The UFC 228 main event was made official this morning when both Tyron Woodley and, yes, Darren Till made weight for their Dallas showdown. Fans are eager to see how the styles collide in this contest, and the potential for explosives in this contest is quite real. But as much as the capacity crowd and viewers at home will be waiting for the detonation, Tyron Woodley refuses to force it, even if it gains him more criticism for being a “safe” fighter (Via MMAweekly.com):
“I’m not going to force an opportunity because the crowd wants to see me go when they want me to go,” Woodley said on the “UFC Unfiltered” podcast. “They don’t see what I’m seeing. They don’t see openings and windows of opportunity. They just want to see non-stop catastrophe at all costs and they’re looking for the wrong fighter if they want that.
“Look for a ‘B’ level fighter that doesn’t have a belt that’s just putting on good fights for the fans and then you’ll get that every time.”
Tyron Woodley has continued to progress as a thinking-man’s fighter, a cerebral champion who knows and does whatever it takes to keep the strap at home. This is not compatible with the “Just Bleed” bloodsport that many seek when indulging in UFC entertainment:
“Sometimes fans just want to see you punch me, that sucked, I punched you, that sucked, I’m bleeding, you’re bleeding, I cut you, you look like you’re about to go see Jesus, ooh you woke up, now I’m about to go see Jesus. That’s what fans want to see now,” Woodley said.
“I’m not always patient. Sometimes guys show me a little bit and I feel an ambition for blood and I want it and I go and I knock them out and I get it done.”
Tyron Woodley expected the same “ambition for blood” from Darren Till ahead of his fight against Stephen Thompson earlier this year; instead, he witnessed a fellow in-cage intellectual:
“The thing I saw about him is, I thought he was going to wrestle ‘Wonderboy’. I thought he was going to blitz him. I thought he was going to be all over him and he was patient. He was a little bit more cerebral than we give him credit for,” Woodley said in describing Till’s performance.
“By him fighting ‘Wonderboy’ that way, it really showed me that he’s a little bit more intelligent, his IQ in the Octagon is a little bit higher than we give him credit for. That makes me think about the fight a little bit differently.”
In the end, the champion sees himself once again emerging from the intellectual game of chess victorious tomorrow night, thereby dashing the hopes of the hungry Scouser:
“I let people think that I’ve just got the one right hand and if I don’t get that, I can’t win a fight,” the champion said. “I like that because it puts me in a position when they see different, they’re not ready for it. I let them believe those things because when you get in the Octagon with me, it’s a lot different.
“Everybody that’s fought me that’s got the Rubick’s Cube figured out can all tell you right now: it was different when I was in there.”
How do you believe the Tyron Woodley vs. Darren Till fight will play out stylistically?
