Tyron Woodley wishes things could have ended differently for him in the UFC.

There are a countable number of happy endings to careers in combat sports. That's how few there are. One moment a fighter can be on top of the world as a champion and the next thing they know, it's a four-fight losing skid and departure from the promotion. Hence the case with Woodley in 2021.

Woodley's UFC welterweight title reign concluded with him passing the torch to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 in March 2019. After the unanimous decision loss, Woodley fought his next three bouts at the UFC Apex Facility in a crowdless environment. Two boxing matches against Jake Paul followed for Woodley that same year and he hasn't fought in any discipline since. However, "The Chosen One" isn't planning to leave things off on such a sour note specifically with the sport he made his name in.

“I plan on doing MMA,” Woodley told Title Sports Network. “A lot of fans want to watch me fight MMA again, and just to be honest, when I was fighting my last couple MMA fights it was just kind of like a simulation. The whole Apex arena deal is kinda whack. It’s a lot like a sparring session. I don’t let people come watch me spar, I don’t like it, being in a weird awkward room and the cage is super small. I just really wasn’t motivated to be in the fight space at that time.

“Those fights to me are like exhibition fights. I do think the fans deserve me to see me go out there, see me run through somebody, see the Tyron Woodley that they know I’m capable of being and put a proper close to an MMA career.”

In 2023, Woodley revealed he'd soon be starting his own sports and entertainment promotion called The Realest International Promotion (TRIP). Along with the news were mentions of offers to Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz for fights against him with hefty purses. Woodley claims St-Pierre reiterated he was comfortably retired while Diaz never responded. The latter is also believed to still be under UFC contract.

For his eventual return to launch TRIP, Woodley expects it to be held in the Middle East with him fighting an opponent similar to the two names mentioned.

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The MMA Hour.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Farid Basharat (12-0) vs. Montel Jackson (13-2); UFC Saudi Arabia, June 22

Sharabutdin Magomedov (12-0) vs. Joilton Lutterbach (38-10); UFC Saudi Arabia, June 22

Abu Azaitar (14-4-1) vs. Denis Tiuliulin (11-9); UFC Saudi Arabia, June 22

Oban Elliott (10-2) vs. Preston Parsons (11-4); UFC 304, July 27

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Tyron is right and wrong. I’ll let you guys decide which parts are which.

Thanks for reading!

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EXIT POLL

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