One of three fights on Saturday’s UFC Tampa card at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida found Sean Woodson paired up with Fernando Padilla.
Woodson was having a strong 2024, having picked up victories against Charles Jourdain and Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres. Padilla was coming off a submission win against Luis Pajuelo which had improved his UFC record to 2-1.
The fight started quickly with Sean landing a high kick that partially landed. Padilla immediately followed up with aggression swinging looping punches backing Sean up against the cage. Woodson was blocking a lot of the strikes with high guard. Padilla lost his footing with his aggression and Woodson jumped on him. Padilla and Woodson exchanged positions on the ground but not much damage was landed.
When the fight returned to the feet, Padilla kept up the relentless pressure on Woodson. Walking him down, non-stop pressure then output. Sean managed to negate some of the forward pressure and stunned his opponent with a solid jab-cross in the center of the octagon. The most damaging shots of the fight to that point. At the mid-way point of the round, Woodson was holding his mouth open slightly as a result of the constant onslaught of strikes and defensive footwork. With about 90 seconds to go in the round, Woodson sat his opponent down with a leg kick triggering a pop from the crowd. Fernando recovered quickly and went back to walking forward before being dropped again seconds later. Once the fight back on the feet, Padilla kept on his gameplan. Cornering Woodson, throwing punches, keeping in his face and keeping him fatigued. In the final seconds of the round Woodson got space from the fence and landed a looping upper cut-cross combo that badly hurt Padilla. Woodson dropped his retreating opponent with a follow up two pieces. Sean swarmed and bounced his foe off the canvas with follow up shots before the ref stepped in to stop the fight.
After the result, Woodson took to the mic in his post-fight interview. “He overwhelms guys” the St. Louis native remarked, speaking on his foe, “I wasn’t going to let him go through me.” Sean capped his massive win off with a huge statement saying, “Rank me and run me my 50. That dude is a lethal finisher, and I finished him.” The victory capped off a massive 2024 for Sean as he went 3-0 in during the calendar year.
Official Results: Sean Woodson def. Fernando Padilla via TKO, 4:58, Round 1
