Earlier in the day, on his UFC 209 press tour, Tyron Woodley spoke about how certain black UFC fighters were not getting the push they deserved.
“I think I’m the only African-American fighter on the roster who can capture the market,” Woodley told reporters at a media lunch.
“Especially with Floyd Mayweather retiring and things like that. But you have to educate the community on what [MMA] is.”
Woodley then spent half of his interview on FOX’s Speak For Yourself discussing whether Ireland’s own Conor McGregor could defeat Mayweather in a boxing match. For Woodley, the UFC welterweight champion, the current media coverage must be frustrating as hell.
That did not stop ‘The Chosen One’ from giving his full, frank take on how such a fight could play out. Woodley said:
“I think it is going to happen this year. I have very strong insights that it will happen.”
Woodley continued, “Conor is from a karate background; he’s a striker by nature. He could probably last a couple of rounds… He will lose. He will lose convincingly but he could last at least six rounds.
“Conor has been known to take some crazy punches with 4-ounce gloves on. If you hit him with 8-ounce gloves on, it’s a different thing.”
“I think it’s going to happen this year. I have very strong insights that it will happen.”—@TWooodley on a future McGregor/Mayweather fight pic.twitter.com/nIbyBMxD5n
— Speak For Yourself (@SFY) January 19, 2017
“It’s better for me to go out and put a beating on this man here [Stephen Thompson, his UFC 209 opponent] and project myself in that category and get myself in those conversations,” Woodley declared.
It is a lofty task to set for himself but Woodley’s journey from Ferguson, Missouri “gang banger” to the top of the fight game is pretty remarkable. What’s to say he can’t be that money fight in the coming years?
