Tyron Woodley plans to fight several times in 2023.
Since parting ways with the UFC in 2021, ‘The Chosen One’ suffered two losses against Jake Paul in professional boxing. Woodley’s last win in any combat sport was against Darren Till at UFC 228 in September 2018. With that said, the former UFC welterweight champion is confident that he has plenty left in the tank.
During an exclusive interview with MiddleEasy, Woodley had this to say about what’s next in his fighting career:
“I’m working on a couple fights right now. Yeah, I’m working on a couple fights this year. I mentioned fighting kickboxing and then I got every top kickboxing organization hitting me up, everybody calling me out.”
Woodley became the UFC welterweight champion in 2016 with a first-round finish against Robbie Lawler. He retained the title four times before losing against Kamaru Usman in 2019. Since then, ‘The Chosen One’ lost to Gilbert Burns and Colby Covington before transitioning to professional boxing.
Watch Tyron Woodley’s interview with MiddleEasy below:
Tyron Woodley believes people want to fight him to boost their resumes
Tyron Woodley’s name will always hold value, regardless of his recent skid. ‘The Chosen One’ is still one of the greatest UFC welterweights of all time, and plenty of fighters are looking to benefit from having him on their resume.
During the same interview with MiddleEasy, Woodley had this to say about fighters hoping to take advantage of his name value:
“I like where I’m at right now because I’ve had a couple lessons here recently and a lot of people view those as, oh, he may not be the killer that I was scared to fight when he was at the top, so there’s a lot of fighters that think I’m the guy they want to try to fight now because if you fight me and possibly defeat me, you may capture the skeletons in my closet. You may get the titles, you may get the recognition…”
Woodley continued by saying:
“When you look at most guy’s resume, I’m the biggest name on their resume. I’m the biggest name on Usman’s resume, I’m the biggest name on Gilbert [Burns], Colby Covington, [Vicente] Luque, even Jake Paul… I like that guys think that because lowkey I’m in better shape… I feel like I’m gonna be more of a problem, so to answer your question, I’m definitely looking at fighting a couple times this year.”
‘The Chosen One’ is hoping to maximize the potential of his contractual freedom by seeking the best opportunities available. Although he lost twice to Jake Paul, Woodley secured massive paydays compared to his days in the UFC. The 40-year-old now looks to continue his financial success by staying active in 2023.
