Tyron Woodley (19-3, 7 KOs) risks his UFC welterweight championship when he clashes with Kamaru Usman (14-1, 6 KOs) at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada as part of UFC 235.
Usman (+150), a muscular and strong fighter, has great wrestling skills and lots of power in his hands. The Nigerian is currently on a 13-fight winning streak and his latest victory came against Brazilian Rafael Dos Anjos in November when he won by unanimous decision.
Woodley (-190) is making his fifth title defense after winning it from Robbie Lawler back in June of 2016. Since then he’s successfully retained his title in four bouts, with the latest being a win against Darren Till in September at UFC 228 in Dallas.
These are two very well matched-up fighters as Woodley is also very strong and powerful. He’s explosive and powerful and with very good wrestling and ground-control skills. He’s one of the hardest punchers pound-for-pound in the sport so don’t be surprised if he lands a one-shot strike to KO Usman.
Woodley is not only skilled and powerful, but he has a huge will to win and very high fight IQ. If Woodly paces himself and keeps landing quality shots he should be able to win this combat.
That being said, if anyone has a chance and the style to defeat Woodley it has to be Usman. His wrestling skills match very well with Woodley’s and he has enough power to be dangerous during any striking exchanges.
To be successful against Woodley, Usman will need to be a danger on his feet and mix his wrestling skills to tire him out with constant pressure grappling. This is highly unlikely to happen though and if he wins the fight will most likely go the distance and need a verdict from the judges.
Woodley has slightly more power than Usman, and he knows how to pick his shots to land quality and damaging strikes. Although Usman has better wrestling technique Woodley’s likely to win the wrestling matches thanks to his raw strength that makes it very hard to hold him down.
Look for Woodley to successfully defend his title for a fifth straight time winning either by decision or stoppage in the last two rounds.
This fight is the co-main event of the night, one of two title bouts taking place on Saturday. The other one is the main event, which features two-time light heavyweight champion Jon Jones taking on challenger Anthony Smith.
