Truth About Woodley's Title Defenses and GOAT Eligibility

mkt

mkt

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I acknowledge Woodley as the 2nd best WW ever. (Edit: Well, maybe. It's between Hughes and him.) But for his title defenses, he has 2 wins against fighters under 40. The first Wonderboy fight was a draw. Maia was a shell of his prime self. Ok, technically Maia was 39 years and 9 months old (not quite 40), but that's much older than anyone GSP fought for a title defense...and it clearly wasn't the Maia who dominated Fitch back in 2012.

IMO, Woodley hasn't passed the "wrestler test" either. GSP beat at least four Div. 1 wrestlers who were in their primes and Top 5 fighters at the time (Kos twice, Fitch, Hughes twice, Hendricks). Woodley beat an old Kos and we didn't see his wrestling extensively tested. The only other wrestlers he's fought were Shields (not an elite TD artist...and Tyron lost) and Hieron (not a Div 1 top tier wrestler). GSP beat both Shields and Hieron, for the record.

Till was a nice win, but he's still an unknown commodity in some ways. He debatably beat Wonderboy in a point fight and KO'd Cerrone (so have a bunch of other guys, including LW/FW size fighters like Pettis). Other than that, we don't know much about Till. Is he a better fighter than the prime Thiago Alves that GSP beat? I don't think we know yet.

Anyway, until Woodley builds a list of wins like this, he's not the WW GOAT, no matter what he or his coach thinks:

Prime Hendricks
Nick Diaz
Jake Shields
Prime Kos (twice)
Prime Fitch
Prime Alves
Prime BJ (twice)
Prime Hughes (twice)
etc.
 
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Apparently a split draw and majority decision win over Wonderboy, setting the company record for least strikes thrown in a title fight against Maia, and finishing green Darren Till > all of GSP's wins
 
No one actually thinks Woodley is the GOAT
Woodley calls himself the GOAT because he believes in speaking things into existence.


Helax
 
And you can't count his first fight with Thompson as a technical defense because it was a draw.. He just simply retained. I would have laughed if Dana came into the cage with a hacksaw and cut Wood's belt in two and gave WB half and Tyrone half.
 
2nd best? You mean after Hughes and gsp making him 3rd right?

How anyone would put Woodley ahead of their respective careers at this point is a bit silly
 
Woodley is a talented fighter but I never find myself impressed with his fights (although to be fair I missed the Till fight ((Snooze me thrice, shame on you. Snooze me four times, shame on me)).

I don't think his competition is strong enough right now to unseat GSP as ww goat. His next opponents are likely to be Covington and Usman, and even if he dominates them I don't see it doing much for his brand. He'll need a big win like GSP, McGregor, Khabib, etc. to make him a star.
 
Threetrees said:
No one actually thinks Woodley is the GOAT
Woodley calls himself the GOAT because he believes in speaking things into existence.


Helax
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This. Even Woodley knows he is halfway there at best. Everyone has their own metric. Mine is consecutive title defenses. Woodley has the momentum and skills to surpass, but he hasn't done it as of now.
 
Competition is no where near as GSP era but it can be getting close.
 
one can argue the best WW in the world right now fights under the Bellator banner.
 
I wouldn't even say Woodley has passed Hughes yet in the WW GOAT talk
 
Dirge said:
2nd best? You mean after Hughes and gsp making him 3rd right?

How anyone would put Woodley ahead of their respective careers at this point is a bit silly
Click to expand...

I grant that Woodley even being the second best WW all time is debatable right now...I was being nice.
 
JosephTessaro said:
one can argue the best WW in the world right now fights under the Bellator banner.
Click to expand...

And he never won the UFC belt, and lost to Lawler (twice), Wonderboy and Condit. Rory is a great fighter, but he's nowhere in the GOAT discussion right now. Styles make fights, and while Rory beat Woodley, he couldn't beat the right guys to win a belt in the UFC...and hasn't even defended his Bellator belt yet. I also think his upcoming fight with a bigger MW striker is a terrible idea with the damage he's taken (esp. his nose), but that's another discussion.
 
Dirge said:
2nd best? You mean after Hughes and gsp making him 3rd right?

How anyone would put Woodley ahead of their respective careers at this point is a bit silly
Click to expand...
So if Woodley retires now he can never catch Hughes because he choose to retire instead of turning into a punching bag?
 
mkt said:
And he never won the UFC belt, and lost to Lawler (twice), Wonderboy and Condit. Rory is a great fighter, but he's nowhere in the GOAT discussion right now. Styles make fights, and while Rory beat Woodley, he couldn't beat the right guys to win a belt in the UFC...and hasn't even defended his Bellator belt yet. I also think fighting a much bigger MW striker is a terrible idea with the damage he's taken (esp. his nose), but that's another discussion.
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Rory seems to have a glaring issue in that he fights at the pace of his opponent. Against Lawler he stood and banged because that is what Lawler does. Against wonderboy he potshotted like wonderboy

When he gets aggressive like against Woodley is when he is at his best
 
And remember what Rory McD did to Woodley? GSP would do that and more.
 
Dirge said:
2nd best? You mean after Hughes and gsp making him 3rd right?

How anyone would put Woodley ahead of their respective careers at this point is a bit silly
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Agreed and this is coming from a huge Woodley fan.

But Woodley is at 4 defenses (3 outright and 1 retention) and Hughes defended it 5 times. How anyone can think Woodley can't surpass Hughes in a few more fights is crazy. He beats Colby and that checks off TS's top wrestler criteria. I think he passes Hughes if he beats Colby because the competition is so much better today than back then. Hughes was a force of nature during his time though.

GSP's title defenses is quite a feat and somewhat unachievable in today's UFC. It's not impossible but Woodley is already 36 and even if he defends 2x a year that's still 3 years away until he can even tie GSP.
 
mkt said:
Anyway, until Woodley builds a list of wins like this, he's not the WW GOAT, no matter what he or his coach thinks:

Prime Hendricks
Nick Diaz
Jake Shields
Prime Kos (twice)
Prime Fitch
Prime Alves
Prime BJ (twice)
Prime Hughes (twice)
etc.
Click to expand...
Hughes' DID build a list of wins like this, so why isn't he #2?
 
SeattleFightFan said:
Hughes' DID build a list of wins like this, so why isn't he #2?
Click to expand...

? Outside of GSP his best win is a LW, and his next best win is a LW. LOL

And he lost to both GSP and BJ twice.

I like Hughes, but he isn't on Woodley's level. That's just facts.
 
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