VIDEO | Tyron Woodley Says His “Heart Dropped” When UFC 205 Decision Was Read Incorrectly

Last night, in the co-main event of UFC 205, UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley engaged in a wild, five-round battle with streaking challenger Stephen Thompson. Throughout this classic title fight, both fighters had their moments, as Woodley nearly finished his foe on several occasions, and Thompson dictated the action for the remainder of the encounter. The end result, then, was an extremely close contest, and a very difficult task for the three cage-side judges.

Ultimately, the fight was announced as a majority draw – but not before the verdict was read incorrectly as a split decision win for Woodley. With this result, the champ retains his title, though surely not in the fashion he’d hoped.

In the wake of this bizarre but undeniably thrilling encounter, Woodley spoke briefly with UFC reporter Megan Olivi. In his interview with Olivi, the champ recounted the drama of the decision being read incorrectly.

“It sounds like they said the same numbers both times,” the welterweight champ explained. “When they were calling out those numbers and it took so long, I new it was some kind of split or draw or whatever. So my eyes just closed and I’m just praying that the right decision is made. When they said I won, I wasn’t listening to the scorecard. But when [Bruce Buffer] came back, I thought he was gonna say I lost. My heart just dropped and jumped out of my body. Obviously, I didn’t want the draw. I wanted the victory. But the draw is way better than a loss.” 

Needless to say, Woodley’s five-round war with Thompson was capped off by a pretty stressful experience. Luckily for him, he remained the champ in spite of it.

How did you score Woodley and Thompson’s five-round epic? Let us know in the comments section. Sound off, PENN Nation!