Welterweight Tyron Woodley, who lost his title to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 earlier this year, is expecting to fight at least once more in 2019 — and maybe even twice.
Las Vegas, NV — Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley was out and about on Wednesday, on hand for the Fighter’s Only World MMA Awards 2019. While he wasn’t nominated for an award, Woodley still took time out to speak to the media, discussing his potential return with Cageside Press, among other topics.
Also discussed, his bromance/friendship with Ben Askren, who makes the walk to the octagon at UFC 239 this weekend. It’s the second UFC fight of Askren’s career, and he’s undefeated so far, having won welterweight gold in both Bellator MMA and ONE Championship.
Asked what made the pair so close, Woodley told us “fights, man. We’ve been at each other, especially in college. A lot of accountability, a lot of hard wrestling matches. One time we had a sixty minute match in college. Basically we earned each other’s respect the hard way.”
“At one point in college we were going to end up being roommates, that ended up happening, so we’ve just always had that bond,” Woodley continued. “He’s helped me for so many fights, finally for Robbie [Lawler] I got to help him for the first fight, when he fought against him.”
“Just in general it’s a layer of respect, earned through hard work, earned through beating each other up, busting each other, eyes cut open, just being in the trenches,” Woodley finished. “He knows what I capable of, I know what he’s capable of.”
What Woodley is capable of is well known. For the former title holder, the bigger question is when we might see what he’s capable of again. However, the welterweight gave us some good news on Wednesday. “I’ll definitely fight in 2019.”
“I was supposed to fight in June, last week, but I had to be real with myself, my hand wasn’t ready, it wasn’t strong enough,” Woodley revealed. Among the issues, “flexibility, my grip.”
“Fighting is more than just punching. If I’ve got to post up, get up off the ground, put somebody down, it just puts me in a situation where [I’m] disadvantaged,” he said of the injury, and why he decided not to rush back to action. “Now I’m healing up, I should be back pretty soon. I’ll definitely get one in this year, hopefully two.”
