It wasn’t outlandish before UFC 235 to think that Kamaru Usman could dethrone Tyron Woodley and capture the UFC welterweight title.
But few could have imagined the way things actually went down.
In one of the most one-sided title changes in recent memory, Usman dominated Woodley from pillar to post on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, using his relentless pressure and suffocating wrestling to sweep the judges’ scorecards and introduce himself as the new king of the UFC’s welterweight division. It was a masterclass performance in every sense of the word, but for coach Henri Hooft, who watched Usman rack up a flawless Octagon record en route to his first title opportunity, UFC 235 was just business as usual.