Tyron Woodley is no longer the UFC welterweight champion. After a lengthy reign atop the division, he was dethroned by Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 earlier this month, giving up a unanimous decision after five grueling rounds of action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After such a lengthy time as champion, returning to the welterweight contendership race has understandably been a difficult adjustment for Tyron Woodley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former champion discusses this difficult process in a recent interview with Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It feels weird,” he said candidly. “When you said ‘former champion’ I wanted to turn around and just kind of [mean] mug you a little bit. But you know, it’s a part of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “You never know when you’re going to get another chance at the world title, so when you get to that point and you get defeated, it’s a crushing feeling,” he added. “I’ve given that feeling to a lot of fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “For me, I’ve tried to stay busy. I just came from vacation,” he added. “There’s going to come a day when I don’t have anything to do an I’m going to have to really deal with it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tyron Woodley also reflected on the loss to Usman itself. He maintains that he didn’t feel like himself in the cage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “It’s just something I didn’t see coming,” he said. “It’s a performance I can’t even explain. It was like an out of body experience, like I was just floating. My coaches were trying to fire me up and I just kind of had a blank stare, that’s the best way I can explain it. [Usman] came out and delivered. He stuck to the game plan. He won every round and he did what he needed to do. He remained focused, and he’s the champion now.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n With this tough loss to Kamaru Usman behind him, Tyron Woodley admits he’ll have to return to the drawing board and reassess his goals for the immediate future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Now it’s the road to redemption,” he said. “I thought in my head I was going to beat him, beat Colby [Covington], go get the middleweight belt, and at the end of the year be Fighter of the Year. Obviously God has a different plan for me, and I feel like, with a crushing loss like that \u2014 for myself, I was heartbroken \u2014 I feel like the comeback is going to be so vicious.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you think the future holds for Tyron Woodley after his loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235?<\/p>\n\n\n\n