Connect with us

Sports

‘He Froze Up’- Tyron Woodley Details Backstage Confrontation with Jake Paul

Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley spoke to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani following Triller’s boxing event at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. ‘The Chosen One’ was in the corner of Ben Askren, who took on Jake Paul in the main event. Woodley and Askren have been teammates and supporters of each other right from their college wrestling days at Missouri.

Unfortunately, things didn’t exactly go as planned as Ben Askren was knocked out by Jake Paul in the first round. What’s more, there was plenty of warring words exchanged in the lead-up to the fight, including in the locker room. When speaking to Helwani, Woodley revealed a contentious interaction he had with Paul and a member of his entourage, J’Leon Love.

Also Read: Jorge Masvidal and His History with Bellator MMA

Tyron Woodley: No messing around

The former champion shared an interesting story that involved Jake Paul not long before Paul stepped out to fight. A verbal sparring match between Woodley and former boxer and Paul teammate, Love, went viral on the night of the fight. However, Woodley shared a tense moment he shared with ‘The Problem Child’ that wasn’t picked up by the cameras.

Tyron Woodley weighing-in
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – SEPTEMBER 18: Tyron Woodley poses on the scale during the UFC Fight Night weigh-in at UFC APEX on September 18, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

“When I get to the locker room to check Jake’s gloves and the person that’s never spoke, ever, that was so quite, walks around like ‘you know nothing about these gloves’. First thing Jake said was ‘You here for clout’. I said ‘Don’t play with me, you know I don’t play those games’.”

“At that point, he froze up. His act and his little character was stifled cause those guys are fans of mine. He don’t want to play those games cause he know what I can do. Whether I’ve done it in my last fights or not, you know what I can fu*king do right.”

Tyron Woodley
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MAY 30: Tyron Woodley battles Gilbert Burns in a welterweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on May 30, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Despite Woodley’s skid in the UFC as of late, he’s more than capable of holding his own against anyone. It’s very possible that a boxing match could be set up between Woodley and either Paul or Love based on the aforementioned tense run-ins. What’s more, there would be a compelling in-built storyline of Woodley looking to avenge Askren’s loss against Jake Paul.

The post ‘He Froze Up’- Tyron Woodley Details Backstage Confrontation with Jake Paul appeared first on EssentiallySports.