Tyron Woodley is one of the great welterweight champions in UFC history.
He has taken on and beaten some of the hardest hitters in the business, but who gave him the most trouble?
Was it Darren Till, Robbie Lawler or Kelvin Gastelum? None of the above.
That title falls to someone he fought in his strikeforce days.
“The toughest opponent I’ve ever fought was a dude named Nathan Coy,” Woodley told Helen Yee recently.
“He was actually a teammate of mine at American Top Team. The other guys I fought, I just did not perform, or I backed up too much. Or [Nate] Marquardt, I was relaxed for one second too long on the cage and he threw me the elbow buffet.
“But Nathan Coy, I was there,” Woodley continued. “And I was a 100 per cent and I was going hard and he was going hard. And I threw up so bad after this fight. Oh my God it was so hard…. And it was such a close fight.
“I barely won it, but I was fighting as hard as I could and he was fighting as hard as he could. And he’s the only one that I’ve ever fought at the level that matched me.
In his reign as champion, Woodley had five successful title defences and is looking to get back into the title mix after three straight losses.
He takes on Vincent Luque at UFC 260 looking to rubbish claims he’s heading for retirement, but the men he has lost to carry no shame.
Kamaru Usman is now in the discussion for the welterweight GOAT, Colby Covington is a perennial contender and Gilbert Burns just earned himself a shot at the title, too.
Woodley will need to be at 100 percent if he wants to knock off the hungry Luque. Another loss could see his UFC career spiral.
