Woodley: Mayweather starts MMA training this week
Tyron Woodley: “I think we’re gonna start most of it next week, so I think we’re gonna start some of the strategy talks next week and we might get some sessions in as well.”
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley spoke recently with TMZ and said the greatest boxer of his generation, Floyd Mayweather, will begin training in MMA this week.
I talked to Floyd yesterday actually, said Woodley, as transcribed byJed Meshew for MMA Fighting. He’s in Miami right now and we’re coordinating dates on training. . .
We’re beginning the process of setting up the timing. I think more of it is gonna be game-planning strategy over the phone and talking about the game-plan of training, because if you think about the wrestling, if you think about the jiu-jitsu, if you think about the kicking aspect of the game, he does not have to go out there and learn how to kick like Bruce Lee. He does not have to go out there and become a black belt overnight, he just has to be able to stop it and get in boxing range and I think anybody in the UFC, he’s gonna be able to handle his own with.
I think we’re gonna start most of it next week, so I think we’re gonna start some of the strategy talks next week and we might get some sessions in as well.
I think, obviously, his striking is bar-none some of the best we’ve ever seen in the sport. Anybody who has the ability to evade a punch in a fraction of a second, I think, with proper repetition and proper drilling can avoid a takedown wrestling attempt. So that’s obviously gonna be the primary goal, to equip him with the tools to not get taken down and if he happens to get taken down, how to keep his cool and how to get his butt back up to his feet and get back where he needs to be.
The big question, of course, is who Mayweather will fight. The obvious answer in Conor McGregor. But fighting McGregor under the Unified Rules would be silly. The obvious solution would be limiting takedowns and submission. That’s still silly, but less silly.
