Joe Rogan on the Stephen Thompson/Tyron Woodley II Decision

Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day! and almost like point fighting you. He's just jabbing you, hitting you with these clean left hands, sliding out of the way, occasionally throwing kicks, but mostly what he's doing is making you wonder what he's gonna do and when he's coming at you. And Woodley had to pick his battles and figure out when he could launch himself at him. So at any moment something could have happened, but a lot of shit didn't happen. So the people watching at home, like that was the most boring fight ever. It's because those moments are so critical. Those moments are so dangerous. You can't just, they would like it to be like Frankie Edgar Grey Manor, just fucking chaos, punches throwing wild, it's not gonna happen like that. You can't do that with Wonderboy. You can't charge at him like that. He will fucking counter you and you look, you will be one of those people on his highlight reel. So Tyrone Woodley was very smart and that he knew that he couldn't charge at him. And Wonderboy, he's not gonna charge at Woodley either. I mean he almost knocked the fuck out in the first fight. He almost got knocked the fuck out in the fifth round of the second fight too. Woodley's a powerhouse man. He hits so goddamn hard. So everybody had to be on their toes. They both had to be minding their P's and Q's. And that translated for a boring fight to a lot of people, but not to me. To me, I was like anything can happen in any moment. In the fifth round it almost did. When Woodley connected and Thompson's knees went out, I mean he slumped. He was out man. He was out for at least a half a second or a moment, you know. There was a moment where his legs gave out, his body went limp. And they could have stopped the fight right there. I'm glad they didn't. I'm glad they kept it going. I talked to Big John McCarthy in the cage after the fight. I go, how close were you to stopping that fight? He goes, I wasn't close to stopping that fight. I go, but you were looking right? He goes, I was looking. I go, you were looking close. He goes, I'll never admit it. I goes, but it was, I mean he was almost out, right? He goes, he was almost out. He might have been out for a half a second, but I gave him a chance. He did a great job. He did an amazing job. I mean that's why Big John McCarthy is so important. A guy with that kind of experience. And if he fucked that up, everybody would be so mad at him. But he did it perfect. It was perfect. He has the most difficult job in the sport other than the fighters. Fighters have the most difficult job. Second most difficult job is the referee. Third most difficult job is the judges. Yeah, I believe so. I think so. Yeah, I believe he's going to interpret the trauma for the other people. Well, he has to be at the right angle. Like they're moving around and they're fast, and they could go to his left, and he could be over here, but something could be happening on their right, and he doesn't even see it. You know, you don't know. Sometimes guys don't see taps. Sometimes guys don't see certain eye pokes or groin shots. There's a lot of things that can happen. A referee's job is insanely difficult, and they only get praise when they fuck up. Or they only rather get attention when they fuck up. They don't get any praise when they do a great job. And just, they need more. They need more people need to understand how difficult that is. So that moment where Tyrant finally did connect on Wonderboy, and everybody's like, why didn't you do that earlier? Because he could have gotten knocked the fuck out. Like that was where the opening was. Woodley was so aggressive because he was down on the scorecards, at least in his corners eyes, and in my eyes he was as well. And he had a charge forward, and he had to connect, and he did. But to make that happen, a lot of things have to be in place. You have to understand Wonderboy's timing. He had been fighting him for four rounds already. He was getting a sense of what Wonderboy could and couldn't do. He also knew the consequences. He'd been tagged a couple of times. So he knew, like, I can't just rush at him. Because Wonderboy was trying to time him with that right hook. He was standing in the southpaw position with his right leg forward. He throws that front leg side kick to the body. He throws it really well. Because he picks it up from the ground, like, low, and it sort of scoops up. So you don't see it coming until it's too late. It might not be the most powerful application of the front leg side kick, but it's very sneaky. Because he slides in with that foot low, and then it comes up and stabs you. And you don't know if it's going to come up as a side kick, or if it's going to go up and over your shoulder as a round kick. You don't know what he's doing. He's so sneaky. So Tyron had to be very cautious. And for a lot of people it was very boring because of that. But I didn't think it was boring while it was happening. I was on the edge of my seat. I was like, there are moments, there's going to be moments when the shit starts flying. And in those moments, that's where the fight becomes amazing. But those guys are smart. They're not dumb. And the belt is so goddamn important. When you have the belt, you get to decide. You fight all the best fighters. You make the money. You get the opportunities for the big money fights, like the Conor McGregor type fights. Those only happen if you have the belt. If you don't have the belt, nobody gives a fuck about you. So for a guy like Tyron, man, that belt is everything. For a guy like Woodley, or a guy like Wonderboy, that belt is everything. If you don't have that belt, you make a fraction of what you make. Think about that fight. That fight's insanely close. It was so close. Dominic Cruz afterwards said, that's basically the same fight as the first fight. If you call the first fight a draw, you could easily call this fight a draw. And I agree with him. So that means that Wonderboy and Woodley are essentially so closely matched, stylistically, that it's a wash. But meanwhile, Woodley's the one who's the champion. Woodley's the one who has the potential to fight Conor McGregor. Woodley is the one who has the potential to fight Michael Bisping, or who else he fights, or whatever weight he fights at. And that is where the money is. So he's the guy who's going to get the money. Whereas Wonderboy, who essentially had a draw with him, proved that he was at least close enough on one fight and just a hair under on the second fight, he's going to make a fraction of what Woodley makes, likely. So those consequences have to be taken into consideration when you're watching these guys fight, is that they know there's a win bonus and there's a loss. Like, if you lose, you get your show money. You don't get a bonus. But if you win, you get twice the money. Like, a lot of guys have, the way their contract is structured, you know, they'll make X if they win, and they'll make X plus X. They'll make X plus X if they win, but if they lose, they only make X. So they might be getting $200,000 for the fight, but another $200,000 if they win. That's a giant swing. That's a big deal. So they have to be really fucking careful they don't make mistakes. I don't like win bonuses, man. I don't like it. I think those guys are trying to win anyway. They're trying to win. I just think, especially in particular in situations like that, when fights are that fucking close. Like, a judge can decide whether or not you make an extra $200,000 or don't. Like, that seems crazy to me.