Tyron Woodley vs. Eddie Hall is the fight we never knew was possible.

That’s according to the former UFC welterweight champion, anyway. Woodley, 42, has been absent from combat sports action since his post-UFC boxing rivalry with Jake Paul in 2021. Considering the results of those two matches and his final four MMA fights, that’s probably been for the best, as “The Chosen One” has nothing left to prove.

Despite his hiatus from competition, Woodley still has an interest in returning and has stayed around the sport. Whether that’s with commentary gigs in the PFL or his own fight promotion, Woodley doesn’t plan to leave the sport behind. Believe it or not, one of the year’s most viral moments could have involved him had he taken the offer to fight world-famous strongman Hall.

“I’m not down for these three-week notice fights to build somebody else’s name up,” Woodley said on the Overdogs Podcast with Mike Perry (h/t MiddleEasy). “You see the heavyweight dude that fought two motherf*ckers at one time [at] 365 [pounds]? Motherf*ckers asked me to fight this dude on three weeks’ notice in Ireland in MMA.”

Hall, 36, took a fight against two men in June and it was more ridiculous than we could have anticipated those kinds of “MMA things” to be. Hall picked up and power-bombed one of his opponents with one arm before clobbering the other with his free hand. It was like something out of a movie. Imagining Woodley a part of such a spectacle would have been quite the sight, to say the least.

Instead of taking the fight, Woodley has stuck to pursuing other options and claims he was offered some legendary names for more boxing matches.

“I took some time off, and then I had some guys b*tch out,” Woodley said. “I was supposed to fight Floyd [Mayweather Jr.] in June. It was never supposed to be [John] Gotti [III], That fight was me originally. I was supposed to fight KSI in January last year. He flaked out and took Dillon Danis.

“Sh*t, I got offered to fight you, Mike. I’m pretty sure you got offered to fight me. I said, ‘I’m not fighting my dog for no f*cking peanuts. If we was gonna fight for real, we would have fought in the UFC, and that’s a hard-ass fight, he at the top of the game.”

Ideally, Woodley has made it clear he wants to get his hands on some of his fellow former UFC veterans. Most notably, either Nate or Nick Diaz. Meanwhile, names like Mayweather or Diaz recently picked up wins over Gotti for Mayweather and Jorge Masvidal for Diaz.

Okay, okay. The Mayweather-Gotti rematch didn’t have an official winner because it was an exhibition, but the fact that Mayweather is still getting away with those makes him the winner every time and we all know it.

Anyway, during Woodley and the Diaz brothers’ time in Strikeforce and UFC, Woodley never crossed paths with either en route to the welterweight title. Coincidentally, Woodley’s last win came in his final title defense, a second-round brabo choke of Darren Till in September 2018.

Till has also hopped into the ring to box since he left the UFC early last year. So, there’s another — probably more likely — option for Woodley than his proposed Diaz idea. A “Chosen One” can dream.

“Nate and I have already kind of been talked about fighting on several times behind the scenes,” Woodley said. “I thought Nate and I boxing would make a lot of sense. Or to be honest, I really kinda wanna fight Nick.

“Nick was the original O.G. He’s fighting [Vicente] Luque, which is not a great fight for him. Luque… it’s a tough fight.”

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TOP STORIES

Confidence. Shavkat Rakhmonov not concerned about Conor McGregor cutting line to title shot if he wins UFC return

Trouble. Jessica Andrade sues ex-coach for allegedly embezzling $2 million; Gilliard Parana responds

Eyeballs. Chael Sonnen declares Sean O’Malley ‘biggest star’ in MMA over Conor McGregor

Reaction. Gilbert Burns explains why he wasn’t surprised by Belal Muhammad’s dominant title win

Plans. Caio Borralho reveals conversation with Hunter Campbell after Dricus du Plessis callout, promised ‘fun fight’ next

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LET’S WATCH

MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin chats with Joe Lauzon and Carla Esparza.

UFC Vegas 97 Promo.

Greatest fights from Noche UFC (UFC 306) fighters.

Full fights.

Top 5 PFL Playoff 2024 Rounds.

RIZIN 48 Trailer.

Deep Jewels 46 Promo.

Burns Vlog.

Fancy marionette.

Cooking with Volk.

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MORNING MUSIC

Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes!

This month’s full playlist:

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SOCIAL SCROLL DOWN

New ink.

Wildman.

Calm.

SLUMPER.

Prep.

JTT.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ludovit Klein (22-4-1) vs. Roosevelt Roberts (12-4); UFC Paris, Sept. 28

Darren Elkins (28-11) vs. Daniel Pineda (28-16); UFC Vegas 99, Oct. 19

Brady Hiestand (8-2) vs. Jake Hadley (11-3); UFC Vegas 99, Oct. 19

Shara Magomedov (14-0) vs. Armen Petrosyan (8-3); UFC 308, Oct. 26

Farid Basharat (12-0) vs. Victor Hugo (25-4); UFC 308, Oct. 26

Veronica Hardy (9-4-1) vs. Eduarda Moura (10-1); UFC 309, Nov. 16

Jonathan Martinez (19-5) vs. Marcus McGhee (9-1); UFC 309, Nov. 16

Piera Rodriguez (9-2) vs. Josefine Knutsson (8-0); UFC Tampa, Dec. 14

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FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m not sure how much I believe it, but count me in for the absurdity of Woodley vs. Hall.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Get into anything crazy or kept it chill? Let me know! Thanks for reading!

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POLL POSITION

Last Week’s Results:

Friday: 68% of 452 total votes answered “Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler” when asked, “What happens first?”

Thursday: 60% of 377 total votes answered “Yes” when asked, “Did Sean O’Malley have an easy path to the title?”

Wednesday: 57% of 464 total votes answered “No” when asked, “Will Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili go the distance?”

Tuesday: 37% of 376 total votes answered “Alex Pereira vs. anybody” when asked, “What do you expect to headline UFC’s December event?”

Monday: 51% of 346 total votes answered “Yes” when asked, “Can Jiri Prochazka be a champion at middleweight?”

Today’s exit poll:

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If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.