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Following Tyron Woodley‘s loss to fellow contender Rory MacDonald this past weekend at UFC 174, UFC President Dana White offered a rather blunt assessment of his performance.
Although the fight was expected to be one of the night’s most competitive – and though the betting public made it a virtual dead heat heading into Saturday’s pay-per-view co-headliner – Woodley was shut down for three rounds and suffered a unanimous-decision loss via 30-27 scores (watch the MacDonald vs. Woodley video highlights).
“He choked in the big fight tonight, man,” White told FOX Sports 1 after the event, which took place at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena. “He needed to come out and try to rip that head off in the third round, and he didn’t even do that. He threw a few punches, missed and didn’t knock him out and just sort of set back into the way he fought in the rest of the fight.”
Woodley (13-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC), a standout collegiate wrestler, didn’t scored a single takedown in the bout, and MacDonald (17-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC), who controlled the pace, out-landed him 97-38, according to FightMetric.
It was a far cry from Woodley’s two previous performances, in which he scored knockout wins over notables Josh Koscheck and Carlos Condit.
“He got beat tonight,” White said. “He got beat mentally, he got beat physically, and Tyron’s got a ways to go.
“It seems like he chokes in the big fights.”
Woodley’s only other two losses came to Nate Marquardt (under the Strikeforce banner) and Jake Shields.
Woodley, meanwhile, handled his latest loss with class and offered a congratulations to his opponent afterward:
Thanks u Vancouver. What an amazin city. Congrats 2 @rory_macdonald as he was the better man 2night. #TheChosenOne will B back stronger @ufc—
Tyron T-Wood Woodley (@TWooodley) June 15, 2014
According to White, MacDonald proved he was in another class.
“He made Woodley look like he didn’t even belong in there,” White said.
Although the fight was expected to be one of the night’s most competitive – and though the betting public made it a virtual dead heat heading into Saturday’s pay-per-view co-headliner – Woodley was shut down for three rounds and suffered a unanimous-decision loss via 30-27 scores (watch the MacDonald vs. Woodley video highlights).
“He choked in the big fight tonight, man,” White told FOX Sports 1 after the event, which took place at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena. “He needed to come out and try to rip that head off in the third round, and he didn’t even do that. He threw a few punches, missed and didn’t knock him out and just sort of set back into the way he fought in the rest of the fight.”
Woodley (13-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC), a standout collegiate wrestler, didn’t scored a single takedown in the bout, and MacDonald (17-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC), who controlled the pace, out-landed him 97-38, according to FightMetric.
It was a far cry from Woodley’s two previous performances, in which he scored knockout wins over notables Josh Koscheck and Carlos Condit.
“He got beat tonight,” White said. “He got beat mentally, he got beat physically, and Tyron’s got a ways to go.
“It seems like he chokes in the big fights.”
Woodley’s only other two losses came to Nate Marquardt (under the Strikeforce banner) and Jake Shields.
Woodley, meanwhile, handled his latest loss with class and offered a congratulations to his opponent afterward:
Thanks u Vancouver. What an amazin city. Congrats 2 @rory_macdonald as he was the better man 2night. #TheChosenOne will B back stronger @ufc—
Tyron T-Wood Woodley (@TWooodley) June 15, 2014
According to White, MacDonald proved he was in another class.
“He made Woodley look like he didn’t even belong in there,” White said.
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