Vicente Luque refuses to make the same mistakes against Tyron Woodley at UFC 260 that he did against Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson.
Luque (no. 10) is arguably in the biggest fight of his career against former UFC welterweight champion Woodley (no. 7) on Saturday, March 23. The two men are trending in opposite directions. Luque rides a pair of wins — Randy Brown and Niko Price — while Woodley is on a career-worst three-fight skid (Gilbert Burns, Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman). Luque recently spoke with Fightful and insisted that Woodley has a lot left in the tank.
"I always get ready for the worst situation. I think a guy coming off three losses [and] having everybody doubting him is going to be mad. He's going to be training like crazy and looking to destroy his next opponent. That's what I see in Woodley. I think he's going to go in there and try to get me out of that cage as soon as he can. Come out really aggressive. It's going to be a three-round fight. That's something to look at. I think he held back in five rounds. Maybe he worried about getting tired," Luque said. "It's hard for me to look past a guy that was a champion. Look past a guy that did what he did. Even though he didn't look that great in his last fights."
Luque (19-7) lost a clear unanimous decision to Thompson at UFC 244. It was the Sanford MMA product's first big step up in competition. Luque admits he discredited "Wonderboy", the latter of whom was on a 1-3 skid at the time, heading into the fight.
"It's not losses that you can say, 'He's done.' No way. He still has a lot. That's what I'm ready for. I'm ready for the best Woodley. I think it's going to be a tough Woodley," he asserted. "Just like 'Wonderboy'. People thought 'Wonderboy' was done and I was the guy who had to show everybody that he's not done. He was able to drop me. I'm not going to make that mistake again. I'm going to go out there and be ready for the toughest Woodley ever."
UFC 260 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, March 27. The pay-per-view card is headlined by a UFC heavyweight title rematch between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou. Keep up with Fightful for all your event-related coverage.
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