Why Tyron Woodley is not an all-time great welterweight
Tyron Woodley has been described by UFC commentator Joe Rogan as one of the best welterweights of all time. 'The Chosen One' himself and even past opponent Kamaru Usman, have both hailed him as the greatest 170-pounder in MMA history. Unfortunately, there's a Georges-St Pierre-shaped elephant in the room.
While Tyron Woodley is a former UFC welterweight champion with several successful title defenses, his record deserves more scrutiny. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clearer that not only is he not the welterweight GOAT, but he may not even be one of history's greatest welterweights at all.
He was certainly an elite fighter during his years on top, but his body of work is not as impressive as it may seem. So how exactly is a former champion with three successful title defenses and one retainment not one of the greatest 170-pounders ever seen?
Analyzing Tyron Woodley's championship reign
Tyron Woodley's tenure as the promotion's welterweight champion began at UFC 201. He was on a two-fight win streak and scheduled to face then reigning champion, Robbie Lawler. 'The Chosen One' needed just two minutes to score a win, landing an overhand right to shut Lawler's lights out.
It was a quality win which enthroned Woodley as the new UFC welterweight king. So after capturing the title in emphatic fashion, how did he assert his new reign over the division? Did he seek to establish himself by defeating a top contender or did he callout Georges St-Pierre, who had just returned from a three-year hiatus? Unfortunately he opted for the latter.
Even worse, he also challenged Nick Diaz, who was on a two-year hiatus by then and a three-fight winless streak consisting of two losses and one no-contest. All of this coming just after winning the title. It led many to label Woodley as entitled, as he frequently dismissed number-one contender Stephen Thompson.
But, as fate would have it, he wouldn't get his money fight. Instead, the UFC forced him to face 'Wonderboy,' whose elite-level striking made for a fun stylistic clash with Woodley's wrestling. So was his first title defense a decisive win that left no doubt in anyone's mind as to who the most dominant 170-pounder was?
Unfortunately, it was anything but that. The two men faced each other at UFC 205 and went to war, earning Fight of the Night honors en route to a majority draw. While the bout was fairly entertaining, there was no winner and 'The Chosen One' left the arena without a successful title defense.
Woodley barely managed to keep Thompson from taking the belt from him. So, the two men were scheduled for a rematch. At UFC 209, Tyron Woodley successfully defended his title for the first time, but the bout was widely criticized for its lack of action.
Neither man did anything of note, and it was lambasted as one of the worst title fights in the promotion's history. But Woodley was awarded the win via majority decision and went on to face Demian Maia in another low-volume, highly criticized affair. Nevertheless, he emerged victorious by way of unanimous decision.
But the win aged poorly as the Brazilian subsequently lost his next two bouts, with his only wins coming against two unranked foes in Lyman Good and Anthony Rocco Martin, and the then #11 ranked Ben Askren. Afterward, he lost two straight fights before leaving the UFC.
Similarly, Woodley's next win, which came against the then undefeated Darren Till, also aged poorly. 'The Chosen One' scored a dominant victory, dropping 'The Gorilla' and submitting him in the second round to not only defend his title for the third time, but earn his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.
Unfortunately, the win deserves extra scrutiny. Till's loss to Woodley was the first of a 1-5 run that culminated with the Englishman requesting his release from the promotion. It also marked the last win of Woodley's career.
With a title reign consisting of a draw, two lackluster title defenses, and just one impressive title defense, is he really one of the greatest welterweights of all time?
He has no memorable win streak in the UFC, and his title defense run is worse than Pat Miletich, Matt Hughes, Georges St-Pierre and Kamaru Usman's.
Tyron Woodley's losing streak
Perhaps what most prominently tarnished Tyron Woodley's legacy is the manner in which he left the UFC. He exited the promotion on a four-fight losing streak, making him the only welterweight champion besides Robbie Lawler—who was never even expected to win the title—to have four straight losses in the division.
Even Johny Hendricks, whose decline was as stark as could be, never suffered four consecutive losses at 170 pounds. This isn't even the case with Carlos Newton, whose record sits at 16-14. But it isn't simply that Tyron Woodley lost four fights in a row, it's also the nature of those losses and their context.
He didn't win a single round in any of those defeats, meaning he lost 16 straight rounds, while being finished in his last two bouts. His sudden surge of losses came due to the rest of the division identifying the glaring holes in his game. Despite his elite wrestling credentials, Tyron Woodley didn't wrestle consistently.
He feared gassing out, so he evolved into a low-volume counterpuncher. Unfortunately, he had no variety in his striking and virtually no other setup for his counter-right hand, besides backing up in a straight line to create the time and space needed to throw punches with leverage and power.
This, however, meant that he was fairly easy to back up to the fence, where his punches could be smothered and he'd have nowhere else to back up to. His lack of lateral footwork meant he was a sitting duck in those positions. And with no jab or any other distance management tool, he couldn't gauge his range.
So when he faced Kamaru Usman, he was easily backed up to the fence and bullied in the clinch. The same happened when he faced Gilbert Burns, a worse wrestler than him. Colby Covington also replicated this gameplan to perfection. So when Tyron Woodley faced Vicente Luque, he needed a change.
He came out far more aggressively against the Brazilian, trying to wrestle and throw punches. But it was for naught. He was rocked beyond recovery during an exchange and submitted within three minutes.
Before, his losses were due to his strategic and tactical drawbacks. But against Luque, Woodley found that he simply wasn't good enough to win against the new crop of 170-pounders.