Woodson, 4-0 as a pro at the time, must have felt far away from the UFC he was supposed to be enjoying, so he didn’t want to be there. It would be another year-and-a-half before he got the call to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series in the summer of 2019, and when he showed up to Las Vegas this time, a flying knee knockout of Terrance McKinney earned him that coveted UFC contract.
And here we are. A fighter who has long operated under the radar, Woodson is 7-1-1 in the UFC, he’s unbeaten in his last seven, and he’s won four straight. Now he’s fighting on a huge pay-pay-view event against one of the division’s best, and as Biggie would say, “Things done changed.”
How To Watch And Stream UFC 314 In Your Country
“I think I’m getting a little bit more of the respect I deserve,” he said. “I felt like I was due for a ranked guy my last outing, but they put me against a guy who was behind me, an up and comer, and I kind of showed where I stand at. There are levels to this game, and I showed that I’m more than ready for a Top 15 guy now. So now that I got Dan Ige, a Top 15 guy, I don’t feel like things have exactly changed and I’m in a new realm yet, but this is definitely the beginning of that. After this fight, it’ll be no doubt that things have changed and I’m on a new level. I’ll be ranked.”
That last fight in December against Fernando Padilla showed just how dangerous “The Sniper” is in the 145-pound weight class. Facing off against the rare featherweight who was comparable in size, the 6-foot-2 Woodson still used his height and reach to pick apart and then finish Padilla late in the first round. It was impressive, because it’s not often that a fighter with significant physical advantages uses them to their fullest. Woodson does, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
