Tyron Woodley makes quick work of Andre Galvao in their Strikeforce fight
Tyron Woodley made quick work of Andre Galvao on Saturday night in San Jose, California. The Woodley vs. Galvao fight was the first bout on the main card of the Strikeforce promotion.
With this bout, the two fighters, who rose from the Strikeforce Challenger series, were looking to move up to the next level in the promotion's welterweight division.
Galvao, a Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner with a record of 5-2 after the loss definitely took a step back with his performance in this fight. On the other hand, Woodley advanced to 7-0
and will most likely be one or two fights away from a title shot.
Tyron came out and landed a strike right away that had Galvao back-pedalling. Galvao shot for the take-down, but Woodley, a collegiate All-American wrestler, sprawled to thwart the take-down
and rained some strikes down on the head of Galvao. The fighters then regained their feet. Woodley then tagged Galvao with a left that sent the Brazilian to the ground, Woodley had to know he was the better striker and refused to engage Galvao on the ground.
Galvao again went for a take-down and Woodley delivered a sharp uppercut that clearly hurt his opponent. When Galvao regained his feet he was obviously hurt and wobbly. Woodley went right
on the attack with two heavy strikes and that was all referee Josh Rosenthal needed to see as he waved the fight off at the 1:48 mark of the first round.
Before this fight, Woodley, a native of St. Louis, said he wanted to make a statement with his striking and he did just that with his heavy hands hurting Galvao with every strike he landed.
This fight showed us that Galvao is not ready for well-rounded mixed martial arts competition. He may have potential that is unrealized, but he showed everyone that he needs more training
on striking and striking defence before he reaches above average MMA status.
I would be very surprised if Woodley did not take a huge leap up in the Strikeforce welterweight division. The division is not the strongest in the promotion and with the August 20 release
of Jay Hieron, Woodley may have moved up to the number one ranking in the division.
In his post fight interview Woodley said he was looking to get back into the cage in December stating, “I don’t think I got a scratch, so I think I should be fine if they want to throw
me back in there in December.”
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