Tyron Woodley’s defeat to Jake Paul is still not sitting well with him – even a few months removed.
Woodley is unhappy with his split-decision loss to the YouTube superstar in August, and he firmly believes he did enough that night to hand Paul his first loss in boxing.
However, the former UFC welterweight champion has a chance to settle the score when he takes on Paul in a rematch on Dec. 18 in Tampa, Fla. Woodley is filling in as a late replacement for Tommy Fury, who was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury.
Woodley is grateful to have received a second crack at Paul, as not long ago, the chances for a rematch seemed grim.
“Very few times you get to go back and redo something,” Woodley told reporters during Thursday’s media call. “Sometimes you sit there and you live in regret like, ‘Damn, man. I think I won the fight. Maybe I could’ve done this different. Maybe if I would’ve threw more punches here.’
“So now I get the opportunity to undo what’s already done. That’s something that drives me without any additional money or a sold-out crowd. The fact that Jake Paul can walk around and say that he beat me just boils my skin and blood and everything inside of my body. I’m trying to go out there and just make it clear I’m the better fighter, I’m the harder puncher, and I’m the professional at heart.”
The fight against Paul was Woodley’s first since his departure from the UFC. At 39, Woodley was the first person to take Paul past the second round in his pro boxing career.
Although Woodley feels like he should’ve been the winner in their first meeting, the former UFC welterweight champion admits there’s things that he could’ve done to have had a more convincing case to earn the nod from the judges.
“I feel like there was times where I made him miss, but I didn’t make him pay,” Woodley explained. “I feel like there was times where he could’ve had more stern consequences for him even trying to hit me. That’s the one thing I can pick out.
“If I change that, … I feel like I won the fight anyways. I watched the fight for the first time yesterday, and I thought I won rounds 4 through 8. That’s five of the eight rounds. I don’t understand how I can win 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and he still won the fight – and even that, not counting the 10-8 round in the fourth. So add those small tweaks, a little bit more volume, and I think you’ll see me get the knockout.”
Tyron Woodley aims to KO Jake Paul in rematch, wants to ‘make it clear I’m the better fighter’