Tyron Woodley feels Israel Adesanya has one weakness that may have not been exploited.
Woodley and Adesanya have been trading barbs since “The Chosen One” expressed his belief that “The Last Stylebender’s” hype is overblown. Adesanya didn’t take too kindly to this and claimed that Woodley is desperate for money fights because he is “broke.”
Woodley Thinks He Can Exploit Adesanya’s ‘Weakness’
A new edition of TMZ Sports’ Hollywood Beatdown has been posted. During the show, Woodley explained why he thinks Adesanya has a weakness he can exploit (h/t BJPenn.com).
“When I look at Israel Adesanya, I got to look at his weakness,” Woodley said. “And his weakness may not be something that we’ve seen exploited, but it’s something that he’s protecting. It’s a reason why he fights so hard after getting taken down, it’s a reason why he wants to keep the fight standing: because that’s what he does best.
“But look at the fight against Kelvin Gastelum. Kelvin Gastelum, for much of that fight, was winning,” Woodley added. “I don’t know if you recall when I fought Kelvin ‘Fatselum’ but I fought him when he was at middleweight and I was at welterweight and my fight didn’t look nothing like that. I came out there, face clean, broke my foot in the first round, and I made pretty easy work of Kelvin Gastelum. That was a Fight of the Year candidate. That tells me that if I’m a better striker than Gastelum, I punch harder than Gastelum, I’m a better wrestler than Gastelum, I have a better I.Q. than Gastelum and I can be — you’ve got to think about me taking you down, you’ve got to think about me knocking you out, you’ve got to think about me submitting you, you’ve got to think about me making you miss, you’ve got to think about my explosiveness. I’m gonna give you so many things to think about and he’s already sensitive, and he’s already in his feelings, so I feel confident about the fight.”
Woodley was scheduled to fight in March against Leon Edwards but the coronavirus pandemic put a dent in those plans. UFC London ended up being canceled and now it’s a matter of when the UFC will book the match again. Woodley hasn’t appeared to be enthusiastic about the idea of rebooking his bout with Edwards.
As for Adesanya, he retained his UFC middleweight title back in March. “The Last Stylebender” defeated Yoel Romero via unanimous decision. Many expect Adesanya to put his gold on the line against Paulo Costa next.
