Tyron Woodley has 'perfect scenario' of fights but might first have to settle for Leon Edwards
Tyron Woodley is on a mission to become the greatest of all time.
Woodley (19-4-1 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC), the former UFC welterweight champion, last competed in March at UFC 235, where he lost his title to Kamaru Usman. It was Woodley’s first loss in over four years, and during his championship tenure he successfully defended his title four times.
During a Monday appearance on “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show,” Woodley said he has his eye on the two top 170 pounders, Usman and Colby Covington, who are set to square off for the title at UFC 245.
“My perfect scenario, to be honest: I want to fight the best the UFC has to offer right now,” Woodley said. “I want to fight obviously Colby, I want to fight Usman, (expletive) I want to fight Israel Adesanya after I wipe out the division. If I can get past that test, I want to fight Khabib (Nurmagomedov).”
Woodley was briefly scheduled to face Covington on numerous occasions, but the fight never came to fruition. With the history of once sharing the same gym in American Top Team and all the trash talk, it would have certainly been a big fight for Woodley, But instead, Usman will get that opportunity Dec. 14.
“I never got showered with the praise,” Woodley said. “I got booed in Madison Square Garden. If I was fighting Colby, I would have gotten the most obnoxious cheer ever, but when you think about it, Colby is an (expletive). He turned down a fight with me three times. Usman should have never fought me first. You’ve got to recognize, Usman was not even the next person to fight me, nor was Darren Till.”
Right now, it appears all signs are pointing to a potential matchup with Leon Edwards, who has amassed an impressive eight-fight winning streak. However, Woodley is finding it hard to get motivated for Edwards.
While he recognizes his skillset, he’s just not the big name he’s looking for at this point in his career.
“The (expletive) up part is my son was like, ‘Who is that?,'” Woodley said of Edwards. “My kids know everybody. They play the video game, so when you got to explain to somebody who the person is and how good they really are, I have to pump up to the fact, to the people, and to the peers on how dope Leon is, because he is dope. He got super crazy strategic striking, super sharp, great cardio. He has good IQ, switched things around in the (Rafael dos Anjos fight), in the middle of the fight, so he’s dope as (expletive) as a fighter, but I’m going to have to sell the fact on how dope he is.”
Woodley is targeting a January return and has left it up to his management and team to figure out the right opponent. He is not ruling out a fight with Edwards but says the money and stipulations for the fight have to suit him if he were to take the fight.
“Meanwhile, I’m going to have to continue to promote myself. I ain’t getting paid to promote him, so if it makes sense and the UFC makes it make sense with the dollar amount, and my coaches and my team think it’s the best move, then I’m going to go default to them. Because they know me and they know what my end goal is. My goal is to be the greatest of all time, so I’ve got to go and get back my retaliation, the people that defeated me, that I still can. I got to beat Colby’s (expletive) up, because he clearly ran from me three times after making his Instagram page 90% me, extremely unmanly.”