In MMA, losses are simply part of the game, and most fighters eventually have to deal with them. But some defeats can leave a much deeper impact than others. For former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, his unanimous decision loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 in March 2019 was one of those moments.

In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, the 44-year-old opened up about just how severely the defeat affected him, revealing that losing his championship left him struggling with his mental health.

“Rock bottom is when I thought everybody was laughing at me,” Woodley admitted. “I thought the UFC was laughing at me. Usman was laughing at me. During my title reign, I was in a divorce. I had a girlfriend. I had a kid. I had all this stuff.

“I was spending $40,000 a month, being dumb. When I lost the belt, it was like a state of depression where I felt like everybody finally got what they wanted. ’Coz when I was at the top, they can say whatever they want to.”

Woodley had spent years establishing himself as one of the UFC’s most dominant welterweights. After defeating Robbie Lawler for the title at UFC 201, ‘The Chosen One’ successfully defended the belt four times. But behind that successful title reign, he was also dealing with personal problems and an increasingly strained relationship with Dana White.

In 2017, the UFC CEO called Tyron Woodley a “drama queen” over what he described as behavioral issues. Woodley responded by calling himself the “worst-treated champion” in UFC history. Despite the friction, however, he continued winning and built one of the strongest championship runs in the promotion.

That changed when Kamaru Usman took the title from him at UFC 235. And while Woodley had spent years chasing championship success, he admitted that the belt itself had not necessarily felt like the center of his life during his reign.

“But as long as I won, it wasn’t like, ‘One more title,’ ’cause my belt was in my closet, dusty under the shoes,” Woodley added. “I don’t walk around and take showers with my belt. My belt was just f—ing in the closet. When I won, like, another PPV. I’m still the f—ing champion, now what? Right? So it was just the state where I was at.

“So that was kind of my reign. It wasn’t like I’m building a legacy like, kind of Amanda Nunes. All the stuff I won, all those titles, I went three years without losing a round, let alone a fight, right? That was a harvest from the season before, but I had to eat s–t.”

The loss to Usman ultimately marked the beginning of a difficult stretch for Woodley. Before his fight against Gilbert Burns, the former champion had already revealed that the defeat had left him “depressed.”

Tyron Woodley had hoped to emulate Georges St-Pierre and eventually retire as champion, but, sadly, he never won another UFC fight after losing the belt. He went on to suffer three consecutive defeats against Burns, Colby Covington, and Vicente Luque before leaving the promotion in 2021 when his contract expired.

His post-title career therefore unfolded very differently from what he had envisioned. But Woodley also revealed that he did not have to navigate those struggles entirely on his own.  

Tyron Woodley reveals a former UFC champ helped him overcome mental struggles

For Woodley, one of the people who tried to help him through that difficult period was former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. While reflecting on his mental health struggles, the former welterweight champion revealed that ‘Mighty Mouse’ repeatedly tried to help him move past his depression.

“D.J. tried for a long time to put me out of it,” Woodley admitted during the same interview.

Johnson had supported Woodley on multiple occasions while the two were active in the UFC, and their friendship continued beyond their respective title runs. Woodley’s revelation therefore highlights the role that personal support can play when a fighter is struggling away from the spotlight.

Tyron Woodley is also not the only UFC champion to speak publicly about experiencing mental health struggles after a major championship loss.

Alexander Volkanovski has similarly opened up about his mental state after losing to Islam Makhachev for the second time at UFC 294. During the post-fight press conference, the two-time featherweight champion revealed that his depressed state contributed to his decision to accept the fight on short notice, which ended with a first-round knockout loss in Abu Dhabi.

For fighters who spend years competing at the highest level, a championship loss can have consequences that extend well beyond the Octagon. Woodley’s experience is another example of what can happen when the pressure and expectations surrounding a title run continue to affect a fighter even after the belt is gone.