plans on attending in person (h/t Los Angeles Times).
But is either fighter a pay-per-view star? Would casual fans be willing to shell out $55 to watch them fight?
Diazdoesn’t seem to think so. Despite retiring from MMA nearly a year ago, the controversial welterweight star still believes he is the top draw in the division, especially now that St-Pierre is out of the picture.
Jake Shields, Diaz’s close friend and teammate, will also be competing at UFC 171, but fans can rest assured knowing that Diaz has bigger plans for his trip to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. One of those plans will be convincing UFC President Dana White to give him the winner of the vacant title bout, even though he is coming off two losses.
“A lot of the fan base can conceive why I would be a good fight for either guy,” Diaz told the LA Times in Las Vegas at UFC 170. “Either one of these fights would be a good fight for me.”
Diaz continued, “I’m the No. 1 draw in this weight division, that’s just the way it is. I win by submissions, knockouts. There’s guys ranked above me, but no one’s interested in seeing them fight. They want to see me fight. You want to make a good fight, this’ll be a good fight.”
Diaz already owns a highlight-reel knockout victory over Lawler dating all the way back to April 2, 2004 at UFC 47.
Hendricks, on the other hand, has shown the propensity for turning the lights out on opponents in a much more devastating fashion than even Diaz. The bearded welterweight contender became an overnight star last November when he came within one scorecard of defeating St-Pierre for the UFC title.
In St-Pierre’s absence, a general consensus amongst fans is to go ahead and anoint Hendricks as the next welterweight king. But overall, Diazisn’t that impressed with the two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champ.
“The guy he’s beat haven’t been stand-up guys,” said Diaz. “He’s a wrestler who punches hard.”
The ball is once again in the UFC’s court to decide whether to give the title shot to a deserving contender or make a big money fight. For all of Diaz’s pre-fight antics and perpetual drama, there is no other surefire way at a pay-per-view blockbuster.
