Issue 141
May 2016
Teammates could collide if Tyron Woodley gets the next shot at Robbie Lawler, but they won’t hold back with the UFC title on the line
Tyron Woodley
UFC Welterweight
Alias: The Chosen One
Age: 33
Team: American Top Team
Record: 15-3
It’s unusual that teammates lock horns in the Octagon. It’s rarer still they’re booked to face off with a belt up for grabs. It happened once before in the UFC: when Rashad Evans challenged Jon Jones for his light heavyweight title. But ‘Suga’ departed the Jackson-Wink camp under a cloud of animosity before they fought. That won’t happen if Robbie Lawler defends his UFC 170lb championship against American Top Team (ATT) counterpart Tyron Woodley. They’ll train on the same mats, work with some of the same coaches and even share sparring partners when they begin camp.
Q. How will you flick the switch from friend to foe if you face Robbie for the title?
A. I actually like him quite a bit, and I certainly admire him as a fighter. I was hanging out with Robbie in Las Vegas at the World MMA Awards, so there’s no bad blood or beef. But we’ve both been fighting to become world champion for a very long time. He’s reached his goal and he’s in a position where he’s trying to defend. But I’m not 23 years old. I don’t have 10 years to wait on Robbie to retire and I may not get this opportunity again. I’ve got to seize it while I can.
Q. Does a matchup between you and Robbie create divisions at ATT?
A. It’s not awkward for Robbie. Robbie is a fighter, he’s a champion. And he’s one of the last true fighters in the business. He’s old-school. He was fighting in the old days, before the money. You’ve got to respect that. I’m more bent out of shape about it than Robbie is. But we’ve discussed it. I’m going to go down there and do part of my training camp at ATT and we’ll make it work.
The owners are just going to sit back. (Ricardo) Liborio, Dan (Lambert) and ‘Conan’ (Marcus Silveira) aren’t going to corner either of us, which is only fair. Kami (Barzini), the wrestling coach, and ‘Katel’ (Vitelmo Kubis), one of the top MMA guys, will be with Robbie. I’ll have Din Thomas and Duke Roufus in my corner, with a third kind of up in the air. I think Robbie usually has his chiropractor in his corner too, so yeah, it’s not a problem.
Q. Did you fear Carlos Condit may get the rematch after their war in January?
A. It was a tough fight – a great fight to watch. But Carlos Condit lost to me, lost to Johny Hendricks and lost to GSP. Those two were champions and I consider myself the number-one contender, so there’s no shame in losing to any of those guys. But he got a title shot after defeating number-12-ranked Thiago Alves. So he jumped over two guys who beat him. I believe there is a cycle going on here and if that were to happen again I wouldn’t be as quiet.
Q. Were you surprised when Condit got the shot before you?
A. Actually, no. I watched his last fight against Thiago and my last fight against Kelvin (Gastelum) and he outperformed me. Even though my opponent was ranked higher than his and was therefore probably a tougher challenge, his was a great performance. But he maintained his ranking after being out for 14 months. I was out for six months, then Johny Hendricks took the opportunity away from me to have a performance like Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ had against him, by pulling out of our fight.
I was the one who called out the number-one contender. I asked to fight Carlos. I asked to fight Hendricks. I took the fight against Rory MacDonald at short notice in Vancouver – his hometown – because I knew it was going to put me in a position to fight for the title. I’ve always had that mind-set: to fight champions, former champions or people who had been in this position before to propel me.
Q. Are you disappointed you didn’t get the chance to fight Hendricks and do something similar to Stephen Thompson?
A. I’m not mad at that because it’s out of my control. I’m just a little frustrated because fans see that, they get emotional, and they start saying, ‘Oh my god, he’s so awesome, he’s got to fight for the title.’ Let’s put apples next to apples. This guy is a top up-and-coming kid, but his first top-10 victory was against Jake Ellenberger.
Jake’s a tough fighter but he’s been shown to be mentally weak. He breaks down when he can’t have his way with opponents. That fighter he beat is not the same Jake Ellenberger that took the game by storm when he first came into the UFC – not to take anything away from Thompson.
Q. Why do you think Thompson was able to win so handily?
A. Hendricks was focusing way too much on the weight cut when he should have been focusing more on a game plan. I guarantee he didn’t bring in the proper sparring partners to simulate the person he was fighting. He probably had some of his teammates watch a couple of videos and do what they saw ‘Wonderboy’ do previously in the Octagon. That’s not the same thing. They don’t know the drills, the technique, what to do.
You need to bring someone in who fights that way. But you could see Johny was all wrong for that fight when he stood on the scale. He looked like he had no energy to take him out of that first round, so it was the perfect time for Stevie to turn it up. He saw there were holes, he saw there was an opportunity and he knew Johny couldn’t figure out the Rubik’s cube and he started pressing him.
Q. Were you surprised Hendricks got stopped so easily?
A. Weren’t you? Think about the punches Johny took from Robbie, or anybody. He’s taken some hard shots, but now you’re telling me this same guy gets flashed by a spinning back kick that hit him in the shoulder and the arm. It didn’t even land on his face, but it wobbled him. That tells me his brain probably didn’t have a lot of fluid. He was worried about making weight and the IV ban, not game planning, being tired, frustrated – it all accumulated and Wonderboy seized the moment.
Q. Does that win mean Thompson deserves to be in the running for a title shot?
A. Wonderboy has been training with (Chris) Weidman and he’s a heavy guy. He’s a great fighter and a great wrestler and I’m assuming he doesn’t punch very soft! Training with guys like him, training with guys like Georges (St Pierre) and surrounding himself with high-level guys has given him the confidence he needs to go out there and perform. But I do think he has to earn his due a little bit more. Beating the former champion was a big, big task. But I beat Condit when he was number one in the world and that didn’t automatically put me in line for a shot at the title, so I don’t believe it should do that for him either.
Q. Do you think Lawler has told the UFC you deserve the next title shot?
A. I know he did. Robbie made it clear that he believes I deserve the next shot and he’s the champion. So perhaps that was enough. After all – the way he’s been fighting and the numbers he’s been doing for the UFC – perhaps they’ve adhered to his request even if they didn’t want to give me mine.
Triple threat
More than a fighter
Tyron Woodley is proven a triple-threat entertainer. As well as being the leading contender in the UFC’s 170lb division, he’s a regular Fox Sports analyst and his acting career holds no bounds. Roles in Straight Outta Compton, Kickboxer and Going Under have all come in the last 12 months – and helped fill a financial void left by his Octagon inactivity.
However, Woodley is clear about his primary career target: “I haven’t yet reach my goal, so I just try to keep my eyes on the prize. I’m still in the hunt, Still chasing that world title.
“The acting stuff, feature roles, TV and seminars, they’re great. But my focus is always on my fighting career.”
Last man standing
Q. Why have you had to wait so long for your UFC title shot?
A. I guess I’m just the guy who's wearing that shirt. But I say this, you can delay but you cannot deny. I’m the strongest, the fastest, most well-rounded mixed martial artists in my weight class. I’ve got a good mind for fighting: a good fight IQ. I feel like I’ve done enough to be given the opportunity, and that’s all you can do. All I can ask of myself is to have done all I can to get my shot. I’ve always behaved like a professional, always making weight, always coming to fight and always doing what the organization has asked of me. I’ve only had one decision victory in the UFC too, so I always put on exciting fights. So it’s just been delayed. You can’t stop what I’m coming with and I believe eventually I will be the last man standing. By default I will get my opportunity.
