Tyron Woodley didn’t expect to be as hesitant as he was last night (March 4).
Woodley successfully defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight title against Stephen Thompson. The title bout was a rematch from their UFC 205 match-up. While their first encounter ended in a majority draw, the rematch ended in a majority decision in favor of “The Chosen One.”
Not many people were thrilled with how the fight played out. Woodley and “Wonderboy” were treated to a chorus of boos once the fight concluded. The bout was low on action when compared to their first battle. Woodley’s knockdown and blitz with seconds left in the final round gave the bout its most memorable moment.
After Woodley retained his championship, he was interviewed by the FOX Sports 1 team of Karyn Bryant, Kenny Florian, and Brian Stann. The 170-pound title holder said it wasn’t his intention to be as cautious as he was during the contest:
“Yeah it was definitely not a part of the game plan. Very few things we had in the game plan happened tonight minus the last round. We were gonna do more takedowns, but I think a lot of guys especially in the sport of the Karate world tell me that the front leg is usually the fast leg. So even when I would level change as if I was going for a takedown, you saw how fast he was moving the leg back. And that actually sets him up for a counter attack. I was a bit hesitant, he was a bit hesitant. But at the end of the day when you’re fighting the top of the top, it’s not always just landslides. It’s not always just (a) crazy ‘Fight of the Night’ that everybody wants to see. You have to do what you have to do to get it done.”
