Entering Round 6–Woodley vs. Thompson
On November 12th, 2016, the UFC held its first event at Madison Square Garden. The c0-main event of the evening was a Welterweight title bout between Champion Tyron Woodley, and challenger Stephen Thompson. At the end of bout, it was announced that the fight was scored as a majority draw. Let’s take a look at a round by round breakdown from Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson from UFC 205.
Round 1:
As per the data collected from Fight Metric, Tyron Woodley out-struck Stephen Thompson 45–1 in the opening round. Woodley caught a kick from Thompson, and took him down. It was on the ground where Woodley did the damage. He landed 14 significant strikes, and caused a cut on the face of Thompson. This was the only takedown Woodley attempted during the entire fight. One of the cage-side judges scored this bout 10–8 in favor of Woodley.
Round 2:
There was a shift in momentum in the 2nd round, as Stephen Thompson seemed to have found his rhythm. Thompson began to land strikes while evading the strikes of his opponent. Tyron Woodley did not land a single strike to the head of Thompson in this round.
Round 3:
This was perhaps the closest round of the fight. The strike differential was slim, as Thompson narrowly out-struck Woodley 10 strikes to 8. This was the only round of the fight where all three judges didn’t agree on who won the round.
Round 4:
This was the most dominant round of the fight, as Tyron Woodley came close to finishing Stephen Thompson on two occasions. Thompson felt the power of Woodley, as he was dropped by strikes twice. Woodley landed a total of 27 significant strikes, where 24 were landed against the head of Thompson. This was the closest the fight was to being stopped. After hurting Thompson with strikes, Woodley secured a guillotine choke that Thompson managed to valiantly escape. UFC commentator Joe Rogan stated that not only was this a sure 10–8 round, but had Stephen Thompson not managed to end the round on top of Woodley, this round could have been scored a 10–7. This was clearly a dominant round, but only one of the judges scored it a 10–8.
Round 5:
After taking much punishment in the 4th round, Stephen Thompson battled back and took control of the final round, as he out-struck Tyron Woodley 21–8.
Final Score:
When the final bell rang, both Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson raised their hands with looks of confusion. Neither looked confident as the fight came to an end. The bout was scored as a majority draw. When looking at the final scores, there are some clear discrepancies. The 4th round was clearly dominant, but only one of the judges scored it a 10–8. According to the stats collected from Fight Metric, we see that Tyron Woodley did far more damage to Stephen Thompson in the 4th round than he did in the 1st round. However, Judge Douglas Crosby scored the 1st round as a 10–8, but scored the more dominant 4th round as a 10–9. If Crosby scored the 1st round a 10–8 based on the damage, strikes landed, and control, shouldn’t he have done the same for the 4th round? Had Crosby done so, his final score would have read 47–46 in favor of Tyron Woodley, which would have awarded Woodley with the victory.
Scoring on Verdict
The first fight between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson was a close bout that went to a decision. As we discussed, the way the bout was scored was quite interesting. There is a chance that the rematch can also go to a decision. On Verdict MMA’s mobile application, you are able to score fights in real-time and compare your scores to those of the actual judges. When a round ends, you are sent notification that prompts you to score a round. A scorecard with a final score is generated at the conclusion of a fight.
