Oh, Are We Supposed to Care About Tyron Woodley Now?

If there is one piece of wisdom I can impart upon our nation’s youth, it’s this: if you work hard, you can achieve anything.

Well, unless what you’re trying to achieve is a UFC title fight. Then, you’d best be advised to stay home for over a year-and-a-half, clinging desperately to what’s been promised to you, whining on UFC post-fight shows any time a potential new contender enters the discussion for “your” shot, until, to the shock of many, you actually get what you want.

Of course, that’s not entirely accurate as far as Tyron Woodley’s march to the UFC Welterweight Championship is concerned, a title he claimed when he knocked out Robbie Lawler at UFC 201 on Saturday night, but it still begs a very important question:

…the hell just happened?

In an era where champions have been dropping faster than clomiphene into a fighter’s bloodstream, it’s kinda weird to talk about Tyron Woodley as a UFC champion, but that’s the reality we are in now. Then again, the same could be said for Amanda Nunes as a UFC champion or Michael Bisping as a UFC champion or Eddie Alvarez as a UFC champion (WOO! REBNEY BELLATOR NEVA DIE!) or Stipe Miocic as a UFC champion or —

Seriously, what the hell is going on right now?

Is the era of dominant champions over? Are the skillsets of the prospects and hopefuls finally catching up to the divisional elite? Are top fighters not taking their opposition as seriously as past greats? Are they mentally weaker than Georges St-Pierre or “pre-Thai Viagra” Anderson Silva? Have they lost the motivation to defend their titles because of all the zeroes on Conor McGregor and Brock Lesnar’s paychecks?

It could be argued that, as the UFC continues to focus more on making fights the fans want to see versus the fights that make the most sense based on who has truly earned it (sorry, Jacare…), the belts continue to lose whatever distinction they still have.

Personally, I think the belts still mean something. It’s just that it’s getting harder to determine what that something is, as it’s not always easy to determine the meaning behind a fighter with the potential to be a dominant champion falling to a challenger who’s hungry but lacking in the same experience or level of competition.

It leads to a question I have asked multiple times after title changes, such as the one we saw on Saturday, a question that only time can reveal the answer to:

Was the champion that bad or was the challenger that good?

I’m not throwing that out there to discredit Woodley or take away from his victory. He knocked out Robbie Lawler, something that hadn’t been done since he revitalized his career by returning to the UFC in 2013. He ended a near 2+ year reign that included two of the most exciting fights in UFC championship history.

Woodley stared that story, that reputation, right in the eyes and knocked it out in two minutes. That is one hell of an accomplishment.

Woodley always seemed like the kind of fighter who had the potential to be great in MMA. He turned a successful college wrestling career into an undefeated run through Strikeforce, including wins over Tarec Saffiedine, Paul Daley, and Jordan Mein, before suffering his first loss competing against Nate Marquardt for the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship.

After that loss, Woodley entered the UFC, where he notched up a number of victories against fighters who were a big deal…sort of.

I mean, he knocked out Jay Hieron after he had that tough fight in Bellator with Ben Askren (WOO! REBNEY BELLATOR NEVA DIE!).

Or Josh Koscheck, even though he was on the down side of his career at that point.

Oh, he has that win over Carlos Condit, although that was mostly because Carlos tore his ACL during the fight and lost the ability to stand.

He also holds a big win over top prospect Kelvin Gastelum, who was fighting with a stomach flu at the time and came in overweight.

And who could forget that big win over Johny Hendricks that earned him the shot on Saturday? Oh wait. That didn’t happen because Johny almost killed himself trying to make weight and never made it to the scale.

Still, any fighter who can earn a dominant win over Dong Hyun Kim deserves to fight for the title, right? I mean, he’s the stun gun! THE STUN GUN!

Okay, maybe Tyron wasn’t the most deserving on paper when the time came to pick Robbie’s next challenger (sorry, Carlos…) but there’s no question that he came prepared for the fight and made the most of the opportunity he was given, which is the biggest shocker in all of this: that UFC promised a fighter a title shot and then actually delivered on that promise.

It’s like the old saying goes: even a broken clock is right twice every 5-7 years, especially when Conor McGregor just lost and Georges St-Pierre still hasn’t committed to an official Octagon return yet.

Plus, it’s great to see another fighter with so much potential be able to realize it. It’s great to see so many fighters right now with the potential to be great realize it at the same time. It’s caused a lot of instability in the promotion but, after so many years with dominant champions crushing dreams one after another, it’s fun to see what it looks like when anyone really can beat anyone else on any given night.

As far as any projections for “The T-Wood Era” goes, there’s nothing that can be said at this point. There’s the saying that you aren’t truly a champion until you defend your title and I think that will be critical for Tyron. Considering how quickly the fight on Saturday ended, it’s hard to say if Woodley is that good or if Lawler just got caught. I’m sure Robbie will be back, though. He may not get the next title shot, but he will work his way back, just like he did after the first Hendricks fight.

As for what Woodley does next (aside from further fuel the conspiracy that could potentially explain how all the regular FOX Sports analysts – Cormier, Bisping, Dominick Cruz, Woodley – have managed to become UFC champions in a relatively short amount of time), I’m sure he will be a respectful champion, honoring the integrity of the sport and offering title opportunities to top ranked fighters who truly deserve it.

…what’s that? He’s been calling out GSP and Nick Diaz for his first title defense? Sorry, Wonderboy…

Start clinging to that belt, Woodley. Cling to it hard.

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.