By Dwight Wakabayashi
Tyron Woodley has considered himself to be among the very best welterweights in the world for a couple years now, and he will finally get the opportunity to prove it at UFC 161 in Winnipeg. The 31-year-old wrestler from Missouri will face returning star Jake Shields in a fight that will crown one as a true contender to the title.
Woodley went undefeated for the first three years of his professional career competing in the smaller shows, before signing on with Strikeforce in 2010. He continued his impressive run inside the Strikeforce cage with wins over Tarec Saffiedine and Paul Daley that led him to a welterweight title shot against UFC veteran Nate Marquardt. Woodley got knocked out in the fourth round to suffer the first and only loss of his career and the skeptics came out in droves. Is Woodley overrated? Is his game too one dimensional to be a real contender in the UFC? Despite the loss, Woodley saw that fight as his best striking performance to date, and the best learning experience he has had in his young career.
“He caused me to come out of my comfort zone in the fight, and even though I lost the fight, it was probably one of my better performances as far as striking goes. That fight really helped me grow as a fighter.” Woodley told Jeremy Botter in an interview with Bleacher Report.
Woodley bounced back from the Marquardt loss and passed his first big chance to answer the critics with an impressive knockout in his debut over Jay Hieron at UFC 156 in February. Following his debut win, Woodley let the UFC know exactly who he wanted to fight next.
“I really asked for the fight against Jake Shields to be honest. I didn’t disrespect him, I don’t think he is a pushover or an easy win I think he is a world-class guy.” he said.
The veteran Shields will make his return to welterweight, and is a large step from Hieron and should be Woodley’s first real dance with the welterweight elite. Or should he? After an almost unstoppable time in Strikeforce, Shield’s has been less than spectacular in his brief time in the UFC. He has gone 2-2 at welterweight, beating Martin Kampmann and Yoshihiro Akiyama, while losing to Jake Ellenberger and a title shot to Georges St-Pierre. Shields tried his hand at middleweight in August, and got a tough decision win over journeyman Ed Herman, which was then overturned to a No Contest, after Shields tested positive for a banned substance. Many are left wondering if Shields can recapture his form from two years ago.
If the old and real Jake Shields shows up, Woodley will be in a fight that he has never been in before, and will need every ounce of his internal fortitude to get his hand raised in the end. Shields is not the knockout threat that Marquardt was, but he has an incredible MMA top game, and if he gets top position on Woodley, it could be a very long and ugly night. Woodley has prepared for exactly that.
“He’s probably going to shoot for a hundred shots, and it doesn’t matter if I think I’m defending them all he needs is one, so it is important for me to be in the best wrestling shape possible. I’m not saying he is going to submit me, but that is where he will possibly have some success. He is going to have zero success on the feet”
“A win over Jake Shields would probably be the highest profile win of my career. I think it puts me in position where I can keep shopping for the title.”
Both of these men are ranked right on the cusp of the top ten of welterweight fighters in the world and the question is whether or not Shields still belongs in that company. Woodley is at more risk than he thinks in this fight as a win over the fading Shields may not get him the pop that he really needs to get a fight with a contender. A loss will set him back further than he may think, and Shields is a nightmare match up when he is on his game.
It is truly time for Woodley to step up, defeat Shields and walk the walk of a UFC contender.
