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Tyron Woodley expects his teammate Jorge Masvidal to be declared the new UFC welterweight champion in his upcoming title bout against Kamaru Usman at UFC 261 on April 24.
Both Woodley and Masvidal train with the American Top Team, one of the most proliferous mixed martial arts gyms in history. The academy has produced over a dozen champions, including Tyron Woodley himself.
Now they expect Masvidal will become the next. Speaking with ESPN's Ariel Helwani, Tyron Woodley shared his thoughts on the title fight and gave some insights into his partner's training routine.
"I'm going to rule for Masvidal to win, but it is very tough. It's very tough to see who's going to win that fight," Tyron Woodley said.
"Masvidal is always dangerous. He's in such a dope spot in his life, you know what I mean. Things have really opened up for him. He's really cleared out, but don't let the hype fool you, like, he's always training. That's one dude who's always training, like, non-stop. He just loves training. I'm very impressed with him coming from a street fighting background and being, you know, in so many MMA fights, and he still wants to train that much all the time," he revealed.
When Masvidal faced Usman for the first time, he accepted the call in less than a week's notice, replacing the original challenger Gilbert Burns, who tested positive for COVID-19.
The lack of time preparing for the fight would be Masvidal's main justification for the loss. But Tyron Woodley thinks it's fair to note that Usman was also not training to fight 'Gamebred.'
"I think for him, the full training camp for [the Kamaru Usman fight] is going to make a world of difference, but you also got to recognize [that] Usman didn't have a full training camp for him either. Usman had a training camp for Gilbert Burns. Or Colby [Covington] or whomever he was supposed to fight. But now, he had a full training camp for Masvidal," Tyron Woodley said.
When Tyron Woodley didn't root for his teammate Jorge Masvidal
Tyron Woodley has revealed that he will always be backing his teammate or any other American Top Team member during a fight.
"I mean, it's hard to say, it's a good fight, you know, I'm always going to root for my dog, Masvidal, unless he's fighting me or, I don't know, a teammate or something like that," Tyron Woodley said.
This has happened in the past when Masvidal faced Ben Askren in a fight that would become the fastest in UFC history. 'The Chosen One' said he was neutral since 'Funky' was a former teammate at Roufusport.
"When he was fighting [Ben] Askren, of course, I'm wasn't rooting for him for that fight, but I just stood back and just prayed nobody got hurt, nobody got injured. I didn't watch the fight. I just kind of let it happen," Tyron Woodley said.
Find out: How much does Jorge Masvidal earn?
