Before Tyron Woodley steps into the Octagon at UFC 171 to do battle with Carlos Condit, he will first had to go head-to-head with Agent Phil Coulson on a new episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC.
Woodley guest starred on a last night's episode where he will played a bodyguard for new big bad Ian Quinn (Dan Conrad) as he goes up against the muscle from S.H.I.E.L.D. during his appearance on the show.
The former Strikeforce welterweight contender has dabbled in acting and stunt work for the last few years after one of his coaches revealed that he was actually one of the top coordinators in the business handling stunts for major Hollywood productions.
Woodley routinely submits his name to hundreds of projects just waiting on the right one to take the bait, but even he was shocked when he got the call to appear on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Check me out on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD Getting shot up on "Arresting Ian Quinn" http://t.co/wmh70ICSnC @ufc #Stuntin #SideGig #ufc171
— Tyron T-Wood Woodley (@TWooodley) February 5, 2014
"Some of my buddies that I did some stunt training with down in New Orleans, he's actually doubling the lead (Clark Gregg) and I had talked to him about it a while ago and he just never really had anything open for me. A lot of times in this industry you submit your name 200 or 300 times and if I get one or two call backs, I'm doing well," Woodley said.
"One day I get a call at the gym and they're like 'hey I've got a part for you on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. tomorrow, can you be here?' and I was like yeah I'll be there."
Woodley dropped everything and flew to Los Angeles the next day to film his part on the show. It was a whirlwind adventure and something he definitely looks forward to doing again once his fighting career slows down a bit.
In the episode, Woodley played a villain who protected Quinn while he put together his plot to take down S.H.I.E.L.D. The action scenes came natural to Woodley and he didn't mind flexing his fight muscles against a few Hollywood actors.
"I'm actually a bad guy. If you watch the show I'm one of Quinn's guards and I think Quinn is a bad guy after watching a couple episodes," Woodley said.
Woodley filmed his scene a couple of months ago, prior to even landing the fight with Condit at UFC 171. His focus now has turned solely on the fight and his quest to earn a UFC welterweight title shot.
One day he hopes to devote more time to acting and stunt work, but becoming UFC champion is the goal that consumes him right now so everything else will just have to wait until that dream is realized. It doesn't mean, however, that Woodley won't find time for the right acting roles if they come along.
He might even land an appearance in another major Marvel production if filming doesn't interfere with his fight training.
"My buddies did the choreographing for Transformers, they did it for The Avengers, Captain America, Spider-Man, so I'm in communications with a lot of the big boys involved," Woodley said. "They're doing a movie called Ant-Man, one of the Marvel movies that my friends are doing, so it's really about the description and some part that I can fit in."
