We may have witnessed Tyron Woodley’s last UFC fight at UFC 260 in his loss to Vicente Luque last night.
Prior to UFC 260, Tyron Woodley himself called his fight against Vicente Luque a “do-or-die fight.” After being submitted in the first round by Luque after the bout could have potentially been ruled a TKO, that would seem to fit the “die” criteria.
On the plus side, “The Chosen One” was selected for Fight of the Night with Luque, and that is not an honor that is typically bestowed upon a rundown, exiting fighter. So after Woodley’s fourth consecutive loss, there was still some reasonable suspense as to his status on the UFC roster.
At the UFC 260 press conference, one reporter took the initiative to step up and ask if we’ve seen the last of Woodley or if White would like to see him fight again.
“How old is Tyron now?” White asked. “39? 39, that’s four in a row. Yeah.”
White’s “Yeah” was issued with a tone of “That’s that.” But you can read between the lines of the above quote yourself to know that Woodley’s chances of remaining on the active UFC roster aren’t looking too hot. Mind you, names like Yoel Romero, Junior dos Santos, and Alistair Overeem have also been let go recently, and Woodley finds himself in a similar position as these fighters in many respects.
As a point of correction to White’s quote, Tyron Woodley is 38 years old. He does turn 39 next month, though. White’s comments may paint a dismal picture of Woodley, but three of his four losses came to literally the top three guys in the welterweight division right now: champion Kamaru Usman, #1-contender Colby Covington, and #2-contender Gilbert Burns. Still, that fact and Woodley’s FOTN-winning performance doesn’t seem to hold much weight in White’s opinion on Woodley’s future standing in the UFC.
If you were the UFC president, what would you do with Tyron Woodley after his fourth straight loss?
