Tyron Woodley Slams McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov, Says They Both Looked Like ‘Old Men’

Speaking to the media ahead of his upcoming title defense at UFC 235, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley trashed the UFC lightweight title fight between champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champion Conor McGregor at UFC 229. Below are some highlights (via MMAFighting.com). Woodley defends his title against Kamaru Usman later this Saturday in Las Vegas at UFC 235.

His thoughts on McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov: “It wasn’t that great a fight. I don’t care what anybody else said … they both kind of looked bad. They both looked like old men at the nursing home fighting each other. But then we glorified this fight. It wasn’t like this great strategic fight where one person was strategic.”

Woodley on the showmanship of Conor McGregor: “This is a person that, I don’t give stats, he’s lost a few times and won a few times. But look at his mystique he has. So it’s telling you it’s not so much about winning. It’s about the showmanship. It’s about what you bring to the table. It’s about making people give a f*ck. You gotta find a way to do both. You gotta find a way to do both of it. You’ve got to find a way to make people invested, want to see me lose, want to see me win.”

Woodley on putting on a show: “If you go out there and you punch and you bleed and you brawl and you go back and forth, you really can’t lose in that situation. You can get your ass whupped and knocked out, but if you fought to a point where everyone was like ‘oh my god, he’s so tough,’ not only with the fighters and the fans but the promotion, you’ve kind of almost put yourself in the mold where they’re going to keep you.”

Woodley on fighters with subpar records who could put on a show: “We saw with [Keith] Jardine, we saw with so many fighters forever that, subpar, .500 records that stayed around that, then you have a guy who lose maybe one fight and they’re gone. And I just think that, when you look at a sport? Think about basketball. It don’t matter if you wear a pimped out custom suit, talk the most sh*t as possible, if you can shoot a three, you can shoot a three. How many times you seen Steph Curry talking crap? You get paid the big bucks based on how you deliver out on the court.”