MIAMI – On Thursday, Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley spoke to the media about his upcoming boxing debut on Aug. 28 against YouTube star Jake Paul.
Woodley became a free agent after his last bout in the UFC against Vicente Luque in March. This opened the doors for the former champ to pursue different ventures, and as a result, he will be taking on Paul to settle their differences stemming from a backstage interaction when Paul took on Woodley’s teammate Ben Askren.
While Paul isn’t the same level of competition Woodley is used to facing, he ensures he will not be cutting any corners in preparation for the fight. “It’s always going to be serious,” Woodley told the media in attendance on Thursday. “Why would I get my body training and then only go half at it? I’m going HAM.”
Boxing is something Woodley has always been interested in and now he has the opportunity to throw hands on Showtime pay-per-view. Despite needing to focus on getting his punches sharp, the former champ intends to still train in all areas of martial arts.
“I’m not going to lose my wrestling, my jiu-jitsu, my kicking, and stuff,” Woodley said. “I’m going to do all of that as cardio and conditioning as an auxiliary workout, but boxing is going to be my focus for the next couple of fights.”
Even though Woodley wasn’t always on the best of terms with the UFC, don’t expect the former champ to say anything bad about the promotion where held the welterweight title from 2016-2018. “I’m not going to sh*t on the UFC, guys,” Woodley stated. “I made millions of dollars with them, I was a five-time world champion, me and Dana butt heads a couple of times, but it was some sh*t I did too that I could have done differently.”
At this point in Woodley’s career as a competitor, his focus has ultimately shifted. “I just want to have fun,” Woodley said. “I want to train hard, get better, and I want to have fun. I want to do things on my terms. I want to be the one to call the shots.”
Watch the media scrum video above.
