Tyron Woodley can only kick himself as to why he got knocked out by Jake Paul.
Woodley suffered an emphatic sixth-round knockout against Paul that put him to sleep last night in Tampa, Florida. While many expected him to lose like he did in the first fight, very few expected such a devastating knockout.
Despite the setback, the former UFC welterweight champion attended the post-fight press conference and insisted it was time to put some respect on Paul’s name.
While he made no excuses about the fight — especially as he claimed he was in great shape and thought he was winning — he can’t understand why he dropped his hand which allowed Paul to connect with the fight-ending punch.
“I told you guys I was in shape, I told you I was ready to fight, I told y’all I was coming and I told you I would look in better shape than he was and I did that tonight,” Woodley said. “I went back and I looked at it [the knockout], I’m like, ‘why the f*** did I drop my hand?’ I had both hands up, I was ready, I knew it was coming, I was ready to block the overhand.
“I don’t know if he delayed it, [but] even if he didn’t delay it, I don’t know why I dropped my hand. In this sport, it can only take one mistake, one mistake, literally one mistake. I blocked so many shots.”
Tyron Woodley Not Done Yet
With the loss, Woodley has now lost his last six fights in combat sports as a whole.
However, he felt he was truly back again in this fight and insisted he was far from done when it came to competing.
“I’m not done,” Woodley added. “Please do not look at me with sorrow eyes, please do not look at me like shaking your head. I’da f*cked a lot of people up, a lot of people had to have that talk in the locker room, a lot of coaches had to go back to the drawing board. A lot of people, in their mind, they knew that they knew that they knew, and I saw it in their face and it broke their heart when I took that from them.
“At some point, we’re gonna have to start putting a little respect on Jake’s name. I never really disrespected him as a power puncher – that’s something we always knew, that’s why my defense was so tight. Had he dropped his hand on my, the same sh*t would have happened. So I can’t cry over spilled milk. I’m blessed to be here, I’m blessed for the opportunity to come out here and fight again and show you guys that I’m still here.”
Perhaps a fight with Dan Hardy is next on the agenda for Woodley?
You can watch his full post-fight press conference below:
