Woodley beats Till to retain welterweight title in dominant display at UFC 228
Tyron Woodley retained his welterweight belt in style by beating Darren Till via second-round submission at UFC 228 in Dallas on Saturday night.
Woodley finished the British fighter, nicknamed 'The Gorilla', with a D’Arce choke inside the last minute of round two – capping an impressive display in which he overwhelmed Till from the outset.
The American set the stage for the denouement by dropping Till with a vicious right hand early in the second round, before pounding away at his stricken opponent and then transitioning to the choke, forcing the UK fighter to tap.
ABSOLUTELY UNLOADING!@TWooodley#UFC228pic.twitter.com/91QuhPDolQ
— UFC (@ufc) September 9, 2018
It was a well-rounded performance from Woodley, who after the bout called out his “haters.”
"There’s a lot of people hating against me but there’s more people with me... It feels awesome. I’m a student of the game.
"Whenever I name a name, I don’t get a good response. Whoever they put in front of me, I’m gonna beat them up,” said ‘The Chosen One’, who moves to a record of 19-3-1.
Till, who was bidding to become only the UK’s second ever UFC champion, after Michael Bisping, conceded that he had been well beaten in the bout at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
"Tyron was the better man, s*** happens. I'm just gutted. There's no excuses. Make no mistake I will come back stronger. The goal doesn't change," said the fighter, 25, who was handed his first professional defeat and moves to 17-1-1.
For Woodley, 36, it was a fourth straight welterweight title defense – currently the longest such streak in the UFC – and the first since he beat Demian Maia via unanimous decision in July 2017.
Elsewhere on the card, Russia's Zabit Magomedsharipov continued his impressive rise in the featherweight division, submitting late replacement opponent Brandon Davis.
UFC 228: Zabit Magomedsharipov continues rise with stunning kneebar win over Brandon Davis
In the women's strawweight bout between Jessica Andrade and Karolina Kowalkiewicz, the Brazilian landed a stunning one-punch knockout that some have hailed as the best ever seen in women's MMA.
