MMA Fighter of the Week: Tyron Woodley

MMA Fighter of the Week: Tyron Woodley

By Kieran Cobley 

This week’s Fighter of the Week honours goes to Tyron Woodley, following his impressive second round submission victory over Darren Till at UFC 228, successfully defending his UFC Welterweight title in the process.

Woodley showed that he is more than just a wrestler with a big right hand, out striking Till, who was the better striker on paper coming from a Muay Thai background, in the first and second rounds.

In the first round it was clear that the champion was unfazed at being the betting underdog as he hit combination after combination of strikes, while Till struggled to land any strikes of his own, and only just managed to keep himself (with a little bit of help from a strange call from referee Dan Miragliotta, who didn’t want the fight to stall), from being pinned against the fence by Woodley, who was a NCAA Division One wrestler.

It was this superior striking that led to Woodley’s Darce choke finish in the second round after he floored Till with a big right hand, and delivered some devastating elbows on the ground before locking in the submission, forcing Till to tap out.

Former Welterweight interim champion Colby Covington will most likely be the next in line for a shot at Woodley, and with the amount of trash talk these two have thrown at each other over social media, this will be a violent clash.

Honourable mentions for this week’s Fighter of the Week award are also given to Jessica Andrade following a first round KO victory over Karolina Kowalkiewicz, with the most devastating KO punch the Strawweight division has ever seen, and also to Zabit Magomedsharipov and Aljamain Sterling who both won via submission.