In Tyron Woodley’s mind, he was going to retire as UFC champion.
After winning the welterweight title in 2016, and successfully defending the belt three times, Woodley felt like he was well on his way to legendary status. Then he ran into Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 and five rounds later, Woodley was left with a unanimous decision loss on his record — the first defeat he had tasted since 2014 — and he was no longer considered the best 170-pound fighter in the world.
Now 15 months later, Woodley is finally ready to return to action and while he’s certainly fired up and ready to fight again, it wasn’t an easy road traveled to get here.