Tyron Woodley has revealed how much of his time preparing for a late notice rematch with Jake Paul was spent on the set of a TV show.
The former UFC welterweight champion, who had previously acted in a few high-profile projects, got his big break last year when he was invited to be a part of Cobra Kai season five.
A self-confessed fan of The Karate Kid when he was growing up, ‘The Chosen One’ was over the moon to bag himself a role in the hugely popular follow-up TV series that airs on Netflix.
“The Karate Kid was the reason why I started martial arts in general,” Woodley told MMA Fighting.
“Just being able to start martial arts based upon that film and then what I did in martial arts landing me a role in Cobra Kai, and then I get to work side-by-side with these people I looked up to for so long.”
While filming scenes as Cobra Kai’s Sensei Odell, Woodley got the call for a short-notice boxing rematch with Jake Paul, who picked up a split decision win over him in August 2021.
The 40-year-old immediately jumped at the opportunity to replace Tommy Fury and began squeezing in training sessions between his long days on set.
“I had two weeks to get ready and I was filming 14-hour days,” Woodley revealed.
“When I wrap up on set of Cobra Kai, I was training at 3:00 in the morning for the Jake Paul fight. Then get up, film all day again and then they let my coach come on set so we could train in between if I didn’t have a scene."
Woodley didn’t finish filming for the show until a few hours before he was scheduled to fly to Florida to kick off fight week with ‘The Problem Child’.
“I had to do it. I committed to that so I can’t pull out,” he said.
“So, on Thursday at 2am and they still haven’t filmed my part but I committed to the film. I’ve got to continue to film. Friday, I was supposed to be in Tampa.
“I went from kicking, punching, chopping, and blocking to right in this dude’s face talking s*** in the press conference with no break in between.”
The UFC legend didn’t end up arriving until Monday but soon got into the spirit as he and Paul enjoyed several eventful face-offs before squaring off for the second time.
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However, things went wrong on fight night for Woodley who was brutally knocked out in the sixth round by one shot from his rival who is now set to face Anderson Silva on October 29.
Although things didn’t go his way, Woodley has no regrets and actually feels like he was dominating the rematch until he was caught with a great shot by Paul.
“I was winning the fight. I was bullying him. I was walking him down," he claimed.
“He looked to be tired. He threw a punch at the same time I dropped my hands. I never, ever let myself make that mistake, I [just] left my hand down. That’s all that was.”
It’s currently unclear if Woodley will return to boxing or MMA after his viral knockout loss in December. He’s recently been linked to a fight with Tommy Fury on Floyd Mayweather’s upcoming card in Dubai.
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