Tyron Woodley Favourite To Retain His Welterweight Title

Published on February 13th, 2019 10:15 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


Tyron Woodley, who is trying to state his case as the best Welterweight fighter that has ever lived (GSP still claims that crown, IMO), will next be defending his title against Kamaru Usman at UFC 235: Jones vs Smith.

Woodley is coming off of perhaps the best fight of his career after he completely dismantled Darren Till in late 2018 to retain his Welterweight title.

It was originally thought that Woodley would be fighting against Colby Covington next, though the UFC decided to give the fight to Usman instead.

Usman has claimed his title shot after posting eight straight wins in the UFC, including recent victories over Rafael dos Anjos and Demian Maia. If you are excluding Covington from the proceedings, giving Usman the next shot at Woodley makes the most sense.

Woodley, for his part, hasn't lost since June of 2014 and has recent victories over Darren Till, Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson.

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Both Woodley and Usman are fantastic wrestlers, so this fight will likely be won on the feet.

If you are going by striking ability, you'd have to give Woodley the advantage, as he has proved that his hands are more than capable against the likes of Till and Lawler.

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Let's take a look at the odds for this fight, courtesy of Bet365:

Source: Bet365
Time Stamp: February 13th, 2019 10:03 pm EST
Odds Subject to Change

Tyron Woodley, 1.58
Kamaru Usman, 2.40

As you can see, the odds for this fight are fairly close, as the oddsmakers aren't giving that much of an edge to Woodley. This is surprising to me, especially given Woodley's complete dominance of Darren Till.