Tyron Woodley was the former undisputed UFC Welterweight champion and defended his title four times between 2016 and 2019. In high school, he was a two-sport athlete, competing in American football and amateur wrestling. After his graduation from McCluer High School in 2000, Woodley attended the University of Missouri and joined their wrestling program. There, he became a two-time All-American; once in 2003 and again in 2005.
After finishing college, Tyron’s mixed martial arts (MMA) career exploded with him swiftly amassing an impressive 7-0 record, in which his bouts ended by either KO or submission.
Off the matt, Woodley is active pursuing various interests, for example in the entertainment industry; Tyron has had several television and film roles featuring in such titles as “Straight Outta Compton”, “Kickboxer: Vengeance” and Bollywood wrestling epic “Sultan”.
Tyron is also a successful analyst and commentator for the UFC and hosts his own weekly segment on TMZ called the “The Hollywood Beatdown”. Two years ago, Tyron released his debut music single “I’ll Beat Yo A**” Featuring Wiz Khalifa & T-Dubb-O. His energy and vigour has helped him to achieve some incredible victories. Read on for his Top 5 MMA Finishes (in descending order)!
- Vs. Dong Hyun Kim — UFC Fight Night: 48 (Aug. 23, 2014)
- Vs. Jay Hieron — UFC 156 (Feb. 2, 2013)
- Vs. Darren Till — UFC 228 (Sept. 8, 2018)
- Vs. Josh Koscheck — UFC 167 (Nov. 16, 2013)
- Vs. Robbie Lawler — UFC 201 (Jul. 30, 2016)
This fight saw Welterweight contenders Tyron Woodley and Dong Hyun Kim square off in a high-profile affair. Woodley also sought to redeem himself from a poor showing against Rory MacDonald earlier in June of that year.
The bout with the South-Korean lasted hardly a minute. Kim took the centre early, and Woodley responded with a right hand and knee getting a clinch process going, whilst blocking his opponent against the fence. At the 50 second mark, ‘The Chosen One’ stopped his clinch control to resume the bout back at distance.
Kim landed a spinning back fist, but unfortunately his attempt had him face a brilliant counter right hand by the Missouri native, which dropped ‘Stun Gun’. Woodley kept at his work by punching his opponent on the ground, securing a TKO win in the very first round after referee, Leon Roberts, called the contest.
After the bout Woodley was interviewed telling the audience that it was his wedding anniversary, then he let Kim address the crowd. It was a selfless act, as Woodley knew a lot of fans had travelled to come and see Kim perform.
It’s moments like this that make the essence of MMA such a great and respectful sport, regardless of the hosting organisation.
With this bout, Tyron was coming off of his first career loss (a fourth-round knockout) against Nate Marquardt for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight Championship which took place in July, 2012.
Woodley slammed a right hand into the side of Jay Hieron’s head and followed up with looping-style ground-and-pound strikes to score the win in only 36 seconds of the first round.
That big right hook that Woodley dropped on Hieron felled him like a bag of hammers barely half a minute into the fight and looked like it came from half a mile away.
“I’m declaring war on the Welterweight division”, Woodley told Joe Rogan during the octagon interview.
With this fight, Woodley embarked on his fourth title defense.
Tyron was the cause of Darren Till’s very first career loss. With a real explosion occurring in the second round, the champion silenced all critics.
From the start of the fight, Tyron Woodley was much more aggressive than usual. After a knee strike, he tried to take Till to the ground, to no avail, and the champion was very comfortable against the cage. For his part, the challenger adjusted and evolved on the go, in the centre of the ring as usual.
In the second round, Tyron managed to knock Darren down on their first trade of blows with a big right hand counter.
The champion then went quickly to ground and pound with overpowering elbows. Till managed to survive and give himself a little time. In a dominant position on the ground however, T-Wood continued his destruction, finally putting a D’Arce choke on in the second round.
Thanks to this achievement, he earned his Performance of the Night.
Tyron and John are both heavy-handed wrestlers, and when push came to shove, Woodley’s hands proved to be the heavier. He scored a huge first-round knockout after dominating the fight with his strikes.
Koscheck was rocked hard twice in the fight before Woodley finished him with that huge right hook.
With this performance, Woodley earned the Knockout of the Night bonus.
This night caused a major upset since Woodley, after more than a year out of the octagon, overthrew Robbie Lawler to become the UFC’s Welterweight Champion.
At 2 minutes 12 seconds of the first round, Tyron Woodley decided to put an end to the bout by unleashing his devastating, infamous “T-Wood Bomb”.
This was Woodley’s seventh victory by KO and his ninth first-round victory. His last win was against Kelvin Gastelum in January, 2015.
This night in July was a good one for Woodley, claiming the undisputed belt and collecting a $50,000 pay check thank to his Performance of the Night bonus.
