Paul “Semtex” Daley details how he plans on dealing with the wrestling skills of Tyron Woodley

Strikeforce welterweight contender, Paul “Semtex” Daley has been speaking about how he plans on dealing with the wrestling skills of his July 30^th opponent in Chicago, Illinois, Tyron Woodley, explaining he’s not improving his own skills in that area to compete with “T-Wood” but instead do enough to stop him taking advantage of his strengths.
The following extract was taken from an interview conducted by USA Today.

Moving on, you’ve got Tyron Woodley coming up. He’s a wrestler — how do you stop him from doing what Josh Koscheck did to you?

First off, I don’t think Tyron Woodley’s as good a wrestler as Josh Koscheck. He’s not as big as Josh Koscheck. He is as athletic, but on the technical side, I don’t think he can compete with Josh Koscheck.

People are comparing this to that. People do forget in the Koscheck fight, there are takedowns that I stopped. I think that Josh Koscheck is a higher level than Tyron Woodley, so even if I’m able to stop two of his takedowns or stuff them or stall two of his takedowns back then, I think Tyron Woodley’s going to have a very difficult time taking me down when I’m on form, when I’m 100%.

Wrestlers say it takes years to master their art. How much improvement have you made?

Right. It takes years to master wrestling, but a boxer would not tell you it takes years to learn how to throw a jab. I’m not learning how to wrestle; I’m learning how to defeat a wrestler. Every time I have Kenny in camp, I’m focusing on the same points every time.

So it’s like if I was having a boxing coach come over. Every time I have him in camp, he’s showing me how to jab, he’s showing me how to jab. He’s showing me different variations on the jab.

I’m not trying to be a world-class wrestler. I’m trying to know enough to stop wrestlers taking advantage of their strengths against me. So people will be shocked.

Daley is coming off a disappointing first round knockout loss to the champion, Nick Diaz  earlier this year, coming close to winning the fight and the title himself before getting stopped late on in the fight. Woodley is one of the front runners for a shot at the recently vacated Strikeforce welterweight title after Nick Diaz jumped ship to challenge UFC champion, Georges St. Pierre later this year. He is currently undefeated at 8-0 overall.
By Michael Pepper.