Woodley is Legit

We saw him defeat a solid, well rounded fighter in Tarec Saffiedine. Woodley used a great gameplan to avoid Saffiedine's striking and get him to the ground. Saffiedine is probably the worst matchup in all of Strikeforce for Woodley, to be honest. He is a great striker with great takedown defense (possibly the best in the division at strikeforce) and good submissions. With the somewhat recent release of Jay Hieron, Woodley is without a doubt the best wrestler in Strikeforce. Ahead Woodley has Diaz, Noons (presuming he doesn't go back to LW), Daley, Cyborg and Zaromskis. All strikers with little to no wrestling. Woodley can and will destroy them all. There is no stopping this kid, he get's better every time. By 2012, Woodley will be in the UFC, or Strikeforce champ.

Daley can't wrestle. Diaz can't wrestle. Noons can't wrestle. Cyborg and Zaromskis can't wrestle. Woodley can. He will put them all on their backs, and keep them there. I'm excited to see where Woodley goes from here. Thoughts?

 

 

 

j

(that j at the end was a typo)

I'de give Diaz, Noons, and Daley good chances of beating Woodley. Noons has good TDD and is obviously a better striker. Diaz should have the advantage striking and in BJJ but Woodley could possibly control him for 5 rounds. While Daley's TDD isn't the greatest he has enormous power in has hands and can KO Woodley. The least chance of the three though.

while woodley IS really good, i think diaz would eat him alive!! noons and daley would probably lose via woodley controling fight

I disagree. Woodley would repeatedly take diaz down. There is no arguement that he is a better wrestler than Diego Sanchez. Sanchez controlled diaz throughout, Woodley would do the same, but better. Diaz knows he can't fight wrestlers, which is why he ducked Jay Hieron. His little pitter-patter punches don't do anything except score points. That won't matter when he spends 4 and a half minutes of each round on his back. Watch Nate Diaz vs Dong Hyun Kim, Woodley vs Diaz will be the same, except with Woodley doing more than holding his own on the feet.

@legz, Is this a joke? Noons is a joke, woodley would eat him alive. His takedown defense is nothing compared to Saffiedines, and his striking is way worse, he doesn't even have a punchers chance against Woodley, he has no power for a welterweight. Maybe he could tko woodley with a hit after the bell, like gurgel, but otherwise, no way. And Daley has NO chance. He has power, but woodley would take him down easily, that isn't even a fight. And finally Diaz, he has no puncher's chance, no grappler's chance, and no wrestling. Woodley would eat him alive.

Woodley could handle himself against anyone in the Strikeforce WW division. It's time for him to get on a main card against Noons or Daley. Of the two I give him a better chance at beating Noons. Get that fight then to the winner of Diaz vs Cyborg. They need contenders and Woodley is their best chance. The only big ? I saw about Woodley in his last fight is that he faded in the 3rd meaning in a 5 round fight he could struggle in the championship rounds. 

@bigj, I agree about everything you said, specifically the cardio problem. However that can only improve over time. However, grappling is the most tiring aspect of the game, and if he improves his cardio a bit, he will be able to wear out his opponents and actually gain the advantage in a five round fight. I agree that noons would be an easier fight than Daley, and i think after he wins that fight, he needs a title shot.
Keep in mind, his contract is coming to an end with Strikeforce, and they will give him a title shot before it ends. If he wins, he has a champion's clause, if he loses, UFC doesn't want him. I think he has 2 fights left, so they will probably feed him an easy opponent like Noons or maybe Daley, so he can look good before he dethrones Diaz.

If Woodley had a SF title shot and lost, not sure UFC would necessarily be afraid to sign him. He's still a developing prospect and if they liked him, they'd just sign him.  Not quite the same, but they did that with Baroni coming off a SF loss. They also did it with Jason High coming off a loss in Dream... which was a little strange. But the point is that UFC sometimes picks up guys off of losses.

@Gregory, That's true, there is a chance. However, UFC likes to prove a point that they are the best organization. The pickup of Jason High was weird, as was the Baroni pickup. I think with Twood though, if he loses to Diaz, they would hesitate to sign him, because that would make UFC look bad, especially if he was successful there. High may have been already under contract to come to the UFC after his fight with Dream or something (he did get cut after only one loss), and I think they picked Baroni up just for entertainment, they knew he wasn't going anywhere.

However, we don't have to worry about this because Woodley will have no troubles with Diaz.

I was stating the fighters who I thought had the best chances of beating Woodley and why from the fighters you listed. Do I personally believe that Noons would beat Woodley? No. However, and wether you want to deny it or not, Noons is a better striker than Woodley and posses the ability to TKO him. I was merely stating the possibilities and not my personal opinions on who would win, so there is no need to get all flustered and come at me with your 100% accurate facts.

@Legz, No, I understood what you were saying, and of course Noons is a better striker than Woodley, but no way he stops woodley, he has power for a lightweight, not a welterweight (he can late hit Woodley like he did to Gurgel, but that won't stop him from getting put on his back repeatedly). And all my facts are indeed 100% accurate, I know everything.

 What I ment by Saffiedine is a better striker is that he possesses danger for Woodley, meaning kicks and knees, not just punches like Noons, which will only help Woodley get on the inside to establish a clinch. I can't remember for sure, but didn't Diaz put Noons on his back? If that's true, Noons should bring a pillow, because he'll be there all night. I'm not flustered, i'm excited, for the future, WOODLEY IS THE FUTURE!!!

It seemed like you thought those were my actual predictions as to how the fights would go. As long as you understand what I was trying to say then it's all good.

cool, glad it's settled.

Twood is pretty good... Represent STL all day!!!

Tyron is a great fighter. It'd be nice to see him push for a finish more. He admitted that it was his gameplan to bring it to the judges. He was doing a little too much running and then wall and stalling at the end. It's still exciting seeing him improving though. STL represent all day

"I think [Saffiedine] is a tougher opponent than (Paul) Daley, or (Nick) Diaz, or (Evangelista) 'Cyborg' (Santos) for me. Those guys are going to have one heck of a time stopping me from getting them on their back. Diaz, I don't even he would try to stop me from getting him to his back because of his extensive jiu-jitsu background"
quote from woodley (http://mmajunkie.com/news/22077/strikeforce-rising-stars-cormier-st-preux-and-woodley-know-much-work-to-be-done.mma), so true. he restated everything i've been saying, lol. i think he would put Daley and Diaz on their backs with ease. To be honest, I think Cyborg would be the toughest fight for him of those 3, he has a dangerous clinch game and the brawling style could present problems for Woodley, actually.
What would you guys think about a fight with Gilbert Melendez? I think Melendez has a solid skillset, but would get beat due to lack of size, but i think stylistically, that could be an awesome fight. Thoughts?

T. Wood will be the ww champ by the end of the year.

@mrgreen yes! absolutely! he will fight the loser of diaz/cyborg, then after dominating that fight, he will fight cyborg/diaz/daley winner, and will dominate that too.

TTT.

Diaz vacates his belt, now there is no one even remotely close to Woodley's skill set in strikeforce.

Woodley hasn't impressed me yet, I'm not sure he would've beaten Diaz. Sure he's got better TD's than Diego, but as far as sub defense? I doubt he's better then Diego.

He had trouble taking down/controlling Saffiedine and that fight was as bad as Guida/Pettis LnP wise. Woodley has a long way to go.