Tyron Woodley has to beat Jake Paul. If he does not the mixed martial arts world will never hear the end of it. Jake Paul is already in the headlines of the sport we love way too much and should he defeat former UFC welterweight champion Woodley I don’t think we will ever escape him.
As fans we have dismissed Jake’s KO victory over Ben Askren because as we have said before he is a world-class wrestler with the striking skills of a toddler. We wrote it off and belittled Jake for picking the easiest possible fight and we dared him to pick a higher caliber opponent. Well now he has in Woodley.
The concerning part about all of this is that Tyron is on a four fight losing streak. He’s also 39 years old and looks nothing like the welterweight champion that was once respected and somewhat feared. The Woodley that defeated a killer in Robbie Lawler. That guy is long gone.
Jake Paul is 24 and believe it or not he is attempting to take his freak show boxing “career“ seriously and is actually training. Look at the way he celebrated as if he just knocked out Mike Tyson in his prime after he defeated Askren. We all made fun of it but the truth is it was a sign that this is not a joke to Jake Paul. Should Woodley come into this fight even a little bit under prepared he could get knocked out or at least lose the decision.
Beating Tyron would launch Jake into the stratosphere and hyperbolic media sources outside of combat sports would be reporting that Jake Paul is the real deal and one of the best fighters in the world. The infotainment sites like to jump on things like this and Dana White would have to answer questions about whether boxing is better than the UFC all over again.
Ben Askren may have had a little pressure but Woodley without a doubt is truly representing the sport of mixed martial arts against a guy who is jumping on every chance to discredit it. Tyron absolutely cannot lose for the sake of the sport we love. He also can’t lose because his name would always be associated with losing to Jake. He would be the former UFC champion who ruled over a division and ended up getting beat by a guy with no real fights on his record. Woodley needs to knock Jake out because if he goes the distance that’s almost as bad as losing. That would give Jake even more credibility to Paul and the headlines would read “Jake Paul takes former UFC champion the distance“.
Tyron, if you are going to do this please take it seriously we are counting on you.