This past weekend, Jake Paul put a stamp on 2021 by knocking out former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in their rematch, but as with all things Paul, the outcome was not without controversy. After a horrible first five rounds, Paul leveled Woodley with a right hook in the sixth round, face-planting “The Chosen One” and ending the fight; however, given how bad the bout was before then, a vocal minority popped up to declare that the bout was rigged and that Woodley took a dive. Similar proclamations were made the last time Paul and Woodley fought, with many fans saying Woodley refusing to pursue Paul after hurting him in the bout was a sign of a predetermined outcome (as opposed to par for the course for Woodley), but fortunately, this time we have UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping to refute these sort of absurd arguments.
“It’s ridiculous!” Bisping said on his Believe You Me podcast. “Anytime somebody gets beat, knocked out, something like that, these conspiracy theories start going around. There’s no way Tyron Woodley’s gonna do that. Secondly, I’ve seen enough knockouts to know when one is real. That looked f*cking real. The fight wasn’t real. The fight was garbage, it was piss poor, it was sh*t, it was nonexistent. The best thing that happened to Jake Paul was him actually landing – it was just a solid shot. The kid can bang, simple as that. He’s a big, strong, young kid. Boom. That’s not a fix!”
But though it’s clear that the fight was in no way compromised, the fact remains the outcome was still incredibly beneficial for Paul. Up until the finish, the fight was primarily a hugging contest with both men seemingly more interested in clinching than punching. It was the sort of performance that, according to Bisping, could have soured the entire Jake Paul experience had he not pulled the KO rabbit out of his hat.
“Terrible,” Bisping said . “An absolute terrible fight. Unbelievably bad and for all the talk and the opportunity that Tyron had — and I’m not here to talk sh*t about Tyron Woodley. I like the guy, I respect the career that he’s had, and I don’t want to say anything that’s gonna make it awkward when I see him because I will see him soon. But the reality is it was a f*cking sh*t fight from both men. There was a lot of hugging involved and of course the knockout was good for Jake Paul. Of course that’s what everyone wants to get, but he’s lucky that he got that because I think had that gone to a decision and that was the state of the fight, nobody wants to watch either of them two fight ever f*cking again….
“Listen, it was the saving grace, knockout power. That’s what people want to see. People want to see finishes. For whatever reason, it’s a bloodthirsty sport, it’s the finishes, that bit of violence at the end…. People, the masses at large, they want to see someone face down on the canvas and Saturday night, that’s what they got. They paid for what they wanted to see and they all left kind of happy.”
And leaving the fans happy means the Jake Paul boxing experiment gets to live on. Now with a KO win over Tyron Woodley, Paul has only doubled down on his desire to box every notable MMA fighter ever. Following his win, Paul called for bouts with Kamaru Usman, Jorge Masvidal, Nate Diaz, and Conor McGregor, all while throwing heaping piles of shade at UFC President Dana White. They are bouts that would all draw enormous fan interest and sell well on PPV and, according to Bisping, would likely be a far better viewing experience than the Paul-Woodley rematch.
“The problem with f*cking Tyron Woodley, and I say this all the time, in a sport like boxing where all you’ve got to do is throw punches, he doesn’t throw f*cking punches!” Bisping said. “That’s a problem! That’s a problem. He doesn’t throw enough. Diaz would, McGregor would. They might lose but they’d f*cking throw, they’d fight, they’d turn up…. Masvidal would beat him. Nate Diaz, will see what happens next year because that fight probably will happen.”
Diaz has one fight left on his UFC contract and the general belief is that after he completes his UFC contract, Diaz will leave the organization to pursue the lucrative boxing match with Paul. In the meantime, Paul has possible matches with Tommy Fury (who he was originally supposed to face this past weekend before Fury withdrew due to injury) and Anderson Silva as his likely next steps while he waits for Diaz to become available. Woodley, meanwhile, is left without an obvious next step. Previously, Woodley said he wanted to fight four times in 2022, but given what just happened to him, Bisping would prefer that number drop to 0.
“Tyron Woodley, I think Tyron needs to stop now,” Bisping said. “I think he needs to hang it up.”
TOP STORIES
Negotiations. Jake Paul offers $5 million, PPV cut to Jorge Masvidal: ‘You work for the UFC, you’re a b*tch’.
Steer into the skid. Tyron Woodley pays fan $5,000 for best meme depicting his vicious knockout loss to Jake Paul.
Shoot your shot. Beer-spilling fighter who flinched at Nate Diaz wants redemption: ‘I’ll fight his ass for free’.
So say we all. Dana White impressed by Nick Diaz in his return to action but doesn’t want to see him fight again.
Apology. Michael Chandler apologizes for being ‘a little bit too harsh’ when criticizing Dustin Poirier for quitting at UFC 269.
Please, no. Junior dos Santos expected to face Kubrat Pulev at next Triad Combat event in early 2022.
VIDEO STEW
UFC 269 Booth Reactions. The Julianna Peña one is legitimately great.
Jose Aldo’s WEC run.
Best Bellator knockouts of 2021.
Training with Alexander Volkanovski.
LISTEN UP
Fighter vs. Writer. Michael Chandler discusses the lightweight division, End of Year awards.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Moving on up.
Top 5 in the world ..how’s ur rib feeling @GamebredFighter #teamfirstroundvsteamdominance pic.twitter.com/72YcfELQ6T
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) December 21, 2021
Khamzat wants all the smoke.
Let’s gooooo to kill somebody pic.twitter.com/be9ZQZY4Am
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) December 21, 2021
More new entries.
Welcome to the TOP15 ranking of the UFC lightweight ⚔️@ufc pic.twitter.com/tGFNgUSZ8B
— Mateusz Gamrot (@gamer_mma) December 21, 2021
Someone is messing with me pic.twitter.com/QRO6wDLVvH
— Ricky Simón (@RickySimonUFC) December 21, 2021
Mad.
Look at this clown I agreed to fight you February 12 ! and you out here running scared fighting someone else cause you can’t wrestle. Why you scared? pic.twitter.com/ckmE8LueOo
— Krzysztof Jotko (@JotkoMMA) December 21, 2021
Jon Jones salty.
you can’t gloat about turning down a grappling match with the goat. You had the opportunity of a lifetime, now you’re doing interviews about what you would’ve done
— BONY (@JonnyBones) December 22, 2021
Called shot.
@ChaelSonnen doesn’t lie #americangangsta pic.twitter.com/9Y7CUdxgwb
— Josh Thomson (@THEREALPUNK) December 21, 2021
Tremendous.
Who did this?? pic.twitter.com/xDpJfjvNdj
— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) December 21, 2021
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Rena Kubota (12-3) vs. Si Woo Park (5-4); RIZIN 33, Dec. 31.
Bruno Silva (22-6) vs. Alex Pereira (4-1); UFC Fight Night, March 12.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Programming alert for you wonderful folks: there will be no Morning Report Thursday, Friday or Monday, as I’ll be taking time to enjoy Christmas with my family. Those that celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful holiday, and those that don’t, I hope you enjoy your weekend. Thanks for reading and see y’all next Tuesday.
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