Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) outcast Nate Marquardt recently labeled his upcoming opponent, current Strikeforce welterweight contender Tyron Woodley, a "boring fighter" criticizing his wrestling-based style ahead of their 170-pound title fight at Strikeforce: "Rockhold vs. Kennedy" on July 14, 2012.
Undefeated (10-0) in his young mixed martial arts (MMA) career, Woodley has used his outstanding wrestling skills to grind his way to the victory and keep his record mint. On the flip side, six of his 10 wins have come by way of submission or knockout, with five of those finishes coming in the very first round.
So it is safe to say that "T-Wood" is not a one-trick pony.
Responding to "The Great's" comments, Woodley says the solution is simple, if you don't want a "grown man" taking you down, then get back to your feet and keep it there. The former undefeated (48-0) High School wrestling champion also says the criticism shouldn't go to the fighter that is taking his opponent down at will, but to the one who can't stop it from happening.
Check out Woodley's comments on his recent appearance The MMA Hour after the jump:
"Listen to his voice, what I'm saying comes out clear. He is stuttering, he's not even speaking to where he actually believes it. Like I have said before, you know my style, I am not going to sling mud, I do most of my talking in the cage and I have chose to take the high road and I haven't bashed this guy on the steroid abuse or anything and I still won't do it. But I think at the end of the day, one thing that is different between me and him is that he has been in the sport a long time. He has got a lot of fame out there for what he has done good, he also has a lot of fame out there for what he does really bad. So for me, I got 10 fights in the game and as far as I am concerned, no one has really seen what I am capable of. So he can watch my last fight and he can call it boring or whatever, but, I have seen him get dominated badly and I have seen him win greatly. So for me, my game plan is going to be so much more efficient than his is going to be going into the cage because I got more research to work with. So until your underneath, if I'm on the ground, how many times have you seen me getting kept on my back? You know, get up! If you don't want me to lay and pray, stand and strike. For me, its not a knock on the person taking you down at will, it's the person that's on the bottom who can't get to their feet. I don't let a grown man lay on top of me if I want to get up. If you want to get up, get up and if you want it on the feet keep it on the feet. I think you're going to see a little bit of everything in the fight."
A victory over Marquardt would definitely give Tyron his most high-profile win to date, whereas a "W" for Nate would likely catapult him back into the MMA limelight after being out of action since March of last year, a unanimous decision win over Dan Miller at UFC 128.
