Tyron Woodley has strong opinions about Kamaru Usman’s legacy in the UFC welterweight division. Despite Dana White calling Usman the greatest welterweight of all time, Woodley isn’t convinced. The former champion, who held the title four times before losing to Usman in 2019, insists Usman’s path to recognition was more political than purely based on his accomplishments inside the octagon.
“Kamaru is not the greatest welterweight of all time,” Woodley said. “I’m the realest. I had the realest route. I had the realest reign. I was the person who dealt with the most stuff behind the scenes and still managed to win, that I don’t even speak about. I fought all the top contenders that were not big trash talkers. Nobody wanted to say a bad word about Demian Maia, Robbie Lawler or ‘Wonderboy’ [Stephen Thompson]. I fought all the up and coming guys. Even Usman and Colby [Covington] and [Darren] Till, those are all up and coming guys.
“He’s not the greatest welterweight of all time. What he is, he is the one that kissed the most ass.”
Woodley on Usman’s approach to UFC politics
Woodley says Usman’s effort to stay in the UFC boss’s favor helped his unofficial GOAT label.
“He’s the one ‘Oh let’s have uncle Dana on my podcast,’” Woodley explained. “’Let me accept every fight. Let me go to Vegas and just sit and loiter in his office every week and just try to stay in his good graces and just accept whatever offer.
“If you do that long enough, you will be one of these guys that end up in the category where you’ll now be rewarded because you took last minute notice fights, you fought injured, you didn’t complain about money, you didn’t ask for more, you didn’t ask questions, you always was trying to be goody two shoes and brown nosing. So yeah, he’s the biggest brown noser in the welterweight division. He is a good fighter though.”
Woodley addressed media assumptions about his fights.
“I felt like the fight was going okay, pretty much to plan,” he said. “There was a big notion in the media that I was just going to run through Gane. Look, I might look like an idiot. Sometimes, I might talk like an idiot. But when it comes to fighting, I know what I’m talking about, and I know Ciryl Gane is a tough matchup for me. He’s really good defensively. He’s got really good defense and moves very well on his feet. I knew that I had to stand in range and take a few punches from Ciryl in order to land my own.
“We knew that. That was happening. I had a bloody nose. Any of my sparring partners know, you only have to look at that thing. … I’ve broken my nose like two or three times in my life. Touch my nose and it will bleed. These things happen in fights. Was he hitting me with a few jabs? Yes. Was I hitting him with a few shots as well? Yes. I thought it was going to be a five-round fight. Go look at my pre-fight stuff.”
Mentorship and early relationship with Usman
Woodley reflected on mentoring Usman early in his career.
“I’m not hating. Kamaru is a great fighter,” Woodley said. “He was at all my after parties [asking me] ‘how’s it feel to be a champion? How’s it feel when Dana White [wraps the belt around your waist]?’ He was at my after parties after my title fights and asking me what he should do [saying] ‘they’re talking about me when I said I was only at 30 percent and how should I do this? I’m waiting and Colby is just waiting around.’ I was mentoring him and Colby telling them what they needed to do and how they needed to position themselves. You look at him dressing up trying to be flashy or be an analyst or get a Monster deal, that’s all from me. He wanted to do what I did.
“I was like big bro and then he almost got offended and heartbroken, remember when I was killing him during those press conferences about the LL Cool J stuff? That’s the way I joke around. I grew up in a family of 13, we didn’t have money to go to a movie theater every week. So we did Apollo at the crib. We did a game called make you laugh and we poked fun and joked with each other. So I’m really good, I’m really quick with that. So I was just like friendly roasting him but he was getting mad. You’ve got to realize, I’m like what Matt Hughes was to Georges St-Pierre. Usman looked up to me. So the person he looked up to and got a lot of respect for is poking fun at him. He didn’t like it. We was calling him Marty and we was killing Usman in those press conferences and he was so mad.”
Woodley adds that after their fight, he and Usman spoke briefly, but he refuses to grant him GOAT status.
“We spoke a couple of times after that, he was like ‘yeah, I know that wasn’t the best version of you. I want to fight that version of you,’” Woodley said. “Publicly, he never ever mentioned a rematch. Because he already knows what time it is.”
Currently, Woodley is preparing to face fellow UFC legend Anderson Silva on Dec. 19 on the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua card. He hasn’t competed in MMA since 2021 but remains open to a comeback under the right conditions.
“I’m still praying to God about that,” Woodley said. “Because I wanted to go back and just finish with a bang. Give it a proper closure and go back and go out on a win. But I’ve got to really ask God is that my pride and my ego or is that your will? Because if it’s my pride and ego, I’ve got to be willing if God says close that door.
“So at the end of the day, if I walked away from MMA, is there something wrong with that? If I go back and beat five dudes in a row, am I even that much more of a legend? No. Am I about to gear back up and go on a whole new run and knock down young fighters and No. 1 contenders and get the belt and reign over it? No, I’m going to be looking for superfights no matter where I fight at. What sport it is don’t matter. There’s a superfight that excites me and it puts me in a position where I’m geared up and motivated — if I’m not geared up and motivated, I’m not doing it. Anderson Silva? I’m geared up. I’m motivated. This is Anderson Silva. I’m fitting to squish ‘The Spider.’ I’m literally pumped up. Everybody can’t make me feel that way.” via MMAFighting
