Woodley: Fans calling me boring have a Dory memory
Tyron Woodley: “Everything that people said about me, I’ve proven wrong. But nobody has that long-term memory. Everybody is like Dory from ‘Finding Nemo.’”
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has received widespread criticism for his last fight with Stephen Thompson. However, the fight before that was the Fight of the Night. In fact, Woodley won a performance bonus in three of the four previous fights. During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Woodley chided fans for their Dory-like memory
People can say, ‘Oh, he’s a boring fighter,’ said Woodley, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. How many guys have I knocked out? Think about the Carlos Condit fight, the Dong Hyun Kim fight, the Robbie Lawler fight, the Jay Hieron fight, the Josh Koscheck fight. Even the last fight with Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. Everything that people said about me, I’ve proven wrong. But nobody has that long-term memory. Everybody is like Dory from ‘Finding Nemo.’
The look on my face after the fight wasn’t because I thought I lost. I expected myself to do better. It really wasn’t a terrible fight. I wouldn’t give myself a C, I’d give myself an A. But the fight itself, I could have forced more flurries. I could have forced more interactions.
I was a little bit frustrated with myself, because I saw some opportunities and I didn’t seize the moment.
How is the entire world, ‘Oh, Tyron was circling’? OK, well maybe I don’t want to go in there and just get countered when it’s hard to get in on a long opponent who is just waiting on you to come and attack because he doesn’t want to come in and close the gap.
You gotta know me to promote me. You can’t just promote a fighter. I believe the UFC should promote stories, they should promote lifestyles, they should promote what it took for that person to be in the Octagon. Because it took something for all of us to be here. And that’s how you get the fans behind you, that’s how you get them to stay behind you. Not just a fight.
I feel like I’m the guy that they can make a star, that’s already doing everything for them. There’s not much more you need to do.
Every fight can’t be this frickin’ Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez fight. Or Doo Ho Choi vs. Cub Swanson. Every fight is not gonna be that way. At the end of the day, the goal is to be the world champion and keep the belt as long as you can and have this reign and career.
Demian Maia fights Jorge Masvidal on May 13 at UFC 211, and will likely get a title shot with a win. However, Woodley’s preference would be a fight that does big PPV numbers, like a division down vs. Conor McGregor, on in his division vs. Georges St-Pierre, or a division up vs. Michael Bisping. Unfortunately, the latter two have agreed to fight, and McGregor appears intent only on boxing Floyd Mayweather.