Lloyd Woodard Determined to Get Through Hawn to Fight Chandler
Lloyd Woodard has to win two more bouts in Bellator’s Season 6 lightweight tournament to get a shot at champion Michael Chandler, but he’s not hiding the fact that his sights are set on the titleholder.
Chandler handed Woodard the only loss of his career when they met in April 2011 at Bellator 40. Now Woodard is back in a 155-pound tournament, trying to fight his way to a rematch. His journey is off to a good start, too, as he submitted Patricky “Pitbull” Freire with a brutal kimura on March 23 at Bellator 62.
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On Hawn: “I think Rick Hawn’s a really tough opponent. It’s nice that they got him coming down from 170 to 155. Everybody always thinks that’s a big deal. That’s a little bit more buzz and excitement to that fight. I’m ready to go in there and scrap, just like I fought last time, just like I fight every time.”
On whether calling out Chandler after beating Freire might have disrespected Hawn: “He knows I respect him a lot. I don’t think he felt disrespected. I think he knows what I’m going after. He knows I’ve only lost to one person and I want to kick that person’s ass. I want to whoop his ass. He knows that and he wants to do the same thing. He wants the gold around his waist, but I think I want to kick his ass more than anybody in this tournament and I will definitely kick his ass as bad as I can to kick Mike Chandler’s ass again.”
On being overlooked: “People sleep on me. Each time they see me fight, they’re going to know you shouldn’t sleep on me. I’m not like this underdog they think I am. I actually am a tough kid. If people remember, I fought hard with Chandler. I won that second round. The first round, he beat me and he just outworked me that night, but I ain’t going to let him outwork me again. I have more intensity and more like rush than ever before to get back in there and show him that I’m the man here. I’m coming in there to whoop his ass. He’s going to get it. He’s a nice guy, but your time is done.”
On his mustache as an homage to Montana: “This is where I live and this is what I love. I always wanted to incorporate something from Montana into my fights. When I went to Iowa, it was really big for me. I fought a guy named Alonzo Martinez. I was just like, ‘You know what? The best thing for me to do to show that I’m from Montana is look like I am from Montana. Show up with my big, huge mustache.’ It just happens to be shaped as an ‘M’ so I can say it’s the Montana mustache. It just represents my home and what I really love out here.”
Listen to the full interview (beginning at 58:20).
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