UFC 228: Woodley vs. Till

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Till is afraid to get hurt too, Maneceel96; it takes two to make a boring fight.

* Edited at 08.11.2018, 9:58 AM ET *

I can't wait to see how Zabit does.

Woodley vs. Till
Darren Till, TKO, R4
For some reason I have a feeling this fight will resemble the Nate Marquardt fight from strikeforce. Woodley likes the cage behind him and Till likes pushing people into the cage. Till's takedown defence is the deciding factor in my eyes.

The last I recall Tyron Woodley defeated Robbie Lawler and with that Win he was also crowned The New UFC Welterweight Champion. He has defended his Championship and has come out successful in all his bouts yet for some reason Tyron Woodley is not getting the RESPECT he deserves. People seem to forget Woodley is the UFC Undisputed Welterweight Champion and in his last fight against Maia it was Maia who had to push the pace and be aggressive, and to fight the fight like it's the only time he would ever fight for a title and switch up his game plan. Maia did none of that and Woodley knew he didn't have to be aggressive because he is the Champion and his game plan was so simple. I just don't understand how Woodley became the Rodney Dangerfield of the UFC and gets no credit and NO RESPECT for his accomplishments. Don't get me wrong, Till is a good fighter, but Woodley is just a Beast in the Octagon and Till hasn't fought a fighter with the caliber technique that Woodley brings.

* Edited at 08.19.2018, 6:12 AM ET *

Woodley was 10-1 entering the UFC. Surprisingly his career started off with 5 straight submission wins (and he's had 0 since) with Rudy Bears being the only vaguely recognizable name (and the only 1 with a winning record) of the 5.

No problem, everyone needs to start their career somewhere. With the last 2 of his 1st rd sub wins being in the Strikeforce Challenger series, Woodley had 1 more in the series: a split decision over Nathan Coy. Coy has made it to the UFC but is only 1-2 after being 14-5. His record was 8-2 when he fought Tyron so between losing closely to Woodley and making it into the UFC he went 6-3. A middling fighter no matter how you look at it.


He finished his Strikeforce run with a 1st rd KO over Andre Galvao followed by decision wins over Saffiedine, Daley, and Mien before being KOed by Marquardt. So his finishing kick in Strikeforce was 1 1st rd finish and 4 pretty boring decisions with 2 of them being split.

Now the Marquardt loss was actually a really good fight.

His UFC record is 10-2-1 with 4 1st rd KOs, the Condit knee injury TKO, 5 boring decision wins, 2 boring decision losses and the draw with Thompson being the only good fight since the Marquardt fight.

Now he has learned to win those boring decisions after losing the 1st 2 in the UFC but he's still the King of "boring decision or 1st rd KO" fights, kind of like a mini-HW.

I like this card a lot. Plenty of meaningful fights. 
It'll be nice for Shevchenko to get the belt. She was always undersized at BW and did very well against Nunes in defeat. And we know Shevchenko will actively defend her belt. I realize there's no such thing as a lock in MMA but Shevchenko is as close as it gets. Simply cannot see her losing.

Rose will most likely defend against the Andrade/KK Winner. All signs point in that direction. And we'll also most likely see Suarez emerge into a Top 5 contender. I think she'll be way too much for Esparza. I think Suarez's wrestling is much, much better than Esparza's. 

And Zabit will be fighting injury free, unlike his last bout against Crash Bochniak. I see Zabit getting the finish here and picking up his 4th consecutive Post Fight Bonus. Zabit vs Renato Moicano next please.

TV prelims are stacked Aljo/Stamann and Rivera/Dodson could easily be PPV fights. Both fights should be competitive.

Miller and Diego on FightPass and the UFC giving them both favorable matchups but I think they both lose. Miller has a better chance of beating Alex White than Diego has of beating Craig White. Craig won't be cutting 25 lbs in 2 weeks like he had to against Magney. Craig White is actually much better than that 14-8 record shows. His only 3 L's in the last 5 years were against Magney, Oskar Piechota and Mike Shipman and Shipman could easily be on the UFC's roster imo. He's a stud.

The ****en dentist cost me a 1200 dollar parley his last fight in england. 
I bet against him and he was the final leg in a four fight parlay all underdogs
Except the guy i chose against him who was a fav. ****en dentist!
@maneceel the prices are ******h stupid these days no doubt.

Agreed, but I've had a hunch that Price is THE prospect for WW for awhile now. If he doesn't brawl with Abdul i bet he takes him out.

Woodley vs. Till
Tyron Woodley, DEC
Assuming this will be Till's last fight at WW, win or lose. Woodley has a huge advantage in speed, but I'd imagine his takedowns won't net him much against Till. This fight could go any which way, but I'd expect Woodley to thoroughly out point Till unless Till shows more urgency than his last fight.

Andrade vs. Kowalkiewicz
Jéssica Andrade, DEC
I doubt KK can out rhythm Andrade while getting relentlessly hunted down.

Esparza vs. Suarez
Carla Esparza, DEC
I guess people didn't see Esparza hold her own against Gadelha, hm.

Sterling vs. Stamann
Cody Stamann, TKO, R2
Great matchmaking, not sure how Stamann is ranked 11 considering he beat up Caraway. Should be a great fight, maybe a bit of a grind...

Stewart vs. Byrd
Charles Byrd, SUB, R1
"Let's see how Stewart does vs a grappler. OK a striker... oh. OK another grappler, oh! How about... Another grappler!"

Price vs. Razak Alhassan
Niko Price, TKO, R2
Amazing. Definitely a standout for fight of the night

Rivera vs. Dodson
Jimmie Rivera, DEC
Fast Dodson wins this fight. Slow Dodson loses this fight. Potentially a great fight, but possibly a war of short punches and patient strategy playing out over 3 rounds.

So whos your picks my guy?

• Tyron Woodley vs. Darren Till 
• 
  

TOUGH FIGHT. WOODLEY SHOULd win but i think he will lose via left elbow followed up with a vicious right hand. Sorry Woodley. So darren till via tko 3rd

• Nicco Montaño vs. Valentina Shevchenko 
• 
  

TOUGH FIGHT BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE SHEVCHENKO WIN VIA STOPPAGE IN THE 4TH. I JUST THINK SHE'S THE MORE EXPERIENCED.

• Jéssica Andrade vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz 
• 
  

KOWALKIEWICZ VIA DECISION. SIMILAR TO JJ WIN OVER ANDRADE

• Carla Esparza vs. Tatiana Suarez 
• 
  

SUAREZ SUBS HER WITHIN THE 1ST OR 2ND MOST LIKELY THE 2ND

• Aljamain Sterling vs. Cody Stamann 
• 
  

STAMANN EZ WIN 3RD ROUND TKO

• Darren Stewart vs. Charles Byrd 
• 
  

STEWART WIN VIA KO LATE 1ST ROUND.

• Niko Price vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
•  

TOUGH FIGHT TO CALL 50.50 BUT I WOULD SAY NIKO SHOULD WIN, BUT 1 MISTAKE AND ALHASSAN WINS.

• Jimmie Rivera vs. John Dodson 
• 
  

DODSON GETS THE FINISH SIMILAR TO THE COMBO HE HIT DILLASHAW WITH PROBABLY 2ND ROUND

• Diego Sanchez vs. Craig White 
• 
  

WHITE WILL KO HIM IN THE 1ST SAD TO SEE

• Jim Miller vs. Alex White 
• 
  

WHITE WILL GET THE STOPPAGE 1ST ROUND

• Irene Aldana vs. Lucie Pudilová
• 
  

MY GIRL PUDILOVÁ WILL WIN BY TKO LATE 2ND OR 3RD ROUND

• Ryan Benoit vs. Roberto Sanchez 
• 
  

SANCHEZ BY SUB BY THE 2ND 

• Frank Camacho vs. Geoffrey Neal 
• 
  

Just see neal getting the tko by round 2 or 3 

* Edited at 08.26.2018, 10:45 AM ET *

Esparza vs. Suarez
Carla Esparza, DEC
I guess people didn't see Esparza hold her own against Gadelha, hm.

I guess you missed the part where Gadelha fought Esparza with a wrecked knee?

I know MMA math is trash but Imo Wonderboy beat Till. Although a close fight. That being said I feel Woodley defeated wonderboy rather clearly both times. The only advantage for Till here is his size imo. I think Tyron will beat Till in every facet of this fight. I'm also biased as I dislike Till as a person. 

Man just seen footage of till training. He looks really ****en good really dangerous.
Everyone who thinks its gonna b a boring fight will b sadly mistaken.
Time will tell.

Benoit vs. Sanchez
Ryan Benoit, DEC
The

You guys are delusional, Woodley is one of the most overrated champions in the WW division...
People complain about Till getting title shot without deserving it, but remember how Woodley got his shot against fading Lawler? With just 2 win streak against Dong "WHO?!" Kim and close fight against Gastelum who got hospitalized hours before the fight.
After his only last good performance(the Lawler KO) Woodley had 2 fights with WB where nothing happened except for the knockdowns, and one snooze fest against Maia.
"Woodley has wrestling bla bla bla"... well, tell me when was the last time where Woodley used wrestling to win a fight? If you believe he'll do it against Till, just wait and see.
You judge Till over the WB fight? Don't try to do mma math. Watch the Rory fight, it would look worse for Woodley.
He has horrible cardio, he paces himself and fights in bursts to save energy.
Till is superb striker, agressive with great timing and great distance control, he LOVES to push opponents against the cage, and Woodley closes himself against the cage in EVERY fight, because he has soooo much faith in his overhand. But just wait and see what happens when he can't catch the better striker with that overhand right.

Till is going to finish him.

* Edited at 08.28.2018, 7:48 AM ET *

This will be an interesting fight no matter who wins.

Magomedsharipov vs. Davis
Zabit Magomedsharipov, SUB, R1
Davis accepts the short-notice call up.