Bigger fall from grace: Barao Or Woodley?

[MMA Maine-iac]

Between these two I'd pick Woodley.

All time I'd pick Hendricks.

 

[KinG]

Woodly eaaaasy ! A zillion people saw it also and he got ko coold

 

[DespicablePeep]

But then again Woodley must be banking close to a million+ with both fights.

People care too much about money, Woodley will burn through that cash to appease his void and end worse than he was. The day he decided to become something he is not, rapper, is when things started to go south.

 

[cws80us]

Woodley became so gun shy that he nearly refuses to throw a punch. I'm not sure how he expects to win a fight by basically not fighting.

 

[ASUThermo]

Barao. His slide started and he was still in his 20's, Woodley was almost 37 when he started to decline.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

Barao had his career ruined by a cheating POS.

Woodley just aged.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Wow this has been a really fun thread, Lots of different opinions on whose was worse. but I also want to addess the many posters who have brought up BJ penn

Yes, His record after beating sanchez was bad. this is true. However I think it's important to note that he was fighting WAY out of his league. In reality BJ penn is about as big as a UFC FW. Or even bantamweight. he lost to Edgar yes, but that was a close fight. he lost the rematch soundly which was really the first time in his career other than the machida fight (which was at hw for gods sake) where he soundly lost a decision. after that he still beat matt hughes and had a draw with jon fitch both of which are legit as fuck. Then comes the losses and these are to NIck Diaz, Rory MacDonald, Yair, Ryan hall..... the only fights he had where he'd have destroyed them in his prime are Guida and Siver.

BJ Penn's fall is the saddest, because he is a legend and always will be if prime bj were here now he'd probably be at FW - BW fighting people his own size.


Tyron woodley botched the end of his career SO badly he might not even make the HOF.

 

[eon001]

People care too much about money, Woodley will burn through that cash to appease his void and end worse than he was. The day he decided to become something he is not, rapper, is when things started to go south.

It does make me wonder what his financial literacy is like. His UFC salary and analyst work alone should have giving him a solid pay check. He could have invested in some real estate like Miles Jury and have endless passive income.

I heard he did burn trough his funds. He need to be a cautionary tale.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

He'll be in more fights next year. He was scheduled for boxing fights. He needs to go all in on boxing and really improve his game. He needs to be sparring high level boxers, I don't see him sparring any high level boxers at all to the lead up to this fights. He's just been doing pad work. Also Din Thomas might be good for mma, but he's not good for boxing. He needs an actual boxing team that trains/corners high level boxers. There was zero improvement from the first Jake Paul fight and the second fight.

Very true and good point.. I also have not seen him sparring with anyone of note, he just seems to hit the heavy bag or pads only.. who actually spars with him?! Askren?.

I always thought boxing would be a awful path for Woodley, simply because he just doesn't let go and barely throws as it is.. in MMA he barely throws and stares 90% of the time, he is so hesitant and tentative in UFC.. so whats he going to be like in boxing where you have to constantly throw hands?!... madness, he should coach some wrestling

 

[Fesaine]

Barao was considered by some the p4p number 1 fighter during when Aldo and Jones was at the top.

 

[campbecc]

Woodley was already way past his prime and he lost in another (but related sport) as opposed to Barao losing to low level MMA fighters while in his late 20s or early 30s, right after being considered in the P4P rankings. Also Woodley is probably not that upset about it considering he reportedly made several million for each match with Paul.

 

[rellikoge]

Barao. Talked about as the p4p #1 in his heyday. At one point it was him and Aldo as the top 2 p4p. Thats incredible coming out of one camp.

 

[Gigaton Punch]

Barao's is worse
Woodley losing to Jake Paul is embarrassing but he also got paid millions for those fights
Barao is fighting for nothing in no name promotions

 

[Ozze]

Would have to say Barão. He went from the P4P lists to prelims in the blink of an eye. It was like he wasn't even remembered as champion anymore.

Woodley at least lost his last UFC fights fighting top competition, in main cards and probably getting good money.

UFC was probably paying peanuts to Barão.

Then there were the boxing matches. Of course it's embarassing for Woodley to lose them but he made a lot of money and got his name out there, which will bring more money.

 

[mmathurbator]

That’s not what happened with BJ.

I watched the entire thing on video. but sure, random guy who didnt, tell me more about what REALLY HAPPENED! sherdog is fucking retarded.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

Very true and good point.. I also have not seen him sparring with anyone of note, he just seems to hit the heavy bag or pads only.. who actually spars with him?! Askren?.

I always thought boxing would be a awful path for Woodley, simply because he just doesn't let go and barely throws as it is.. in MMA he barely throws and stares 90% of the time, he is so hesitant and tentative in UFC.. so whats he going to be like in boxing where you have to constantly throw hands?!... madness, he should coach some wrestling

He can actually get good in boxing but I don't think he's been training right. His pad holder is good but he needs rounds with high level boxers. That's the difference between him and Jake Paul's training. Jake has been sparring with high level boxers, world champion boxers, and getting training from high level coaches here and there. Woodley also needs to work on footwork. He should've realized that after the first fight and he hasn't worked on it at all. Same stationary wide leg stance with slow forward movements. He won't catch Jake Paul like that. Jake doesn't even have the fastest or best footwork, but he's been able to dance around Woodley because he works on footwork and Woodley doesn't.

 

[ThulsaDooom]

Woodley. At least Barao went down swinging if I'm not mistaken. Woodley has thrown a mere 6 punches in his last 10 fights. He's mentally fucked for fighting.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Woodley. With T-Wood, you could see in his WB fights how he could be beaten and the Maia stinker... Best to say as little as possible about that. Till was inexperienced and we now know how good he really is.

With Renan, we all pretty much thought of him as one of the top P4P fighters back then, with a possibility of getting to the GOAT discussion. After TJ1 we explained it away as the perils of his weight cut. Turns out he was not as great as we thought he was.

Still not that good yet, got run over by Derek Brundleman. Derek is good but not great. But Till hasn't declined like Woodley, might not have peaked yet tbh.

Woodley's fall from grace has been absolutely hysterical tbh, one of my favorite career arcs of the last few years for all the wrong reasons.

 

[HeffDoesWant]

Barao fell off from GOAT candidate to has-been in a terrible way. USADA appeared, he got derailed, and ultimately kept going when his mind wasn't in it and accumulated a bunch of losses. Nothing we haven't seen before with others like BJ Penn or Chuck Lidell. Plus, there was no media circus around the whole affair, which makes it less notable.

Nothing will ever ever top Woodley's disgrace, there's no comparison.

Both TJ fights were before USADA was testing.




"Though the program officially began July 1, UFC athletes didn't get a true taste of what life under the new USADA regime would be like until October. The early months of the program were spent educating UFC athletes about PEDs and what they could expect from the program."

 

[Quietus]

Neither. Woodley got paid the big bucks to box, he made more taking those two L’s than pretty much anyone but Conor made in the UFC this year. This is prizefighting, kids, not feelingsfighting. If you earn the prize you’re winning, period.

As for Barao, he can’t have a big fall from grace because his regional record doesn’t mean anything, it’s as weak as Khabibs. If you go anywhere close to 30-0 in MMA it’s because more than half of your opponents were amateurs and bums off the couch. Barao and Khabib both have about 10 credible wins each.