Was Tyron Woodley’s championship reign overrated?

[Richard Fannin]

Fought a better grappler than GSP ever did in Maia.

In no known universe is Jake Shields considered a better grappler than Maia.

Shields beat Maia in their 2013 UFC bout (very close fight though, wouldn't have minded if they called it a draw), and they spent the first 4 rounds mostly on the ground.

Round 5 was the only one they spent on their feet, but they were both already gassed at this point, they gave everything they had in the first 3...

Both GSP & Woodley did good against them, considering that both were on crazy runs, Shields in particular coming in as the Strikeforce MW champ and being in his absolute prime.

Demian Maia was also on an impressive run, but in 2017 he was not in his prime anymore. The Shield loss was in 2013, 3 years after his title shot against Anderson...

Anyway, Woodley's run was good, but GSP haters exaggerated it as much as they could
Then as soon as Usman dethroned Woodley, without missing a beat they all jumped on the "Marty is the new WW GOAT!!"...
and after Usman's loss to Leon, they kinda gave up I guess?
And said that WW was never that good anyway?

 

[Megatronlee]

Of course it meant. What a stupid statement

UFC just happened to not be the premier org. So Pride would sign the most of the top talent, like Anderson (after beating Sakurai who went to fight Hughes for his tittle) or Bustamante leaving UFC as a champ to sign for Pride. Or Pele Landi after KOing Hughes

There was also politics involved, like UFC signing Suloev and matching him up vs the much bigger Liddel, being himself the same size than Hughes. Plenty of other examples.

Nah it didn’t mean anything. Stop lying

 

[Dorkman]

I remember the UFC even called him GOAT a few times <{CMPALM}>

Yeah it was pretty embarrassing.

 

[Hypetrainofthemonth]

Shields beat Maia in their 2013 UFC bout (very close fight though, wouldn't have minded if they called it a draw), and they spent the first 4 rounds mostly on the ground.

Round 5 was the only one they spent on their feet, but they were both already gassed at this point, they gave everything they had in the first 3...

Both GSP & Woodley did good against them, considering that both were on crazy runs, Shields in particular coming in as the Strikeforce MW champ and being in his absolute prime.

Demian Maia was also on an impressive run, but in 2017 he was not in his prime anymore. The Shield loss was in 2013, 3 years after his title shot against Anderson...

Anyway, Woodley's run was good, but GSP haters exaggerated it as much as they could
Then as soon as Usman dethroned Woodley, without missing a beat they all jumped on the "Marty is the new WW GOAT!!"...
and after Usman's loss to Leon, they kinda gave up I guess?
And said that WW was never that good anyway?

Nothing but facts with this post, it's also cute some of the GSP haters either aren't as vocal at defending tyron's "GOAT"ness as they were during his "reign", and one is still so tilted by GSP, he assumes the "majority of Sherdog is GSP worshipers"

 

[VAfan]

badly overrated, then and now. i used to cringe every time someone tried to compare him to gsp, and it was happening all the time. the ole recency bias, combined with a whole lotta hate over the decisions in gsp's career. no comparison then and even less now.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Overrated by whom?

GSP haters. There was a lot of GOAT talk with Woodley and it was ridiculous. They also decided with him that they would start calling draws "title defenses" so they could pile up his stats.

 

[pankrat]

Nah it didn’t mean anything. Stop lying

Winning or losing fights didnt mean anything...
Are you contending for shertard of the year or whats your issue?

 

[pankrat]

GSP haters. There was a lot of GOAT talk with Woodley and it was ridiculous. They also decided with him that they would start calling draws "title defenses" so they could pile up his stats.

I dont recall GSP's WW GOAT status really been discussed, maybe because of Usman, but definitely not with TWood
If anything, it was about Woodley surpassing Hughes or not

 

[XociDe]

Wonderboy won both of those fights. The first one especially was a disgraceful decision.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Fought a better striker than GSP ever did in Wonderboy.
Fought a better grappler than GSP ever did in Maia.

GSP had the better run for sure but Tyron wasn't exactly out here fighting bums either.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure you can say fitch and shields were better grapplers than maia. Shields beat him in an all out grappling mma fight.


Anyways to answer yes his title run is terribly overrated the weakest title run to have 3 defenses in ufc history

 

[pankrat]

Yeah, I’m pretty sure you can say fitch and shields were better grapplers than maia. Shields beat him in an all out grappling mma fight.


Anyways to answer yes his title run is terribly overrated the weakest title run to have 3 defenses in ufc history

Maia was certainly a better grappler than Fitch, actually outclassed him in his own game

 

[CrimsomSky]

Yes, but was mainly the GSP haters desperately trying to over rate him into WW GOAT as some sort of blemish to GSP, because they were still bitter about Silva's blemishes, as this forum had a sort of Silva vs GSP faction comment/thread war<45>!

Even though they weren't as vocal with Usman, they did try to do the same with Usman too!

Best explanation in this thread.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

He was the same guy that got beaten by Rorys jab.

The Frozen one was always overrated.

 

[acannxr]

At the time he was pretty much the only real champion defending his belt normally, this was the Conor era time when everyone was chasing money fights.

Wrong, "everyone" was not "chasing money fights". Lightweight and Featherweight were thrown into limbo because of McGregor, Middleweight and Bantamweight were delayed because of Whittaker and Garbrandt getting injured, and the remaining divisions averaged title fights at least every 6 months.

And let's not pretend like Woodley wasn't chasing money fights himself in between his title defenses, he tried fighting Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, Conor McGregor, Michael Bisping, and GSP just to name who I can remember off the top of my head.

 

[Thad Castle v2]

Probably THE most overrated title reign of all time

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

All i remember was that train wreck of a fight against wonder boy.

That was honestly the worst fight I've witnessed in many years of watching the UFC.

Both guys threw about 20 punches combined the whole fight. Crowd booed the shit out of them.

 

[El Fernas]

Fought a better striker than GSP ever did in Wonderboy.
Fought a better grappler than GSP ever did in Maia.

GSP had the better run for sure but Tyron wasn't exactly out here fighting bums either.

Yeah, imho he lost the first one, 2nd one wasnt good and that could had been a draw.

 

[ElZid]

Overrated or not he was a legit champ who defended, had a nice run and beat whoever they put in front of him for a pretty good period of time.

 

[BigDramaShow26]

Unfortunately yes. I do think prime WB is a nightmare for a lot of guys though, and he has a win vs him. His win vs. Till really doesn't mean anything now, as Till has been exposed as a fraud who's crowning achievement was beating Cerrone.

We were talking about Woodley as the possible 170 GOAT at the time. Life comes at you fast.

 

[Bearknuckle]

To me, he very clearly leads the rest of the pack historically at WW after the holy trio of GSP, Usman, and Hughes.

I don't think too many people rank his career better than any of those guys

In hindsight nobody would. But at the time. They were starting comparisons to gsp