Tyron Woodley fighting bigger battle than UFC video game snub
Tyron Woodley plans to raise some hell this weekend in Canada and it has nothing to do with him fighting hometown boy Rory MacDonald.
Vancouver is the home of EA Sports, the company that has produced the new UFC video game set to hit shelves next week. Woodley was not included as a playable character in the game. And he plans on reminding the people at EA that this week. UFC media day Thursday was at the organization's headquarters.
"I'm gonna give them a little crap," Woodley said. "I'm gonna act like I'm real pissed off about it."
In reality, though, Woodley doesn't care. Yes, he's one of the top welterweights in the world and a win over MacDonald at UFC 174 could potentially earn him a title shot against Johny Hendricks in the fall. But seeing himself in pixel form isn't exactly at the top of his bucket list. He can wait.
"I got enough things in mixed martial arts where I'm not getting my just due," Woodley said. "I'm not going to get mad about a video game."
EA Sports UFC creative director Brian Hayes told FOX Sports last month that Woodley didn't make the cut, because when the team started producing the game, he was not a top contender. Woodley is likely to be a downloadable character in the first expansion pack, Hayes said. And Woodley confirmed that he has already done the 3D scanning for his video-game self to become a reality.
"It'll be even cooler when they do the next feature and I'm the champion," Woodley said. "And then maybe the next game, I'll be on the cover."
Woodley, 32, still thinks he'll be holding the UFC welterweight title before the end of the year. A few things have to occur to make that happen, of course. UFC president Dana White has said that the winner of a fight between Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown at FOX UFC Saturday on June 26 will get the next shot against Hendricks. Woodley doesn't think White is lying by any means. He just knows if he beats MacDonald, he can put himself in a good position to swoop in.
"I'm pretty confident about that," Woodley said. "Just think about the UFC. How many fights have been cancelled, dropped, switched? It's a crazy sport. It's not setup like other sports are setup."
He's right about that. Hendricks himself is recovering from a torn bicep, which very easily could have forced him out of the fight against Lawler that won him the title at UFC 171 in March.
Woodley beat Carlos Condit on that same card via TKO and he has gotten some heat over it. Though the former stud Division I wrestler hurt Condit with a massive right hand in the first round and had him in trouble, it was Condit tearing his ACL on a Woodley takedown that ended the fight. But Woodley feels no pressure to finish MacDonald in some kind of stupendous way because he might not be getting 100 percent credit for beating Condit.
"I don’t think I should have to jump off the cage and do an Anthony Pettis or a spinning heel kick or a Bruce Lee punch," Woodley said. "I don’t think I have to do all those things to win. I just have to win every scramble, win every exchange and win the way I'm capable of winning."
The St. Louis native makes it sound so easy. Almost like a video game on the beginner setting.
