So what has folks’ undergarments in an itchy twist this time? Walk with me here: When it was announced that Woodley would face undefeated Brit Darren Till, the Ultimate Fighting Championship took the heady precaution of installing fellow contender Kamaru Usman, now 8-0 in the Octagon, as the hypothetical next man on deck in the event either half of the UFC 228 headliner pulled out of the contest during camp. It was a smart move. However, things get a but murkier when you realize Till has had some issues in the recent past with comfortably making the 170-pound limit. In fact, he missed weight by four pounds ahead of his May victory over former title challenger Stephen Thompson. While it earned Till this crack at the gold, it marked the second time in his last four bouts that he blew it on the scales.
Naturally, with fight camps completed, injury is an unlikely scenario -- knock on wood -- barring a freak accident. However, MMA has a not-so-secret, perpetually terrifying past of disappointing us, so many have already started wondering what exactly will happen if Till can’t make the weight. At a UFC 228 media lunch on Thursday in Los Angeles, Woodley was asked if he would consider fighting Usman if Till was unable to get medically cleared due to any weight cut issues.
Nope. No dice.
“It’s Till or no fight at all,” Woodley said plainly. Of course, as is so often the case when Woodley asserts agency over his own career, that annoyed some people.
“I’ll fight Usman on a full training camp; I’ll fight anybody on a full training camp,” Woodley said. “This is not a circus to me. You’re not going to have me prepare to fight a 6-[foot]-3 striker southpaw and then on 24 hours’ notice because this mother [expletive] missed weight and he’s unprofessional, now I gotta fight a 5-[foot]-10 switch-stance wrestler. No, you’re not going to waste my time. You’re not going to waste my money that I forked into training camps. You’re not going to add this one crazy variable and make me feel like I’m the punk or I’m the pansy for not taking the fight. No. It’s not going to happen.”
This is the sane, rational and professional position for Woodley to take. Admittedly, I think Till poses more serious stylistic difficulties for Woodley given his size, reach and striking attack, as opposed to the more squat Usman, whose got a less-evolved version of Woodley’s skill set. However, that’s not the point. Woodley is the headed into his fourth title defense and working on a legacy. He estimates he sank $50,000-60,000 into his training camp. Even if theoretically Usman is an easier style matchup for him, it doesn’t change the competitive hurdle of facing a new opponent out of the blue after spending weeks preparing for a vastly different athlete. Never mind whatever psychological anxiety could go with that situation.
Even if Woodley were willing to fight Usman on a day’s notice and he was victorious, who is to say it would even be a stellar performance? Coming off his clunker blowout of Demian Maia in his last title defense 13 months ago, it would hardly serve Woodley well to go out and wing it against Usman if it means he turns an unprepared, unpolished performance in a headlining role. The fact that anyone would think to wring their hands at Woodley’s stance is a reminder of how polarizing he remains for some fans; people are keen to take shots at him for the most normal, common-sense decisions. The last thing he needs is to turn in an underwhelming main event effort and give his detractors actual ammunition. If Till fails to make the welterweight limit but is still medically cleared to fight, that’s where things get more pernicious. Frankly, the UFC 228 card needs the Woodley-Till headliner, as its dissolution would leave Valentina Shevchenko’s flyweight title challenge against Nicco Montano as the show’s main event, which would almost assuredly result in one of the lowest pay-per-view buy rates of the last 15 years. Fortunately, Woodley has stated he’s willing to fight Till in a non-title affair, even if he were to come in heavy.
If that comes to pass, Woodley should be celebrated for holding onto his headlining status, as he would be well within his rights to decline the bout. Then again, I’m sure that would whip his antagonists into a mouth-frothing frenzy. Now, I will freely admit that If Till wasn’t cleared to fight and Woodley did agree to fight Usman on short notice and prevailed, it would be a highly commendable decision; it’s a bold, brave move. We’ve seen MMA fighters lionized for making similar decisions, whether it’s Conor McGregor, Max Holloway, Nate Diaz, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and even Al Iaquinta.
It’s an admirable and exciting quality for a fighter to have that cocksure, confident courage. However, it’s also increasingly rare at the highest levels for a reason in modern MMA: It’s dangerous if you’ve got something to lose, which Woodley certainly does. Flashback to four years ago when UFC President Dana White lambasted him publicly -- one of the many times -- for a dreadful performance against Rory MacDonald at UFC 174 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since then, he hasn’t lost and has worked hard to forge a historically great legacy, all while improbably blossoming into a begrudged star for the promotion, between his Fox studio analyst gig, his “Hollywood Beatdown” segments for TMZ Sports and even his own active and generally entertaining YouTube channel. I don’t resent anyone who has worked that hard to get to where they’re at taking the smartest steps possible to stay on top.
Woodley has paid the cost to be the boss, and impressively, he has done it on his own terms and with unwavering conviction. He has become a master of picking his shots, both in and out of the cage, and for now, it’s up to Till, not Usman, to try and stop him.