Tyron Woodley

CTL-E-7133 · Person · other · contemporary

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-08005 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7133.

Tyron Woodley (born April 7, 1982, in Ferguson, Missouri) is an American retired mixed martial artist and a former UFC welterweight champion. A two-time NCAA Division I All-American and Big 12 champion wrestler at the University of Missouri, Woodley came up through Strikeforce and joined the UFC in 2013. On July 30, 2016, at UFC 201, he knocked out Robbie Lawler at 2:12 of the first round to win the welterweight championship. His reign ran nearly three years and four successful defenses — a majority draw and a majority-decision win in two fights with Stephen Thompson, a decision over Demian Maia, and a submission of Darren Till — before Kamaru Usman outpointed him at UFC 235 on March 2, 2019. Woodley lost his final four UFC bouts and was released in 2021 with a career record of 19–7–1; he then boxed Jake Paul twice in 2021, losing a split decision and a rematch knockout. Born and raised in Ferguson, Woodley publicly condemned the rioting and looting in his hometown during the unrest that followed the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown.

The record

• Also known as: The Chosen One

Notes

The Thompson majority draw at UFC 205 counts as a successful defense (the title was retained), as the UFC's own athlete page counts four successful defenses. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Woodley's reign was built on patience and one perfect right hand; that he held the belt through the Ferguson years, as a son of Ferguson, gives his record a civic weight beyond the division. Photo: CLEARED — Tyron Woodley by Gage Skidmore.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Sources

• UFC athlete profile, “Tyron Woodley”; accessed 2026-11-04 (primary source · build store)
• Wikipedia, “Tyron Woodley”; accessed 2026-11-04 (build store)

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Record CTL-E-7133 · Combined Graph record U-08005 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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