I like Tyron, and I think he's an immense talent. I do not think he's one of the greatest WWs of all time, but I could be wrong.
Woodley is in a difficult place. He's a smart fighter embedded in a biased system that has sadly catered to casual fans with short attention spans; fans who demand to be "entertained!" at every moment, and can't make it through a 5 minute grappling round without checking their phone for something to distract themselves. He's outspoken and opinionated, but not in a way that is "entertaining!" regurgitating trash talk from a manual written by SuperStar Billy Graham and Ric Flair [like Sonnen and colby]. He fights smart, minimizing risk, which can also be not entertaining.
This weekend was no different. Till is a huge WW who was on a streak, but he is still developing and isn't particularly well rounded, and Woodley exploited one of several holes in his game. Woodley looked great doing it, but it was a much, much lower risk/reward ratio than if he'd followed Maia to the ground, for instance.
Woodley's biggest problem is himself. Any fighter who attains a championship in the UFC has climbed a mountain 99.9% of the population couldn't. But the accomplishment's of today's fighters are viewed on a spectrum and they need to continually earn the respect of fans. Woodley--whether it is justified or not, whether it was smart or not--comes off as entitled. Even before he won the championship, he was turning down fights because they "weren't good for his brand" and then sat out for a very, very extended period to get his title shot, after picking up a split over a more fan-friendly Gastelum. We're seeing more and more fighters sit for more than a year in today's UFC to get a title shot, but at the time, it was considered ridiculous, particularly coming after a controversial decision, and having turned down potentially exciting and justified fights early in his career. KTFO'ing another fan-favorite in Robbie for the title--pretty sure Lawler fought twice during the period Woodley sat out waiting--but him in a potentially unpopular position, where he had a choice to make...he could go full heel villain or he could actively seek out great fights and establish himself as a fan-friendly, take on all comers, type of champ. He did neither. He complained once again about the fights offered to him, immediately calling out a retired GSP, and essentially had to be forced to fight Wonderboy. A fight many felt he lost, and most felt was boring. Again, a fighters-champion would want to erase any doubt in the minds of fans as to who won the contest and run it back--particularly with a shallow pool of talent at WW, but not Woodley. He didn't want the rematch, again calling for a retired GSP--a fight most fans felt he didn't deserve, and would lose--and then his rematch and subsequent defense against Maia were conservative illustrations of a very skilled fighter who was entirely averse to taking risks. The call outs of GSP--before and after his return in another division--the call outs of a smaller fighter in McGregor [calling out a smaller fighter is a bitch move, no matter how much money it gets you...all you get is bitch money. bitch money spends the same as regular moeny, but it's bitch money.] and subsequent hypocritical criticism of GSP for interest in a Connor fight did nothing to improve his PR.
Note: I'm not touching his comments about being a victim of institutional racism, because I agree with most of them, to greater and lesser degrees.
All of that adds up a to a fighter who desperately needs a PR team. Dana won't promote him. Dana lacks the skill to promote anyone but low-hanging fruit, and his ego has been bruised by the accuracy of some of Woodley's comments. So it's left to Woodley to promote himself. He doesn't have to become a lame, unfunny caricature like Colby or Sonnen. But he should push himself into a spot where he's taking on all fighters without question or delay for the next two years. He has an easy defense in Colby and should aggressively push for that fight within the next six months. He has winnable fights in Usman and or RDA and or a Lawler rematch...he should push for his next fight in less than a year, and his stock will rise. If he silences Colby with a performance similar to Till's [and Colby has more holes in his striking than Till] he'll start to earn the cache that will turn casual fans toward him.
But he probably won't, because he's his own worst enemy. He'll see the Till win as validation of everything he's believed about himself all along [and he'd be right to do so, but the fan's won't see that] and complain about whoever his next matchup is. He's been a reluctant champion, and I think he'll continue to do so.
