Former UFC champion Tyron Woodley has come under fire on social media this week after making a bizarre claim about his time with the defunct Strikeforce promotion.
Woodley, who departed the promotion back in 2021, did so after a stunning run of four straight fights without a win. First dropping his welterweight crown to Kamaru Usman, Woodley would then suffer a decision loss to Gilbert Burns, and back-to-back stoppages to both Colby Covington and Vicente Luque.
Since then, St. Louis native Woodley has not fared much better in professional boxing. Twice, featuring against the controversial Jake Paul, Woodley suffered consecutive losses, the second of which was a brutal knockout. And expected to return to combat sports this year, Woodley inked a deal with the faltering GFL (Global Fight League).
Landing in the UFC back in 2013, Woodley would move following the merger from the defunct Strikeforce outfit — where he competed for welterweight gold in his final outing.
But speaking of his run with Strikeforce on social media, Woodley claimed he was sitting at an unreasonable 0% body fat when on the scales ahead of his debut fight in the cage.
First Strikeforce fight in 2009 when i was 0% (.01) body fat,” Woodley posted on Instagram.
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A host of fans tend to disagree with Woodley’s comments, however. “Even Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t do,” A user wrote — in regards to Woodley’s body fat claim.
He was also blasted for altering his caption on the post. “Dude changed his caption and deleted my comments and other peoples saying it’s physically impossible,” an Instagram user posted.
— THE UFCGUY (@the_ufcguy) May 17, 2025
A third user claimed that despite his dominance in combat sports, in which he landed UFC gold, Woodley was terrified of being called out on social media. “Deleting comments,” A user laughed, adding “Ex-UFC fighter afraid of keyboard warriors.”
This is not the first bold claim from Woodley this year, however.
Woodley claims GFL were set to pay him ‘boxing money’
Leaving the UFC is less than less-than-ceremonious circumstances, veteran wrestler Woodley made the move to GFL this year. But seemingly with that promotion dead to rights already before their launch, Woodley seemed happy with his move.
Ending his eight-year stay in the UFC, Woodley claimed he was receiving money akin to boxers rather than mixed martial arts fighters with his move.
“I like it because the OGs get paid, man,” Woodley told Ariel Helwani of his GFL move. “Getting boxing money in MMA is a whole flex. I’m just excited to be part of the new wave,” he added.
“I’ve been wanting to get back in MMA. I really just kind of put it on pause, I kind of ghosted it for a minute, and it never really ghosted me when I needed it, so I’ve been making the journey back in it. It was a good opportunity. It had some Ric Flair drip with the payout, and it made sense for me,” Woodley explained.
But with the likely collapse of GFL, it seems Woodley’s future in combat sports is now up in the air. Once more.
