A former UFC champion believes that Tyron Woodley’s desire to fight isn’t at the level it once was.
Woodley hasn’t seen the success he once had in combat sports since 2018. “The Chosen One” lost four bouts in a row following a UFC Welterweight Championship run. He has now gone 0-3 as a professional boxer with two losses to Jake Paul and a second-round TKO defeat to 50-year-old UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva.
During an appearance on Submission Radio, ex-UFC middleweight titleholder Luke Rockhold shared his belief that Woodley’s competitive drive just isn’t there anymore (h/t MMAFighting).
“That was what I thought it would be,” Rockhold said. “Tyron’s not there to fight anymore. He’s not really conscious in fighting. Tyron’s still my boy but he’s just sleep fighting these days, you know what I mean?
“You have to be able to consciously see punches and throw punches, and he’s just not there in live anymore.”
Woodley will turn 44 years old in April 2026. Many feel the once elite 170-pounder should give prizefighting a permanent rest. “The Chosen One” hadn’t been in the boxing ring in four years before his mismatch against Silva on the undercard of the Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua event.
You have to go back to Sept. 2018 to find Woodley’s last combat sports victory. “The Chosen One” submitted Darren Till in his last successful UFC welterweight title defense. He went on to drop the gold to Kamaru Usman the following year, which began the downward spiral.
Woodley would go on to suffer defeats at the hands of Gilbert Burns, Colby Covington, and Vicente Luque. The submission loss to Luque ended up being Woodley’s last bout under the UFC banner and his most recent pro MMA fight.
Whether or not Woodley plans to continue his fighting career remains to be seen.