Tyron Woodley‘s post-UFC career could have panned out much more differently.
It’s been a rocky road for Woodley ever since he lost the UFC Welterweight title to Kamaru Usman in 2019, losing his next five fights inside and outside of the Octagon. The latter two would be boxing defeats to Jake Paul which saw him knocked out in his last outing in Dec. 2021.
Woodley Was Offered To Fight Who Now?
Following the loss, Woodley has been keeping his options open for his combat sports return, preferably in the boxing ring. Several names have been thrown out to Woodley for an opponent including the 2017 World’s Strongest Man, heavyweight behemoth Eddie Hall.
— Neo Vale Tudo (@NeoValeTudo) June 7, 2024
The strongman went viral earlier this summer for rag dolling two MMA fighters in a wild 2v1 fight where Hall won by knockout.
“I’m not down for these 3 week notice fights to build somebody else’s name up,” Woodley said on the Overdogs Podcast regarding his next fight. “You see the heavyweight dude that fought 2 motherf****** at one time [at] 365 [lbs]? Motherf****** asked me to fight this dude on 3 weeks notice in Ireland in MMA.”
Woodley Reveals Four Fights That Fell Through For Him
As for the fights Woodley is actually interested in, “The Chosen One” says big names like boxing stars Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have all been on the negotiating table to fight him in recent years, but each time to no avail.
“I took some time off, and then I had some guys b**** out,” Woodley continued. “I was supposed to fight Floyd in June. It was never supposed to be [John] Gotti [III], That fight was me originally. I was supposed to fight KSI in January last year. He flaked out and took Dillon Danis.
“S***, I got offered to fight you, Mike,” Woodley said to former UFC fighter Mike Perry. “I’m pretty sure you got offered to fight me. I said, I’m not fighting my dog for no f****** peanuts. If we was gonna fight for real, we would have fought in the UFC. And that’s a hard ass fight, he at the top of the game.”
T-Wood Sees The Diaz Brothers As Potential Opponents
Missing out on some money versus Mayweather and the chance to beat his first influencer-boxer in KSI, not all hope is lost for Woodley, who is still on the prowl for a payday, perhaps against a more familiar face like ex-UFC star Nate Diaz.
Currently a free agent, Diaz left the UFC in 2022 and has boxed twice since, dropping a decision to Jake Paul but outlasting BMF rival Jorge Masvidal in their boxing rematch in July. Woodley never ended up with the opportunity to fight Diaz inside the cage, citing the matchup had been discussed during his title reign around the time he defended his title against Demian Maia in 2017.
“Nate and I have already kind of been talked about fighting on several times behind the scenes. I thought Nate and I boxing would make a lot of sense. Or to be honest, I really kinda wanna fight Nick,” Woodley said of Nate’s older brother and current UFC fighter Nick Diaz.
“Nick was the original OG. He’s fighting [Vicente] Luque, which is not a great fight for him. Luque… it’s a tough fight.”
Tyron Woodley’s last fight in the UFC came against Vicente Luque, nearly stopping the Brazilian in an early exchange only to be submitted not long after in the opening round at UFC 260. Luque was scheduled to meet Diaz at UFC Abu Dhabi in August but the elder Diaz brother was forced to withdraw due to travel issues with the bout still not having a new date as of this writing.
Who would like to see Tyron Woodley fight next?
