Woodley Rates His Rematch Against Paul: ‘I Thought I Was Winning’

Jake Paul successfully punked the MMA scene once again on Saturday night, knocking former UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley out cold in the 6th round of their boxing rematch. The fight was looking pretty awful up to that moment: a whole lot of nothing effective being thrown mixed in with clinches on practically every exchange.

Suffice to say, Paul saved the night for his special brand of influencer clout when he caught Woodley with a clean right that dropped “The Chosen One” stiff to the canvas (watch the finish here).

Following the fight, Woodley still showed up at the press conference and answered questions from reporters. One of the first things he said (after finishing a video call with family assuring them he was okay) was related to the kill shot that put him down.

“I went back and I looked at it, I’m like, ‘Why the f—k did I drop my hand?’” Woodley said. “I always had both hands up, I was ready, I knew it was coming. I was ready to block the overhand. Even if he didn’t delay, I don’t know why I dropped my hand. In this sport, it only takes one mistake. One mistake. Literally one mistake.”

“I’m not done. Please do not look at me with sorrow in your eyes,” Woodley added. “Please don’t look at me, like, shaking your head. I’d f—d a lot of people up. A lot of people had to have that talk in the locker room, a lot of coaches had to go back to the drawing board. A lot of people in their mind, they knew that they knew that they knew and I saw it in their face and it broke their heart when I took that from them.”

“At some point, we’ve got to start putting respect on Jake’s name. I never really disrespected him as a power puncher. That’s something we always knew. That’s why my defense was so tight. Had he dropped his hand on me, the same s—t would’ve happened. So I can’t cry over spilled milk. I’m blessed to be here, I’m blessed for the opportunity to come out here and fight again and show you guys that I’m still f—king here.”

“I told my coaches backstage that ‘He back.’ That young hungry bull that went on this crazy run in the UFC and Strikeforce and all these organizations, he’s back. And I can actually say that I was back.”

When asked about the differences between this fight and the previous fight, Woodley pointed to the clinching amongst other things.

“This time I think that I was more active, when he threw punches I countered more,” Tyron said. “I think that I led the dance a little more. I smothered my punches a couple of times and it forced us in the clinch. You gotta recognize that we’re two big ass guys trying to knock each other out.”

“We’re both trying to think about that power so … he’s a wrestler by base, I’ve been collegiate wrestling forever, so sometimes when you get close the natural reaction is to f—kin’ grab and clinch, he didn’t do it on purpose, it’s not cuz we weren’t trying to fight. So I think there was more clinching than I expected.”

As for how he had the scores coming into round six?

“I thought I was winning,” Woodley said. “It wasn’t a landslide … I feel like he got the first two rounds, the third was kind of close? But I felt like I was winning the rounds after that.”

That actually wasn’t the case, with two judges having Paul up 4-1 and the other having Jake at 3-2.

As Tyron implied earlier in the post-fight press conference interview, he’s not done fighting and feels like his ‘young bull’ hunger is back.

“I just want to fight,” he said. “I already had a plan to fight four times next year. This doesn’t change that plan. I’m thankful for the opportunity to step in and fight in this fight. I was already kind of getting ready and geared up. I’m glad I was in shape, I’m glad I listened to my spirit.”