Tyron Woodley knows he made a huge mistake in his second fight with Jake Paul.
Their rematch in December ended disastrously for Woodley as he was knocked out with one massive punch in the sixth round, sending the former UFC welterweight champion to his sixth straight loss across boxing and MMA and creating a highlight that immediately went viral.
Woodley admitted on The MMA Hour that he has thought about the error that led to his downfall constantly, but otherwise he thinks plenty of credit has to go to Paul’s execution.
“When I watch a fight, especially a clip like that, I kind of separate myself from the clip,” Woodley said. So I wasn’t expecting to be knocked unconscious by a YouTube child. I saw a f*cking phenomenal punch landing at the perfect time. So when I was looking, I was trying to look at body language, I was trying to look at me feinting, what made me drop my left hand?
” I look at the video, you can see my face from an angle and his body language shows overhand. I like shielding over and this — the moment I do that I am looking at him. It’s not clear if he liked that or had a delayed throw. But something caused me to do that, and that was the only thing I’ve been thinking about over and again.
“But I won’t allow people to take away the fact that, one, I stepped up when nobody really was available. I was in shape, I was prepared, I was ready. I won every round — I think he might have won the second round when I look back at the fight — I won every round, even was winning that [sixth round] up until that one moment. So I won’t let my hand dropping for one second and him perfectly timing the punch at the same time make me completely take away everything that happened.”
Following the fight, Woodley had some fun at his own expense, paying out a $5,000 prize for the best meme based on his now infamous KO loss. Woodley knows that not everybody liked the idea but it is his way to control the story.
Part of that narrative is dispelling the notion that he was defeated by an unskilled wannabe boxer in Paul. Woodley believes that Paul has made the most of his immense fame and resources to fuel his boxing career, two factors that could allow him to surprise a lot of potential opponents.
“A lot of people are saying, ‘Aw, you lost,’ and, ‘You got knocked out’ — he would literally f*ck a lot of y’all up,” Woodley said. Woodley said, “Like MMA fighters or other people who just like to bump at your gums.” He is an athlete kid who doesn’t need any other job. He don’t have no kids, he don’t have no business he’s running. He can have the best training, the best coaches, the best nutrition, the most focus. He can separate himself. He don’t have to the financial burden. Most MMA fighters, when we first start, we don’t have money. We do what we can do. Although we get any training that will help us see the future, he entered boxing with an understanding of how to push the machine.
“That’s all we’re doing is entertainment. It’s numbers. This is pay per view, and it is getting eyes on us. It was difficult for me to take the time to see what God had for me and what God had for this young man. I can’t let one dropped hand — one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever made in a fight — but at the same token, had I not dropped that hand, had I continued to fight the way I was going, we’d have been looking at something different. It’s time to take the bad with the good and keep on moving .”
Woodley was only meant to fight Paul once last year, but he was called into action for a rematch with Paul when scheduled opponent Tommy Fury was forced to bow out due to injury and illness. “The Chosen One” spoke glowingly of the entire experience, which came on the heels of his departure from the UFC in March.
He is eager to fight multiple times in 2022, boxing or MMA. Fans shouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t slow down, even though his 40th Birthday is near.
” I just want to have fun this year,” Woodley stated. “To be honest, fighting Jake was fun to me, training for Jake was fun to me, the press conference sh*t was fun to me. It was the best experience I’ve ever had in any fight. I swear to you. The mood, the Showtime sh*t, the promotion sh*t, the back-and-forth stuff, feeling like I was getting paid what I was worth, was f*cking amazing. Endorsement wise, I was a complete idiot. I put my family and myself in an entirely different situation. Even though I did not win, I learned so much, and still have so many things to do.
” My world is not perfect, and it hasn’t been an easy road. But I didn’t quit. My kids ain’t never seen that out of me, never seen me say, ‘OK, I gotta give up because stuff ain’t going my way.’ Things have went my way so much in my career, in life, in wrestling, school, and in college, MMA, you can’t just f*cking walk away from what you feel God set out for you because you have a couple of lessons.”
While Woodley credits Paul with the victory, he can’t help wondering how the fight could have turned out and what he would have done if he had raised his hand. As it stands, he’s determined to move forward no matter how much criticism comes his way.
“If you really think about it, I feel like I won the first fight and I was winning everything of that fight,” Woodley said. So, even though one [more] judge had said that I had won the first fight, if I had kept my hand up for this bout, it would have been a completely different story. Nobody gives a f*ck about that. They just don’t seem to care. They only care about the viral moment at this time. It was viral because it was him. Two, it was because of his supporters, those who love or hate him. They’re going to keep speaking up and they won’t stop talking. So that’s what it was.
“One fact it isn’t: it isn’t the end. It’s certainly not going to define me. .”
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