Athletes
Sean Woodson Has A Chip On His Shoulder
Sean Woodson Knows He Needs To Speak Up And Continue Winning To Get His Shot At A Top-15 Fight Sooner Than Later
Sometimes you can believe what you read on the internet. As a skeptic from birth, I couldn’t trust that the story on Sean Woodson’s Wikipedia page that it was a doctor who convinced his mother to let him put some gloves on and fight was true.
But it is.
“I was pestering her and annoying her a bunch for a couple years to box,” recalls Woodson, who faces Fernando Padilla this Saturday in Tampa. “I wanted to box and she was against it and saying it was real bad for me. We were at the pediatrician for a normal school checkup and she just randomly brought it up to the doctor. She was like, ‘By the way, will you tell this boy how dangerous boxing is?’ And that's when he flipped the script on her. (Laughs) He came with this long list of sports that were worse and he was saying boxing is actually pretty safe with the headgear as an amateur, and yeah, she had nothing to say then.”
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Woodson was eight years old. Twenty-four years later, “The Sniper” is still punching people, but now it’s with four-ounce MMA gloves and not boxing gloves, and he gets paid for it these days. He’s pretty damn good at it, too, and on the verge of a Top 15 ranking in the UFC’s featherweight division should he get by Padilla in Tampa.
If he does get that number next to his name on Monday, in his eyes, it’s been a long time coming. If not, it’s not from a lack of trying for the man currently riding a six-fight unbeaten streak.
“At first, I would just focus on winning and getting better and not put much emphasis on the Top 15 and calling guys out and all that,” said Woodson. “But, at this point, with the streak I'm on, I felt like I was more than deserving of a Top 15 opponent. Now that that didn't happen, I know that I’ve got to speak up, I’ve got to start paying more close attention to the rankings and who's in front of me and have these call outs ready. Not even talking so much, but just calling my shot, shooting my shot, and if I don't get it, oh well, the worst they can say is no. So yeah, I'm definitely going to put more emphasis on that, for sure.”
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Mexico’s Padilla is no joke, and from a pure stylistic standpoint, this is a matchup with clear Fight of the Night potential. But he doesn’t have the name value of Woodson’s last two opponents, Charles Jourdain and Alex Caceres. So yeah, the St. Louis native was a bit disappointed at not getting a Top 15 name, but he let that go and went back to work.
Highlight: Sean Woodson Notches First UFC Finish | UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs Rodriguez
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Highlight: Sean Woodson Notches First UFC Finish | UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs Rodriguez
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“I didn't, for a second, think about turning it down or even complaining about it,” he said. “I always said from Day One that I'll never be one of those guys who play politics and do all that. At the end of the day, I'm a fighter and it's my job to fight whoever they put in front of me. But yeah, if anything, it just added more fuel to this training camp, added more motivation and put a little chip on my shoulder. I feel like at this point I've earned a Top 15 opponent or, if not, to be in the Top 15 myself.”
Bottom line, Woodson plans to keep on winning until he can’t be overlooked anymore. And if he can do it in spectacular fashion against a talented foe, he will be under the radar no longer.
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“I feel like this opponent is a guy who's getting overlooked and he's a lot better than what people would assume,” said Woodson of Padilla. “I've had my eye on this dude for a minute. He's one of the toughest matchups in the division for me as far as we're both six-foot-tall featherweights, and when we’re locked in the cage together, there ain't going to be nowhere to go. We're going to be forced to scrap and duke it out and really put on an exciting fight.”
What will mama Woodson say about that?
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“It's a mix,” laughed her baby boy. “My family tells me that if I'm doing good, she's up cheering and fighting with me, but if the fight starts getting tough or something, she starts looking away. (Laughs) Anytime I get punched, they say she starts looking away.”
That’s a mom for ya.
UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley took place live from Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on December 14, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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