Analysis: Tyron Woodley’s UFC 209 win was memorable for all the wrong reasons

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, March 5, 2017 | 2 a.m.

One word thrown around to describe the UFC 209 main event Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena was “forgettable.” If only Tyron Woodley were that lucky.

No one’s going to forget about Woodley’s majority-decision victory (48-47, 48-47, 47-47) in a rematch against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson to defend his welterweight championship any time soon, because it was such a horrific bore. The canvas inside the octagon should have probably been repurposed as a dance floor for what was in all likelihood the worst title fight in UFC history.

“That’s O.K.,” Woodley objected at the post-fight press conference when confronted with the negative reviews of the fight. “The fans can tap in, pause the fight, enter the cage, I’ll exit the cage and they can show me how to do it better. It’s so easy to say it from that seat you’re sitting in.”

In one regard, it’s easy to feel for Woodley, a terrific fighter who couldn’t revel in a victory he surely worked diligently towards beneath a chorus of boos and complaints. That also made it admirable that the aforementioned minor outburst was one of only a couple from his 25 minutes speaking to media afterwards.

But his post-fight restraint was also practical. Woodley must have known there was no true defense or excuse for what happened Saturday night.

For the 13,150 fans in attendance, tickets cost up to $600. The pay-per-view price was set at $60. Based on the main event, it probably wasn’t worth 60 cents, and in the first round, Woodley couldn’t even manage to land six strikes.

“I didn’t realize he was going to be hesitant in this one,” Thompson said. “He was backing up a lot, and I knew he waiting for me to come in. I could feel it.”

Thompson isn’t without fault of his own for the bout turning into such a snooze, but despite the loss, he might have acquitted himself better than the winner. Woodley’s performance undermined the basis of everything he said going into UFC 209.

The champion felt the UFC wasn’t promoting him correctly, and that he should be a bigger star. He wanted super fights with the UFC’s biggest names instead of normal title defenses. He declared he would prove he was the greatest welterweight of all-time.

One thing Woodley couldn’t have if he wanted to validate his claims and secure his wishes was a showing that would make people less interested in his career going forward. That’s exactly what happened in a fight that had almost no action until the final minute when Woodley knocked down Thompson with a right hand to lock up a win.

“I know this is a sport where you guys love to see knockouts, love to see gore, love to see blood, love to see guys beat up and guys come back and then the other guy come back,” Woodley said. “I love watching it as well, but guess what? I love being a world champion.”

It’s just that Woodley was asking for so much more than being a world champion before meeting Thompson for the second time. And afterwards, the predominant question was if he even deserved to be a world champion.

Woodley clearly won the third round with a takedown and the fifth round with the knockdown, but many non-official scorers gave Thompson the other three frames. That included UFC President Dana White, who believed the challenger deserved the decision.

“That’s why he’s not the judge, he’s the president of the UFC,” Woodley said. “He told me the same thing in the back. Sometimes you watch the fight, you watch with emotion. You know Dana. His fight style is Diego Sanchez, these dudes that are beating each other up. That’s his stuff; that’s his style. That’s not always the most attractive fight for guys is a chess match.”

Chess matches are not what got the likes of Conor McGregor, Georges St. Pierre, Nate Diaz and Michael Bisping — fighters whom Woodley bemoans getting more preferential treatment than him — to their current levels at the top of the sport. At least not chess matches as slow moving as Woodley vs. Thompson.

Woodley ultimately won the bout because two out of three judges sided with him in a second round where both fighters landed a paltry eight strikes apiece.

“If I call somebody out, it’s a problem,” Woodley said. “We all know that, but we see my peers not only call out but get fights that are maybe kind of unorthodox and it’s never an issue, never a problem. So therefore, I’m just going to continue to get the contracts, sign the contracts and get the W. At the end of the day, as long as I keep fighting and winning, you’re not going to be able to deny me.”

That’s the right approach for Woodley to take going forward. At his best, he’s shown an ability that’s capable of taking him to where he desires at the top of the sport.

It will just take a little while longer for him to potentially get there after the memory of a dreadful UFC 209 fight that won’t soon go away.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.