Is Woodley the best example of "fighting not to lose" ?

[Hunt.]

He is absolutely not a boring fighter, and i believe there are not a lot of fighters who fight to lose? Obviously he fights to win just like every other fighter. And just like he said he fought a smart fight... do you think he is going to grapple with the best bjj expert in the UFC when he can stand with him? This is mma... Maia only wants one thing... he would be and idiot if he underestimated him and tried to make it a grappling match. Obviously he is going to fight where he has the advantage. If Maia not only want one single thing the fight would look differently...

And what people don't realize is that yes he did have some opportunities to finish the fight BUT at a BIG risk to gas himself out OR get submitted. It's a 5rnd fight and Woodley is one of the most muscular guys in his division for him to be able to fight 5 rnd's he has to conserve energy. If he would fail to finish the fight Maia would have a much greater opportunity to take him down later in the fight when he would be more gassed. Styles make fights, everyone knew that was going to happen. Look at Woodley vs Lawler.... Woodley is a fun explosive fighter who fights intelligently, with the right matchups (most) you get fun fights.

 

[Hunt.]

Also just look at his record out of 18 wins 11 are finishes... that is not a bad rate.. 61%

If you wanna talk about boring fighters there are a million of other fighters, i really don't get the hate. I guess it's lack of knowledge. Woodley can finish a fight in any second and 61% of the time he does.

 

[Jedi Judah]

Have you seen Mayweather fight?

 

[MacGregor]

If you want to see fighting not to lose watch Shamrock vs Severn 2. It was against the law during UFC 9 to use closed fist strikes but still.

 

[Royhalibut]

Phil Davis often fights not to lose. Such a talented fighter, but has been pretty boring on a few occasions.

 

[Kung Fu bb]

Phil Davis often fights not to lose. Such a talented fighter, but has been pretty boring on a few occasions.

Good example. Dude is a freak of nature as well, but you can see he is just too hesitant and lacks confidence.

 

[thisISjoel]

100% he is.

 

[FATM]

Wonderboy was equally to blame for the two shit fights they had. I have no idea how he escapes scrutiny for it.

 

[Rudeboyben84]

No matter if you were a pride fan or not surely everyone agrees an Asian man with a picket full of yellow cards that cost you part of your pay check angrily shouting action at boring fights Would be great in the UFC.

 

[P4PSHERGOAT]

I think that´s the biggest problem, we all know he is capable of and has the potential to KO people stiff every fight if he tried harder..... but he doesn´t..... he seems satisfied performing that way.

That’s what I can’t stand about Woodley, and I like the guy but damn his fights are frustrating

 

[fortheo]

Still whopped that ass

Also worth noting that Maia ate that shot and then continued to press forward for 24 minutes. Dudes got a decent chin on him.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Wonderboy was equally to blame for the two shit fights they had. I have no idea how he escapes scrutiny for it.

I've been saying this. Woodley didn't do much but when he did do something it was extremely significant.

WB for 10 rounds did absolutely nothing except stare at Woodley. The most offense WB had was a Woodley failed submission attempt where he ended up on top after almost being finished by strikes.

 

[elcucuy]

Those title defenses he had were all pathetic. Dana is spot on right. He deserves all the hate he gets for fighting like a scared little bitch

 

[Deleted member 510653]

The reason Wood has been fighting like a wuss is because he gets paid more as champ and potentially losing could cost him big paydays

 

[Thaijitsu612]

GSP is always the aggressor in his fights. Woodley never is

But gsp still took a very safe zero risk approach. Even when dominating people on top he rarely ever went for subs or opened up with gnp for fear of losing position

 

[Thaijitsu612]

I've been saying this. Woodley didn't do much but when he did do something it was extremely significant.

WB for 10 rounds did absolutely nothing except stare at Woodley. The most offense WB had was a Woodley failed submission attempt where he ended up on top after almost being finished by strikes.

True, wonderboy is just as much to blame for those fights being awful. I think a lot of people forgot how the first fight went. Outside the fourth round it was terrible as well.

 

[tru3f4n]

Is Woodley the best example of "fighting not to lose" in the ufc?
I believe he is.
If you disagree, show me a better example.

He had Maia "blind" of one eye since the 1st punch in the 1st minute of fight and didn´t do absolutely anything for 5 rounds to finish him. Woodley's fans will say "but he stuffed more than 20 takedowns from Maia" ..... ok, good..... but what did he do himself to win the fight, besides stuffing takedowns???? Not much at all. Just extremely worried about not getting taken down, that´s all. Not a single moment where he showed the fire or drive to finish the fight.....

It was obvious that Maia was gonna shoot for td and look for a sub the whole fight, but Woodley as the younger and stronger athlete with faster hands and absurd power should´ve put Cyclops Maia away quickly but limited himself only to negate Maia's game, nothing else...... So right now, he is on a streak of 3 of the worst ever title fights at WW and broke the record of least thrown strikes.
At any point in the fight Woodley showed he really wanted to finish Maia.

I usually disagree with DFW but he is right on this one

Dana White:
“The guy [Maia] had one eye in the first round and you’re [Woodley] faster, you’re stronger, your hands are better, you’re explosive. I believe that Woodley could’ve finished that in the first round, and if not, he definitely could’ve finished it in the second round. If you had a remote control for that guy, he’s a freak of nature, he’d be an incredible fighter. Listen, it’s easy to say a win is a win but when you get booed out of an arena, that means people don’t want to watch you fight, you know. And that’s how you make a living. It’s not good if people don’t want to watch you fight.”

Thoughts?

 

[Stoic1]

No thx on watching Woodley fight.

Congrats on the knockdown of a completely one dimensional fighter though. Amazing feat. GOAT worthy performances......or maybe not.

 

[90 50]

If you could put Phil Baroni’s aggression in him you’d have something.

But he’s freaking boring. He could but he won’t

I’ll never watch him fight unless it’s against marquart again.

 

[riitzni]

No reason to post this other than I'm sick of Woodley telling people he's better than GSP.