Ahead of the highly anticipated boxing match between Tyron Woodley and Jake Paul, UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns believes “The Chosen One” will face an uphill battle.
Slated for August 29, Tyron Woodley will make his first combat appearance since his departure from the UFC. The former welterweight champion notched four title defenses before the competition began to get the better of him.
Off the heels of his title loss to Kamaru Usman in 2019, Woodley was paired with Gilbert Burns, which resulted in Woodley losing a lopsided unanimous decision to Burns in a five-round affair. After a four-fight losing skid, Woodley took his services elsewhere and is now poised to earn the biggest payday of his fighting career.
Ahead of the Woodley/Paul showdown set for Aug. 29, former UFC title challenger Gilbert Burns gave his take on how he sees the fight playing out. As a man who spent 25-minutes inside the cage with Woodley, Burns has a firm read on “The Chosen One” and believes he will struggle against Jake Paul.
“I don’t see any easy fight for Tyron Woodley, and I see the pressure’s on Tyron Woodley. He has to win that fight, otherwise, it’s going to be harder to recover from. So a lot of pressure on Tyron Woodley going into this fight,” Burns said. “I don’t have a prediction for this fight (but) I’m not that confident that Tyron Woodley’s going to pull that one off.” Gilbert Burns said to TMZ Sports.
The #2-ranked Gilbert Burns is accustomed to external pressure before a fight, as the Brazilian just put his top ranking on the line in a close fight against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Ahead of the 190lbs boxing match between Woodley and Paul, Burns believes the pressure could play a role in Woodley’s performance. When asked how Jake Paul should approach the fight, Gilbert Burns had a few pointers for the young 3-0 boxer.
“I think Jake’s gotta stay calm, put pressure on him, watch out for that right hand, but at the same time, when that overhand right comes, it opens up a lot of things. I would tell him to get a good counter, watch out, keep the left hand up, work a lot, he’s bigger than Woodley so Woodley’s gotta come forward,” Burns said while adding that “anything can happen in this sport. I’m going to watch this one closely — I like this fight.” Gilbert Burns concluded.
With a win over one of the combatants, undoubtedly Gilbert Burns will have a close eye on the Showtime boxing attraction on Aug. 29. Despite the notion that Paul is just a YouTube star and not an actual boxer, Burns wholeheartedly believes Paul’s skills are legitimate and that his former opponent is in for a very hard fight.
As the date draws closer, the trash talk intensifies, with the latest proposition coming from Paul who wants Woodley to tattoo “I Love Jake Paul” on his body if he loses next month. Interestingly, the bet goes both ways, so if MMA’s representative Tyron Woodley gets the job done, then Paul will have a tattoo that expresses his love for “The Chosen One”. Either way, the stakes continue to grow even if they are in good fun.
Who do you favor as we approach the one-month mark before the Paul/Woodley boxing match?
