Tyron Woodley and Conor McGregor have been hit hard in their recent UFC career. But the vice-champions were on course clapping when the duo were at the top of their careers. In early 2016, Conor McGregor became the first UFC fighter to attempt to become a two-division champion at the same time. Before he started fighting a lightweight title, McGregor coach John Kavanagh revealed he was open to welterweight title fighting if his pupil wanted to go after him.
The historic UFC 205 event with Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title was also on Tyron Woodley defending his welterweight strap against Stephen Thompson on the undercard. Both McGregor and Woodley went on to emerge as champions of their respective divisions and there were interesting interactions between them during a week of fighting prompting speculation about a possible title fight involving the couple.
The flesh between Conor McGregor and Tyron Woodley ended with Woodley’s belt around McGregor’s middle
The UFC 205 pre-fight press conference was a starting point for the short-lived beef between Tyron Woodley and Conor McGregor when a question in the media led the pair to a slight change. When asked if he would move up further in weight to capture the welterweight title after defeating lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, Conor McGregor had a short but sure answer.
“All the belts,” Conor McGregor said before releasing the son.
Tyron Woodley did not kindly accept McGregor’s response and undermined the Irish’s ability to compete against the big boys.
“Yeah, we punch with different power in this area. Pack a lunch brother,” Tyron Woodley replied.
The controversy between the two escalated during the pressure when Tyron Woodleys’ greetings met with a less friendly look from Conor McGregor, and then back and forth between the two on twitter.
After being crowned as the lightweight champion at UFC 205, the famous Conor McGregor called out UFC officials to give his octagon his second belt for photo shoots and it was their duty to be borrowing a Tyron Woodley belt to satisfy the celebrity!
Ariel Helwani later and expressed his desire to meet Conor McGregor in a UFC eight-legged game.
“If the powers that be in the UFC and the fans want to see us scrape by, I mean, just send me a bout agreement. I’m in,” Tyron Woodley told Ariel Helwani.
The short-lived feud between Tyron Woodley and Conor McGregor went awry after Eddie Alvarez won history. Conor McGregor took leave of absence from MMA to follow a high-profile boxing fight against boxing Floyd Mayweather, who had retired, finally catching up in the two UFC tournaments he held.
Tyron Woodley defended his welterweight title three more times after UFC 205 and lost to Kamaru Usman in 2019. Woodley has been declining ever since and is expected to fight against No.9 welterweight rival Vicente Luque at UFC 260. McGregor has fought into the UFC three times after returning from boxing and lost his most recent fight against Dustin Poirier through TKO at UFC 257.
While Conor McGregor’s campaign put boxing of his rivalry with Tyron Woodley on the shelf for a while, the emergence of Khabib Nurmagomedov as a force to think of was one of the biggest reasons for the failure of the. UFC fighter McGregor-Woodley put together. McGregor’s strong rivalry and loss against Khabib has sparked interest in the lightweight title for more than two years as the welterweight division caught up with the once-rebellious Tyron Woodley and as a result it went out from the top of creation.
The fight between Tyron Woodley and Conor McGregor is very similar in style and would still generate a lot of hype with or without a belt on the line.
Published 07 February 2021, 04:17 IST