Tyron Woodley vs. Darren Till

Finally, next Saturday, we get to see Tyron Woodley back in the cage to defend his belt. Contrary to some these days, I actually enjoy watching T-Wood fight. The anticipation is over and, at last, we will the see the welterweight belts become unified between Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington. Wait... wtf... You're tellin me Woodley isn't fighting Colby? Then why did they give Colb... nevermind. So, after more UFC interim belt shenanigans, Darren Till now gets the shot to dethrone Tyron Woodley. Did Colby Covington get a raw deal? Sure, but I don't have a problem with Till getting the shot, as he's plenty worthy. Now the stage is set for one of the more intriguing welterweight championship fights of all time.

To get this out of the way, I think Tyron Woodley will defend his belt again, also while earning that coveted finish he loves to talk about. I'll explain why. To me, in the grand scheme of great fighters in the world today, Tyron Woodley is criminally underrated. He was the first to crack the true Wonderboy puzzle (sorry Matt Brown), and he did it twice. Then, he stuffed 20 or so takedowns against a red-hot Demian Maia in his next defense, all while boxing Maia's face off with a torn labrum. I don't care if you thought these were "boring" fights; what Tyron Woodley has accomplished as champion so far is nothing short of spectacular. He's had to tailor three training camps so specifically and meticulously I'd imagine he'd gone crazy during some of these camps. In short, while it may not be pretty, he's turned himself into someone who's near impossible to beat. He may not finish you, and you may not even bleed, but you're not going to beat him. This is the scenario that Tyron Woodley has established atop the welterweight division, which bodes quite well for his all-time status. After his first two 4-dimensional underwater rubix cube-like opponents as champion, I feel like Woodley has finally drew an opponent that fits right in his wheelhouse. 

Tyron Woodley will TKO Darren Till in the first round, and here's why. Till likes to walk his opponents down and simply overwhelm them with strikes. On the other hand, Woodley prefers to counter-strike and won't mind giving Till the center of the octagon. Although I believe Till will be controlling the cage (for as long as the fight lasts), he will be the one in greater danger. For comparison, I do believe this fight will go somewhat similar to the Robbie Lawler fight. Till will attempt to establish a position and a pace from the get-go, like Lawler, and will pay for it. There's no way Till has ever faced someone who can ice him with one punch on the feet, while at the same time being able to land a power double at any moment with follow-up GnP and submission attempts. While Till is clearly the more diverse striker, he'll play Woodley's game out of super young bull confidence, and Woodley will make him pay one way or another. Perhaps Till plays this more carefully than I anticipate and dances around the octagon, only taking what Woodley gives him. Surely this is possible, but highly unlikely. Till followed the master counter-striker, Wonderboy, around the cage successfully for five rounds, so why would he deviate now against a similar style? Till will come out with a point to prove, and will try to kill Tyron as soon as he sees an opening. However, he must realize that the consequences of being counter-struck by Woodley are much more severe than against Stephen Thompson. Make no mistake about it, Wonderboy hit Till. A lot. If you substitute Woodley in there for Thompson, we can't know for sure, but being that Woodley hits a wee bit harder than Wonderboy, Darren Till might have seen a different outcome that night. To make a long story short, Woodley will perform one of his patented explosive single or double jab-to-overhand rights go early in the fight, crack Till, and finish him with ground strikes. It will be monumental for Woodley's legacy.

I don't want to delve too deeply into the what-ifs of Tyron Woodley's legacy, should he win on Saturday night. But since we're here, we can discuss it a little, I suppose. With a win, he's probably the 2nd best welterweight of all time. I can still see an argument for Matt Hughes, but I would argue for Woodley at this point. With another decision win, this may be difficult to argue, but if he does what I think he'll do, he's number two for me. Love him or hate him, the UFC has thrown the kitchen sink at Tyron Woodley, and he has emerged victorious time and time again. Should he defeat Darren Till, I see two good choices for him afterwards. 

Obviously, he can defend against Colby Covington and give us a couple months of good ol juicy trash talk. Facing another true #1 contender is what he should do as champ, and it is what he has done. However, there's another man out there. A man who likes to discover dinosaurs and be abducted by aliens. Yes, that man, Georges St. Pierre. Normally, I advocate against these kinds of things (I absolutely hated GSP vs Bisping), but this one makes perfect sense. The fight to determine the best welterweight of all time. I think that could sell by itself, let alone GSP already being involved. If St. Pierre cares ever so dearly about legacy fights, what else is there to do? Don't ruin the lightweight division and certainly don't fight Anderson Silva. If Tyron Woodley wins on Saturday, this is the fight to make, and for the love of God I would love nothing more than for Woodley to call him out in the octagon. Not like a Nick Diaz call-out, but like a "You already know what it is Georges, we actually have to fight now. Forget about the lightweights." Something like that. I think the true fight fans would salivate at this match-up. I wouldn't even care if Woodley doesn't talk shit to Georges like Bisping did, this is just a fight that we need to see before GSP hangs it up for good.

Now, if Tyron Woodley loses to Darren Till, we can forget about GSP. I'd hope the UFC would give him a rematch, but we'll see. If not, hopefully he'll fight Colby for a #1 contender spot or something. Regardless, even though Tyron Woodley kinda pisses me off outside the cage sometimes, he's been nothing short of an honorable and admirable champion inside the cage, and he deserves to be acknowledged as such.