Why Tyron Woodley ultimately decided to accept Leon Edwards fight in London

LAS VEGAS – Tyron Woodley was very against heading into enemy territory to fight Leon Edwards but ultimately took the fight and will headline UFC on ESPN+ 29 in London.

It’s a decision that Woodley’s manager, Abraham Kawa, says the former welterweight champion made because he’s eager to get back in the octagon.

“I think Tyron looked at the landscape, and he said to himself, ‘OK, I got to get back to the mix of things,” Kawa told MMA Junkie. “We forget: Tyron always fought the No. 1 contender every single time … when we’re now living in the day and age of everybody (calling out) the big superstar, we pick and choose who it’s OK for and who it’s not OK for.”

Woodley (19-4-1 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC) has not competed since losing the 170-pound title to Kamaru Usman last March at UFC 235. It will be over a year since he last competed when he faces the streaking Edwards on March 21.

And Kawa thinks that, despite Woodley fighting in Edwards’ home country, he’s clearly the A-side. He hopes Woodley can take a page out of Jorge Masvidal’s book and silence the British fans.

“Tyron ended up with Leon, if that makes any sense,” Kawa said. “Leon, I think has the same problem Kamaru does. People don’t relate; it’s very hard for them to sell a pay-per-view. Great fighters, I take nothing from their skill. I’m not bashing them. I’m saying when Tyron has more fans than that person’s own country … I told Tyron, ‘If you go to London and knock out Leon, you did the same thing Jorge Masvidal did a year ago.’ The only difference is, Masvidal walked in there and took fans from (Darren) Till compared to Tyron going into London and giving fans to Leon.”

Edwards (18-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) has taken numerous jabs at Woodley, mocking his rap songs and claiming that Woodley was cornered by the UFC to take the fight.

The way Kawa sees it, Woodley is just hungry to remind people of the days he was stopping one contender after the other and defending his title four times.

“He’s is completely and utterly just, ‘I’m going to kill people,’” Kawa said. “That’s where Tyron is right now mentally. He wants to be that killer. He’s going to be that killer, so I don’t think it matters anymore who, where and what. It just doesn’t matter to him anymore. He wants to fight.”

To hear more from Kawa on Woodley, watch the video above. You can also check out the full interview below.