Hot Take What was Tyron Woodley's peak?

He thought he would be like Romero... Became equally inactive in the fight. Except he had enough cardio for way more than he showed. Back then everyone was nearly begging him to fucking throw. He chose... Paciveness
Definitely a defensive fighter that only wanted to land the one punch KO and even when his opponents knew this, he never thought of thinking of a plan B lol.
 
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This. He scrapped passed Gastelum, and sat out 18 months while Lawler went back-to-back-to-back in FotY wars to crack his chin right place right time style
 
I know it was a boxing match but hoooo boy, that was tough to watch. In his late MMA career and all his boxing bouts it's so odd watching himfight. He looks like someone with spotty amnesia, who seems to have forgotten he's a martial artist for most of the fight, save for 10 seconds here and there, until he forgets again. This man was a champion during a relatively competetive era of Welterweight, when would you say he was at his best, before the obvious decline and what do you think the reasons are?
I'd say, even though he had a loss to McDonald in there, his run from Condit through the first Thompson fight was his prime.

After that, he was reluctant (to put it mildly) to engage, but he got rewarded for it in the rematch with Wonderboy, which I think should have been a Thompson win, but could also see that being a draw, but Woodley getting the win was not proper scoring.

But, since it worked for him, that became his M.O. after that.
 
Woodleys biggest issue is he just won't let go, he is so tentative and hesitant, he just stares stares stares and stares, won't pull the trigger, he has been like this in every single fight since 2018, now 2018 and prior he wasn't like that, he actually threw!. He throws barely anything, its so weird to watch, every fight post 2018 he is like a mannequin.

Woodley can't beat anyone for the simple fact that he won't actually throw anything, so its impossible to lose to him lol. Ultimate staring contest. He was much more violent and aggressive before 2018.
 
That's honestly just twood hel wait all year for you to give him an opening he's always Ben scared to throw a punch..

He's such a counter fighter. His highlights where counter hits.. Anderson is just to smart and crafty.
 
I'd say, even though he had a loss to McDonald in there, his run from Condit through the first Thompson fight was his prime.

After that, he was reluctant (to put it mildly) to engage, but he got rewarded for it in the rematch with Wonderboy, which I think should have been a Thompson win, but could also see that being a draw, but Woodley getting the win was not proper scoring.

But, since it worked for him, that became his M.O. after that.
The correct answer IMO. One of the easiest fighter examples of a fighter ending their prime mentally, as opposed to physically. Ironic since he had multiple defenses as a "post-prime" Tyron too but that's the nature of the game: even if you put on a streak of clearly terrible fights, so long as they involve wins with a belt some fans will declare you have surpassed GSP as a WW lol.
 
Right before he lost his legs. He had that explosive first step that allowed him to land his massive right hand against Lawler and Wonderboy. Kind of reminds me of Hendricks and how he lost the ability to land KO's.

He would just backup to the fence, bait and then launch forward. Even if he missed, the opponent was hesistant the whole fight.I don't remember when that happened, probably around the time he lost the title.
Well put. Having said that, Rory was able to back him up against the cage, avoid the KO and beat him. Even Shields with his pitter patter striking kept the fight in the middle of the cage and managed to outstrike Woodley. So it wasn't some unbeatable strategy. However, it made Wonderboy just gunshy enough to have two very close fights but unable to win a decision against him (we can still debate who should have won).

I think modern WWs like Garry, Shavkat and Belal could successfully follow Rory's gameplan and beat him.
 
Well put. Having said that, Rory was able to back him up against the cage, avoid the KO and beat him. Even Shields with his pitter patter striking kept the fight in the middle of the cage and managed to outstrike Woodley. So it wasn't some unbeatable strategy. However, it made Wonderboy just gunshy enough to have two very close fights but unable to win a decision against him (we can still debate who should have won).

I think modern WWs like Garry, Shavkat and Belal could successfully follow Rory's gameplan and beat him.

I forgot about Rory he was brilliant that night. What a talent that could have been.

You know what I was a more avid watcher back then so I saw all of Woodley's title fights live. He's one of the few guys I will probably never rewatch again other than his KO's. I'm probably far from the only one.
 
Definitely a defensive fighter that only wanted to land the one punch KO and even when his opponents knew this, he never thought of thinking of a plan B lol.
I'd say, even though he had a loss to McDonald in there, his run from Condit through the first Thompson fight was his prime.

After that, he was reluctant (to put it mildly) to engage, but he got rewarded for it in the rematch with Wonderboy, which I think should have been a Thompson win, but could also see that being a draw, but Woodley getting the win was not proper scoring.

But, since it worked for him, that became his M.O. after that.
Woodleys biggest issue is he just won't let go, he is so tentative and hesitant, he just stares stares stares and stares, won't pull the trigger, he has been like this in every single fight since 2018, now 2018 and prior he wasn't like that, he actually threw!. He throws barely anything, its so weird to watch, every fight post 2018 he is like a mannequin.

Woodley can't beat anyone for the simple fact that he won't actually throw anything, so it’s impossible to lose to him lol. Ultimate staring contest. He was much more violent and aggressive before 2018.
Let’s be real. The people calling for him to throw more punches, in my opinion, just wanted to see him either get knocked out or drop the belt. Woodley did what worked for him, until it didn’t anymore. Rushing in and throwing tons of punches or otherwise trying to pretend to be a different fighter would have resulted in many more losses, much earlier. He either would have gassed out and got outpaced or gotten caught and knocked out. The element of surprise and letting his opponents tire themselves out, while scoring big in spots, are pretty much what made him successful.
 
Let’s be real. The people calling for him to throw more punches, in my opinion, just wanted to see him either get knocked out or drop the belt. Woodley did what worked for him, until it didn’t anymore. Rushing in and throwing tons of punches or otherwise trying to pretend to be a different fighter would have resulted in many more losses, much earlier. He either would have gassed out and got outpaced or gotten caught and knocked out. The element of surprise and letting his opponents tire themselves out, while scoring big in spots, are pretty much what made him successful.
Sure, but he legit had people worried to stand with him even back in the Strikeforce days. Nate was wary until he realized that Woodley was uncomfortable standing. If Woodley had developed some combinations, he'd be more appreciated by fans, and I think he might've had a longer tenure as champion or at the very least would've received an immediate rematch that Dana likes to give certain fighters.
 
Let’s be real. The people calling for him to throw more punches, in my opinion, just wanted to see him either get knocked out or drop the belt. Woodley did what worked for him, until it didn’t anymore. Rushing in and throwing tons of punches or otherwise trying to pretend to be a different fighter would have resulted in many more losses, much earlier. He either would have gassed out and got outpaced or gotten caught and knocked out. The element of surprise and letting his opponents tire themselves out, while scoring big in spots, are pretty much what made him successful.
Yes, let's be real. I'm not a "just bleed" guy. But when a fighter completely refuses to engage or fight, judges should score for his opponent, appropriately.

I'm not talking about being patient and countering. Starting with the Wonderboy rematch, he was unwilling to engage, to an absurd extent.
 
I am a TWood fan. Well was one. I would say the peak was winning the WW title. Things just seemed to turn downward with the Wonderboy fights. He never looked the same even with a couple of wins after his fights with Thompson. Loss after loss to end his time in UFC and these poor showing boxing just a horrendous fall off.
 
Woodley's "inactivity" and pacing is due to his body type and form of athleticism.

Look at any of his decisions, pre-title, and he loses the last rounds to fatigue, every time.

No exaggeration, go look at the scores and pbps.

Hes not built for 5 round fights. He's, no joke, an explosive athlete.

He adapted his style to his body, which means a lot of down time.

I saw him get out worked by a gym teacher on an American Galdiator reboot show.
 
woodley was good back in 2016, but very short prime, till and Wonder boy were just mad shit scared after they saw the k.o on Lawler.
 
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