UFC:s tidigare welterviktsmästare Tyron Woodley är villig att ge sitt erkännande till Kamaru Usman för dennes prestation i mars där han besegrade Woodley via enhälligt domslut. Woodley vill dock inte erkänna att Usman är den bättre fightern.
Woodley ser istället sig själv som anledningen till att Usman blev den nye welterviktsmästaren då han underpresterade och inte hade mycket att sätta emot. Den tidigare mästaren säger att det inte var den riktige Tyron Woodley som förlorade titeln i mars.
Han hade följande att säga vid en Q&A enligt MMAFighting:
When you watch the Kamaru Usman fight, I don’t have to watch it. It was a silhouette of Tyron in the Octagon or something happened when I jumped up and stomped down, I think my spirit left my body. I can give him credit for what he did. He stayed focused, he executed but we all know that wasn’t Tyron Woodley.
So I don’t have to go back and watch the film and say the chain wrestling [affected me]. I’m a Division I All-American [wrestler], not Division II. I’m not knocking that but it’s a way different level. When you think about striking, when you think about my resume, it’s not that he did something so great that I couldn’t keep up with. It’s just the fact that it’s one of those nights when you walk out there, everything feels perfect and you get close to your opponent and the battery pack is snatched out of your back. That’s really what I felt like.
Trots att han anser att Usman gjorde mycket rätt i deras match så känner Woodley att han inte gav nigerianen mycket till motståndare då han antagligen inte vann en enda rond:
If I look at the way the fight went, I don’t think I won a round in that fight, if that was me fighting me, I would have knocked my ass out. The only thing I can take away is that I had to go back and rebuild, sharpen my tools, get that hunger back, that’s where I feel like I’m at right now.
Siktar på att återta titeln – kommer inte förändra sitt game
Att förlora alla ronderna mot Usman har dock inte avskräckt Woodley från att försöka revanschera sig och bevisa att förlusten bara var en engångsföreteelse:
Kamaru Usman skill set wise on paper, I’m a nightmare for him every day of the week. What happened in the Octagon is one, I never make excuses. I walked into four world title fights with the weight of the world on my back, personal issues, injuries, I never healed from the injury before, but you guys never hear about that but the second I go out there and I fight and I’m not the characteristic Tyron Woodley that you see, immediately it’s music that’s distracting me. It’s movies that’s distracting me.
I’ve been doing this same thing forever, you guys just never hear about it.
Woodley fick sedan frågan om vad han skulle göra annorlunda i en potentiell rematch. Han berättade då att han inte kommer ändra särskilt mycket på sitt game från sina tidigare titelmatcher:
Just fight. Like when I lost to Rory MacDonald, you didn’t hear me make complaints. Same thing with Jake Shields, same thing with Usman. You’ve got to take your hat off because no matter what circumstance prevented me from going out there and doing what I needed to do, that person knew he was fighting one of the greatest welterweights of all time, knew on paper it was a very difficult matchup, knew the things that I was able to do and capable of in my career and went in and executed.
All I have to do is fight. I don’t have to do nothing different. I wouldn’t even watch the film. There’s no point. Just go out there and fight.
