As a Default, Woodley Will Settle For Edwards Fight

Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

In a perfect world, Tyron Woodley says he would be fighting either Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington, Khabib Nurmagomedov or Israel Adesanya sometime down the road. But since mixed martial arts (MMA) matchmaking is far from a fairy tale, “The Chosen One” may not get what he wants.

Especially since he is no longer champion.

As a result, Woodley will likely have to end up fighting top Welterweight contender, Leon Edwards. According to “The Chosen One,” facing “Rocky” will be his last resort, and while he acknowledges his skill, not too many other people do.

His son included.

“The (expletive) up part is my son was like, ‘Who is that?,’” Woodley said of Edwards during a recent interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (transcription via MMA Junkie).

“My kids know everybody. They play the video game, so when you got to explain to somebody who the person is and how good they really are, I have to pump up to the fact, to the people, and to the peers on how dope Leon is, because he is dope,” added the former 170-pound kingpin.

“He got super crazy strategic striking, super sharp, great cardio. He has good IQ, switched things around in the (Rafael dos Anjos fight), in the middle of the fight, so he’s dope as (expletive) as a fighter, but I’m going to have to sell the fact on how dope he is.”

While he’s trying to hype up Leon, Tyron says he will — as usual — have to promote himself, as well.

“Meanwhile, I’m going to have to continue to promote myself. I ain’t getting paid to promote him, so if it makes sense and the UFC makes it make sense with the dollar amount, and my coaches and my team think it’s the best move, then I’m going to go default to them,” he added.

“Because they know me and they know what my end goal is. My goal is to be the greatest of all time, so I’ve got to go and get back my retaliation, the people that defeated me, that I still can. I got to beat Colby’s (expletive) up, because he clearly ran from me three times after making his Instagram page 90% me, extremely unmanly.”

According to Edwards, a potential date of January 28, 2020 was thrown around, which would see the two men serve as the co-main event to Conor McGregor’s comeback fight against an opponent that is yet-to-be determined.