Former UFC welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley, has not won a round in the UFC octagon since agreeing to defend his belt to Kamaru Usman in 2019. Since losing to Usman, he has picked up decisive losses to Gilbert Burns and Tyron Woodley.
However, he is now looking to return to winning ways, as he takes on Vicente Luque on the co-headline bout of UFC 260.
Retirement Questions
With Woodley now at thirty-eight year old, there have been questions asked about whether this may be Woodley’s last professional MMA fight. However, speaking with ESPN MMA’s Ariel Helwani, Woodley stated that should he defeat Luque, it is unlikely he will step away from the sport and that he still has even more to show fans of the sport. Responding to Helwani questioning him on whether this fight will be his last, Woodley had the following to say:
“I don’t think so. I’m getting way better. It’s scary to me because I got another level. McKee at one point it the training camp asked me, are you still in this? Do you still wanna fight? Are you still in this? He didn’t understand. My body was beat up. I’d been boxing in the morning, then doing striking there which I didn’t expect to do. Then doing muay thai at night. So three times a day I was kicking and punching. My body was fucked up. I’m not twenty-five. So when I would start going to chiro, and started getting massages. I took one day of rest and I came back, and I was a machine. That’s the Tyron he remembers. But he told me on my last day of training. When everything we did I exceeded, everything, every training session, every rep. All the things he put me through, I had my best day on my last day. He said, Tyron, you got another gear, another level.”
Loss To Colby
Helwani also raised the point that following Woodley’s third loss in a row, to Colby Covington, many believed he should retire. He asked Woodley if there was ever a point he considered calling it quits. ‘The Chosen One’ responded with the following:
“Nah. I mean, it’s funny that everybody wants me to consider retirement, but so many fighters in the UFC, so many fighters that have lost several fights. Three, four, five fights in a row. And they may switch a weight class. And then oh we forgot they lost their fight when they get a win. So for me, why would I consider retirement, I lost to the champion, one and two. I didn’t lose to fu****g booboo the fool. I lost to guys that were either the champion or guys that were contending for championship fights.”
Last Chance For Woodley?
When a fighter is on a three-fight losing streak, they will often be at risk of being cut from the UFC. However, Woodley is not concerning himself with external factors and is instead focusing on himself. He stated the following:
“I just gotta win this fight for myself. Because I can win this fight and stick around the UFC, and compete. My friend…. told me a really good quote. He said be performic centric, think about performance. Don’t think about title fights, don’t think about what’s next. Don’t think if I do this then that. Just be performic centric. Think about performance. I have a hard time believing that if I go out there and I perform to the level that I’m capable of, that anybody’s gonna beat me int he welterweight division.”
