Tyron Woodley took a chance before and called out one of the best mma fighters today to fight him. It looked like he was taking a long shot then, but with “Bigg Rigg” Hendricks making one major mistake at the recent International Fight Week, that long shot Woodley took years ago might finally come into reality.
In a recent interview in “The MMA Road Show with John Morgan”, Woodley, who has a record of 15-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC, admitted that he was just trying to shake things up when he shouted out to fight “Bigg Rigg” (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC).
“I was just trying to ruffle some feathers. I thought there was a chance, but when he kind of eased up on making it sound like it was set in stone, I think that’s where he messed up at. He came and said, ‘I haven’t heard anything yet.’ When you start doing that, you leave that little small window for error. I think that’s the way they let Carlos Condit slide in there,” he said.
Last December, Hendricks lost his UFC welterweight title to current champion Robbie Lawler in the UFC 181 event. This was the second time the two fighters met in the octagon, with each being able to snag a victory. So when “Bigg Rigg” defeated Matt Brown last March at UFC 185 and Lawler was able to win over Rory MacDonald just recently, it was given that a third fight between Hendricks and Lawler would happen soon.
Aside from these two remarkable MMA events, Condit, on the other hand, also had a victory over his constant contender, Thiago Alves, last May. Woodley, on the other hand, took note of how “The Natural Born Killer” dealt with the questions thrown at him during the post-fight conference.
“When I first watched him fight Thiago Alves, I knew he was going to get the title shot. He went from wanting to fight ‘whoever the fans wanted to see him fight’ to, ‘Hey, I’m ready for the title, you know? I’ve got a win over Rory. I’d love to fight Robbie. I’m like, ‘Oh, somebody got into his ear.’,” Woodley said.
Woodley then did his best to come up with another high-profile MMA matchup that he can dish out. He took note of the rankings, and saw that the best possible contender for him would be Hendricks. Woodley then relied on a bit of background research to help sell his side better. The two fighters went against each other last 2005, where Hendricks said that Woodley bit him. This lead to a penalty call that had a real impact on the match.
A decade later, Woodley is now on the 4th spot in the NOS Energy Drink MMA welterweight title rankings. Hendricks, on the other hand, is now on the second spot in the rankings. Woodley admitted that he is not mad anymore with what took place in the past, but instead, he used this to hype up the fans into envisioning another epic match between them.
“I thought it was something interesting, something funny. Fans might want to see the fight because of it, and I think it worked out,” Woodley said.