Issue 185

December 2019

Since his shock defeat to Kamaru Usman, Tyron Woodley has been on a long, soul-searching journey looking for an explanation. Now he believes he is ready to reclaim the welterweight title and silence his critics.

In the co-main event of UFC 235, challenger Kamaru Usman shocked the MMA world by taking four-time defending UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley's title in a clear and decisive five-round unanimous decision victory. The result was a surprise to some but the way it played out was head-scratching to everyone who witnessed the fight. The 'Nigerian Nightmare' used relentless pressure to control, maul and dominate the champion from bell to bell in a fight where the champion looked physically and mentally absent for much of the contest. People from around the world wondered how this could happen to one of the greatest welterweights in history. In an exclusive interview with Fighters Only, we found out the answer.  

"You got me on the right day." Woodley begins. "If you interviewed me any other time I might have had a sob story for you. Today, I don't. On that night, my takeaway is that even me at my worst, he couldn't finish me. You have never seen me fight like that. You have never seen Tyron Woodley's shell be in there but not his spirit, not his explosiveness, not his IQ, not his grit, not his toughness, not his ability to go out there and take away all of his opponents' weapons and leave him naked out there. We didn't see it that night. He (Usman) couldn't finish that. Kamaru Usman came in focused. He was extremely dominant. I don't know if I won a round in that fight. It was survival. I was having a conversation with God the whole time. 'Am I losing this fight? Am I fitting to let him take my belt?' It was such a weird moment where I wanted to go but I couldn't go. I wanted to pull the trigger and I couldn't. My arms wouldn't move. My legs wouldn't move. I felt good in the warm-up. I felt good walking out there. I felt good at the face-off. Something happened when he asked if we were ready and told us to get it on. When he said that I walked in and got close thinking he was coming after me. Let this motherfucker know. Hit him with a 1-2. Make him feel your speed and power so you got his respect. He got closer and closer. I was ready to let it go and it felt like a battery pack got snatched out of my back."

The now former UFC welterweight champion has made the difficult but necessary choice to do a deep dive, mentally, physically and spiritually, in a soul-searching effort to reflect and correct issues from what can only be described as the most perplexing fight and night of his professional career. In doing so, he has taken on a higher level of personal responsibility, done some housecleaning and found new and better ways to grow as a person and as a fighter moving forward. That all begins with taking full responsibility for the fight and everything that led up to it.

"I had to change perspective." Woodley shares. "I needed to understand how all of the things that went well in my life or wrong in my life are really because of me. Sometimes we give too much credit to the devil or too much credit or blame to everyone else and we blame other people for our actions or the consequences of our actions. It just got to the point where I had to sit there and accept responsibility. God gives you tools and gives you talent and ability but you have to use it. You can make the choice to do something that is not beneficial to you or your life but then you have to suffer the consequences. I had an epiphany today. It was refreshing to say, you know what? I am the common denominator. Good or bad, everything that happens to me, I decided to use or not use the gifts God gave me. I used the gifts or I decided not to follow him and go on my own and do it the way I wanted to do it. 

“Look what happened,” he adds. “That is all the result of my actions. This is a breath of fresh air and a new mindset. I am just excited, man. I am still the best. I am still the fastest. I still punch the hardest. I still have the best IQ. I am still the most well-rounded. I still respect my opponents and I am still the champion and I am going back to get my belt.

"I can’t explain it and I won’t make excuses or put blame on anything." Woodley continues. "I realized it was meant for me to lose. It was meant for me to endure that embarrassment, that dominant performance. It happened in front of fans and millions of people worldwide. I had to deal with that. Right now, I am about the work. We talk about going to that next level. I have gone there so many times that I'm not satisfied with that. I'm trying to warp to the next dimension. I needed to undergo that. I needed to evaluate my circle, myself, my passion, my motivation. I needed to evaluate my training. I had the five-round fights to a science. I had it down and I really just felt invincible. I felt like nobody could beat me and that my stiffest competition was behind me. On paper it was. That night he came out there and did it. He knows it wasn't me. Everybody knows it wasn't me but you can’t take away what he did."

Although the present and former champion spent a good bit of time posturing and participating in heated exchanges in the lead-up to and even after the fight, not all interactions between the two have been public knowledge or TMZ-worthy clickbait. 

The two have spoken privately and according to Woodley, they share a mutual respect and understanding of the terms of their complicated relationship moving forward. The relationships is rooted in respect but within it burns a blazing fire of competitiveness. 

"We have spoken since then." Woodley shares. "I told him we are cool but I am coming for my belt, dog. We aren’t going to get that cool where he thinks we are allies. He has what's mine. He said he respects that. He wants me to come back and fight at 100%. That’s what wrestlers thrive on, fighting opponents at their very best and beating them and knowing you are the guy. I respect Kamaru."

In true championship spirit, the two-time All-American wrestler took the many lessons dished out that rough night at UFC 235 and is putting that hard-earned knowledge toward fueling of the fire in the lead-up to his next fight and eventual rematch with Usman. 

Woodley, a University of Missouri graduate with a degree in Agricultural Economics, will have you know he is more than a muscle-bound wrestling machine with dynamite in his hands. He is a student of the game whose thirst for knowledge and raw data could have just as easily earned him a degree in MMA Economics if such a major existed. The Ferguson native feels that his close-knit team at Roufusport and his ardent supporters are breaking barriers and carving out unique niches in the way training camps will be conducted in the years to come.

"I learned from that moment," says Woodley. "I had some mental health situations from that moment. I had some depression. People don't recognize that I’m not just some brute athlete. I study. I watch film. I break things down. I have analytics sent to me. My coach Din Thomas has a company called MMA Scouting Report where he breaks down fights and I get a 10-12 page detailed report. Reed Kuhn of Fightnomics, sends me every stat. We formulate a game plan off of that. I have Duke (Roufus), Din (Thomas) and Ben (Askren), these are all guys that have no ego that all want to see me be the greatest and they all work together. Most fighters don't have that. This is very unique. I think this is something that will be documented when it’s all said and done. Just the way we went about it. It’s almost like Mike Tyson, not that I am comparing myself to him, but him and Cus D’Amato found out what his body does well and what it doesn't do well. They made a style. There wasn't a style to mimic Mike Tyson. They created a style for his body type, for his height disadvantage, for his power to cut the gap, get in close and to hurt people. That's what I feel like we are in the process of doing right now."

Everyone loves a good comeback story. Whether it’s on the silver screen, in a sporting arena or anywhere in between, the story of redemption is universal. 'The Chosen One' sees his form of redemption and rise back to the mountain top of the UFC welterweight division as a certainty and when it happens and the redemption story has come full circle, he feels his name will sit atop the list of the greatest welterweights to ever set foot inside the Octagon.

"I see it so clearly I want to get off the phone and get 'redemption' tattooed on my face." Woodley exclaims. "I'm not even exaggerating. I see it so much. I start thinking about Georges St-Pierre. He was the greatest. He beat guys in their prime. He could walk away and never come back. Before those fights were losses to Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. He got those back and then walked away. I don't know why he walked away. That is another thing he had to overcome in his comeback, whatever it was that made him lose the love. He came back three or four years later and beat Michael Bisping in a different weight class. That's why many think he is the greatest. I say I am the greatest because Muhammad Ali told me 'I said I was the greatest long before I was.' I really believe I am going to end as G.O.A.T. The thing I can take away from Georges is the way he showed us. He didn't say it, he came back and he showed us. He went out there and beat Matt Serra and Matt Hughes. Who has finished their career like that? We can’t name someone right now."

For a fighter in his prime, a former UFC champion who has 12 stoppages in his 19 professional career victories, Woodley is someone who critics still seem to think plays it safe inside the cage. His game plan, heavy and sometimes methodical approach has been wildly successful but also seen as boring by some. The numbers in black and white and the highlight finishes in full color, would tell you otherwise. Not only is ‘T-Wood’ competing against his opponent across the cage, he is competing against the elite fighters in every other weight class for that all-important fan adulation and ultimately, the approval of the powers that be, the UFC brass. 

 “I know what it is.” Woodley shares. “Our sport is so new and our sport is led and geared by the thought of who they (the UFC) respect. If Dana White says it’s a boring fight it’s going to be echoed by 80% of the consumers. If Joe Rogan says a fighter is backing up people will agree. Our society in general, we aren’t the era of radio and newspaper. We are the era of social media, Web MD, and Google. Nobody is going to go do the research themselves. Right now, everybody likes fighters like Gaethje, Poirier and Holloway. Somebody that can be on the teeter-totter from beating you up to falling over. You’re almost dead. I’m almost dead. We come back and the end and hug and kiss and it was the greatest fight you ever saw. Back in the day, a great fighter is someone who dominated. Hit and don't get hit. Lay the damage and move away. It's win one play at a time in chess, not jump the whole board in checkers. Just look at cards today. When you see a matchup like Edson Barboza and Paul Felder, you know what’s about to happen. They are going to fuck each other all the way up. We love that. I like to watch it, too. As a fighter, how do you succeed at a level where you can consistently stay at the top of the food chain when you do a style that’s a 50/50 gamble? They live and die by the same sword, that’s why you see guys fall out of the sport. It’s hard to operate and maneuver in this game when you fight a style that is about domination and finishing. My style is about domination and finishing. It may happen quickly or it may happen late. When I’m on full throttle there are very few welterweights that can deal with what I bring to the table.”

Critics may point to Woodley’s recent flat performance and blame it on his jam-packed schedule. He is spreading himself too thin, they say. He has too much on his plate, they add. From his full-time job as one of the elite of the elite in Mixed Martial Arts to his budding acting career, his blossoming stand-up comedy and music careers, his high-profile job as a highly respected MMA analyst and more, it would be easy to find such excuses. Woodley wants none of that talk. He thrives with a full schedule, looks forward to improving in every facet of his professional and personal life and plans on taking full advantage of all opportunities his massive talents garner. As with many great artists who are ahead of their time, Woodley feels he may not be truly appreciated until his career, make that careers, are over. 

“Since I was a kid I always wanted to defy the odds.” Woodley explains. “I have always wanted to do what everyone said I couldn’t do. They said I would never be a world champion if I opened a gym of my own. I’ll tell you right now, I am a five-time world champion. I fought in seven world title fights and I just walked out of my own gym. People give you all of these restrictions. A lot of it comes from the term Renaissance Man. I use that term. I overuse it. He was somebody that did a lot of things well but nothing great. That was his act. That’s not me. I refuse to sit on my gifts that God gave me. I refuse not to maximize them. I refuse not to plant these seeds and water them. One, I have too many kids not to. Two, I have too many talents not to. I decided that the top of this year, January 2019, that I would no longer put myself in a box. I would no longer allow anyone’s criticism to contain me within the limits they have for themselves. I started doing stand-up comedy. I started full-fledged into music. I started pursuing acting even more. I never want to be the weakest link in anything I do. I am preparing for those moments when I get bigger offers and bigger roles. That is a part of me and my legacy, I will be similar to Muhammad Ali where most of his credit came after the fact. Most of his credit came for what he did outside of the ring. I am OK with that.”