Dana White says Tyron Woodley was ‘less than flat’ in fight with Kamaru Usman
In the co-main event of UFC 235, Tyron Woodley was looking to defend his welterweight title against Kamaru Usman. Leading up to the fight, Usman said he had a game plan to beat Woodley which he didn’t believe. ‘The Chosen One’ simply asked Usman how are you going to beat me which was a serious question. Many thought what Usman does, Woodley does better. But, as evident on Saturday night that was not true.
Usman simply did whatever he wanted to Woodley. He outwrestled him, out grappled him and even outstruck him. It was a dominating performance from bell to bell which led to Usman being the new welterweight champion. And, speaking post-fight UFC President Dana White knew this fight was going to be competitive but didn’t see it like that.
“He completely got outwrestled all night,” White said post-fight at UFC 235. “The reason I wanted this fight and thought it would be a great fight is because I believed Usman would go after him. Normally Woodley is so fast with his hands and he’s such a good wrestler that most guys can’t do both with him. Usman could do both. Usman could wrestle with him, but I didn’t expect Usman to go in and absolutely dominate him the entire time wherever he wants to go. No, I didn’t see that coming.”
Following the fight, Woodley said he just fell flat and had no excuses for his performance. But, White believes it was worse than that as he was way ‘less than flat.’
“Woodley looked less than flat,” White said. “I don’t know. Did he have an excuse to why he looked bad? I didn’t know if Woodley was going to come in here and say he was hurt or something happened. But yeah, he didn’t look like Woodley tonight. He looked flat.”
For now, the question remains of what is next for Woodley. Dana White didn’t have an answer but after that performance, Woodley will need to rebound in his next fight if he wants to get his belt back.
