The Film Room: Tyron Woodley

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UFC 228 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Tyron Woodley is set to defend his title for the fourth time this Saturday in the main event of UFC 228 when he takes on surging contender Darren Till. Woodley has garnered some heat for his tedious title fights but if anybody can pull out an exciting fight from Woodley, it’s Till.

The Chosen One

Like his opponent this weekend, Woodley had a meteoric rise to stardom fighting the likes of Andre Galvao, Tarec Saffiedine, Paul Daley and Jordan Mein within three years of turning pro. He had a bit of a slow start once joining the UFC in 2013, but is now 5-0-1 since his last loss to Rory MacDonald in 2014. During this time, he became known as one of the most explosive and powerful strikers in the division with the counter striking instincts to catch opponents off guard when they come forward first.



Woodley was first taken seriously as a contender after his devastating knockout over Josh Koscheck back in 2013. Most of Woodley’s game is revolved around backing himself to the cage and looking for counter rights as opponents come in. With his back against the cage, most opponents believe they have him in a disadvantageous position and look for the finish. But, Woodley is most comfortable with his back against the fencing and he uses this tendency in most opponents to bait them to come forward with strikes where he can land his counter right. This tactic worked wonders early in his career but as he progresses, and opponents become aware of this strategy, it becomes tougher to pull off.



Although known for his explosiveness, Woodley is a rather patient fighter and only blitzes forward on occasion. He is much more of a counter striker, but this gets overlooked due to his highlight knockouts on the lead and when blitzing forward. His go-to counter is a right hook over the top of an opponent’s jab in the closed guard against fellow orthodox fighters. Against southpaws he struggles to get his counter rights off in the open guard, which could cause problems for him against the southpaw Till.



When working on the lead, Woodley’s money punch is this shuffling or shifting right hook that won him the title against Robbie Lawler. Notice how Woodley feints right and left hands while shuffling forward before throwing the right hook as the opponent bites on one of the feints. This works best against fellow orthodox opponents where the right hook can land over top the lead hand, but he proved against Lawler that he can land it just as effective against a southpaw. This could work well against Till, who keeps his hands low and often bites hard on opponent’s feints. If Woodley finds himself getting battered against the cage, watch for this shuffling hook to get him off.



Speaking of biting on feints, Woodley’s Achilles heel has always been effective and consistent feinting. MacDonald was the first to catch on to Woodley’s tendency to back himself to the cage and look for counters as opponents get overzealous. Instead of getting aggressive in these positions MacDonald would constantly feint and come forward with a quick combo when Woodley took the bait before jumping out of range again. Woodley had no answers for this and was picked apart from bell to bell, so don’t be surprised to see Till implement a similar game plan.



we’ve seen very little of Woodley’s offensive wrestling in the UFC but if there is one clear advantage he has over Till it’s his grappling. He is a former Division 1 All-American wrestler out of the University of Missouri and a brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu under Ricardo Liborio. Although we have never seen him rely on his grappling in the UFC, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him try to take the inexperienced Till to the ground and grind him out for five rounds.

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