There's an unusual calmness with which welterweight champion Tyron Woodley speaks about his standing as quite possibly the most under-promoted -- if not underrated -- fighter in all of UFC.
One might forgive Woodley (18-3-1), of course, had he chose to grandstand his bitterness each time a microphone gets placed in front of him. Instead, with shoulder surgery behind him following a one-year layoff, Woodley enters the fourth defense of his 170-pound title on Saturday at UFC 228 in Dallas with an almost matter-of-fact tone regarding his situation.
Despite acclaim as one of MMA's pound-for-pound best fighters, all Woodley has heard in recent years are the cries from UFC president Dana White that he's a boring fighter. And it certainly isn't lost on Woodley that he enters yet another fight in which his opponent -- in this case, 25-year-old British slugger Darren Till -- is someone UFC has tabbed for future stardom.
"This kid has a whole country with him," Woodley said at last week's media luncheon in Los Angeles. "You don't think I know they are trying to build this kid up so he can fight in the O2 Arena? He just did 18,000 seats in [Till's hometown of] Liverpool. I ain't a fool but guess what? Not on my watch. Not today. I've been the king of interception."
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Not only is it hard to argue with Woodley's claims as they pertain to just how undervalued he feels to his promoter, he's quick to provide a list of UFC's best-laid plans that he has been able to foil.
"The people that I'm facing are the ones that [UFC] are looking so far ahead on," Woodley said. "You don't think that I know that Robbie Lawler may have been fighting Georges St-Pierre or Conor [McGregor] or something in Madison Square Garden [at UFC 205]? Not this lifetime.
"Or if Kelvin Gastelum beats Tyron [at UFC 183], then he'll fight for the world title. I'm sure there were a lot of plans for 'Wonderboy' [Stephen Thompson]; he fit the mold at the time with blue eyes, spiked hair, crazy striking, young and All-American kid. At that time, that's what it was, Paige [VanZant] and Sage [Northcutt], and that's where that mold was going through. So, once again, I'll be the spoiler. I'll mess up the plans and I'll continue to be the world champion."
Proving people wrong after being counted out is something Woodley says he has dealt with his entire life, long before being typecast with the role of promotional B-side in his own pay-per-view title defenses. Woodley was constantly told he was too small as a youth and claims most doubted he could compete on the collegiate level he did as an All-American at Missouri.
The best way to sum up how underappreciated he has felt in the pro ranks might come in the form of his history with oddsmakers. Woodley entered his title defense against Demian Maia in July 2017 at UFC 214 as the betting favorite for the first time in four fights, and snapped a streak in which Woodley was the underdog six of his previous eight appearances going back to 2013.
On Saturday, the oddsmakers see Woodley's tilt against Till (17-0-1) as even money despite the fact that "The Gorilla" is fresh off a controversial hometown decision he claimed against Thompson in May -- a fight in which he missed weight for by a whopping four pounds. With just one other quality win of note on his resume (a 2017 knockout of Donald Cerrone), it's largely Till's overwhelming size for a welterweight that has made this a pick 'em fight.
"[Till] is ready to fight, and guess what, he should be ready to fight because he has a warrior in front of him and somebody who has been through it all," Woodley said. "It's not like I have been raised on some pedestal or am being carried in on a chariot and you guys are feeding me grapes. I'm out here and I'm doing my deal by myself, I'm grinding by myself.
"I'm promoting myself a lot of these times and I still have to go out there and beat these guys and strategize. I still have to find a way to stay focused with all the distractions and all the pressure."
Whether it's justified to criticize UFC's marketing of Woodley, the native of Ferguson, Missouri, has certainly done his best to fill in where the promotion has left off. He has produced his own "Champ Life" and "Champ Camp" series on YouTube which chronicles his life away from the Octagon and hosts both a podcast -- "Morning Wood with Deez Nuts" -- and a weekly TMZ web show titled, "The Hollywood Beatdown" which has helped in the crossover of his brand.
The narrative, however, that UFC has failed to properly paint entering this fight is just how close the 36-year-old Woodley is attaining welterweight immortality as one of the promotion's greatest 170-pound fighters. While that rarified air has previously been reserved for St-Pierre and Hall of Famer Matt Hughes, Woodley's resume includes wins over Paul Daley, Josh Koscheck, Carlos Condit, Kelvin Gastelum, Lawler, Thompson and Maia.
"I'm not letting these young kids come up and make their name off of me," Woodley said. "It's going to be very difficult for these welterweights. I'm going to go down as one of the best welterweights, if not the very best, to ever step foot in the Octagon. This belt ain't going anywhere until I get done fighting. [Till] doesn't have the experience I have, he hasn't been in there with the killers I've been in with."
Woodley has been so focused on exposing Till that he has publicly refused to face top contender Kamaru Usman, whom UFC has tabbed to weigh in as a potential backup should Till miss weight again. He plans to fight Till regardless. The reason for his preference dates back to the Aug. 3 face-off opposite Till during UFC 227 weekend in Los Angeles when the fight was announced when Woodley saw a level of hunger and intensity that felt familiar.
"[Till] reminds me of myself because he really believes it," Woodley said. "Some guys just talk and they say what you want to hear, but he believes it. He believes he can beat me. He believes he's the best welterweight and that's the guy I want to fight. The guys I have done the best against are the guys I respected the most and the guys that style wise were the most problematic."
The intensity of Till's stare was something Woodley said he hadn't seen since his 2011 Strikeforce victory over Tarec Saffiedine, whose expression had Woodley believing, "this motherf---er is coming to fight." Not only did Woodley win that fight handily but he said that Till's glare fired him up so much he asked UFC officials whether there were mats backstage for him to begin training on that exact second.
"Sometimes it takes that young, hungry fighter who reminds you of yourself to relight that flame," Woodley said. "Our sport has a way of being teeter-totter and the fans are up and down. Sometimes the politics are too much and the emotions can be up and down. Sometimes there is too much pressure. What it takes to be a champion is much more than winning a five-round fight. But when you have this young fighter who wants to take what you have built for your whole career? Sept. 8, you are going to want to be there."
When asked how he will deal with Till's imposing size and power, Woodley was quick to remind media members that he has always been the smaller man at 170 pounds, "and it never stopped me from putting someone down on the canvas." He also expounded on what he deems to be advantages in technique, explosion, power, wrestling IQ and experience that are hard to overlook.
Woodley ultimately doesn't have an issue with the matchup being deemed "young lion vs. old lion" because of how much wisdom he said older lions tend to have. He also shot down notions that he's a boring fighter by pointing out his versatility and how he has been able to beat each opponent at what they do best in every title fight.
"All my fights are entertaining," Woodley said. "If you want me to jump on the ground and grapple with Demian Maia, I would be an idiot. If you want me to go out there and blitz 'Wonderboy' Thompson, I would be an idiot. A lot of these fighters should pay me because I wrote the blueprint on how to beat Demian Maia and how to beat 'Wonderboy' and Robbie Lawler. I out-brawled the brawler, I out-grappled the grappler and I out-point fought the point fighter. You watch any of my fights, I not only beat the guys at what they do best, I didn't have to use my background which is wrestling."
If you're wondering whether Woodley takes his slights personally, he does, but says the only course of action he can take is continue to beat the guys they put in front of him decisively.
"This is personal," Woodley said. "When you look at a fighter and what they have done in the sport, and you look at Robbie Lawler, he's going to be credited more than I am and I knocked him out in 46 seconds. So is Carlos Condit, so is Koscheck, so is all of these other guys that I fought. When are people going to start putting the 'K' in 'respeck' at the end of my name? It hasn't really happened yet. So once again, this is not the first young, undefeated fighter that I've fought. Kelvin Gastelum was that guy too, right? He had what it took to beat me. Oh, he was young and he could wrestle.
"I'm right back in the same position and it's so funny that I could end up back in the same position."
