Titanic Tyron Woodley Avoids Paul Daley Iceberg, No Boats Sink at Strikeforce

Tyron Woodley and Tarec Saffiedine

Prior to winning his Strikeforce & M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Henderson fight over Paul Daley, Tryon Woodley listened to his opponent make parallels between them and the tale of the Titanic, the legendary luxury ship which lies at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

You see, 99 years ago, the Titanic made its maiden voyage and scrapped up against a giant iceberg, sinking the newly-built ship to its doom. Daley said that, in his fight with Woodley, he would be the iceberg to Woodley’s Titanic and sink any hopes of the up-and-coming welterweight rising to the top.

Well, looks like the Titanic made it from port to port in this story.

“I verged to the left and avoided the iceberg,” Woodley told Showtime Sports shortly after the win. “I knew it was going to be a tough fight; I knew I was going to have to train hard.

“I knew I had to be slick and get inside of him, he’s strong guy. I couldn’t get frustrated when I didn’t take him down and (I had) to keep going for him. So that’s what I did.”

For the first half of the fight, Daley was keeping the bout where he knew he would have the best chances – on the feet. Unfortunately for him, Woodley closed enough distance and pressured the British fighter to where he was unable to establish a fluid offense. Never really getting off to a good start, Daley was out-struck while standing and eventually gave up a takedown, en route to fending off strikes from within his guard.

Woodley was either hot enough to melt the iceberg or traveled at a rate of speed so great that the Titanic smashed right through the iceberg on its way to the shores of victory.

And on those shores lies the idea Woodley has put himself in a position to fight for the welterweight title vacated by Nick Diaz earlier this year, so he could challenge UFC champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137 in October.

It’s quite possible that Woodley fights Tarec Saffiedine in a rematch of their bout at Strikeforce Challengers from January of this year. In that contest, Woodley and Saffiedine fought to a three-round decision with the American wrestler getting the nod in their main event. The fight was competitive, to say the least, and a second scrap between the 170-pound fighters seems like the right move going forward.

Woodley – who remains undefeated following his Strikeforce win on Saturday night – is all about getting a shot a the belt. He absolutely welcomes the opportunity.

“Title next, let’s do it.”

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Erik Fontanez is a staff writer for MMAWeekly.com.
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