Did you know former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley was in a mixed martial arts film?
If you answered no, you’re like many fans—until Monday, February 17, when the red-hot Show Me the Money Podcast posted a clip of Woodley in an Indian MMA film. The person in charge of the SMTMP podcast wrote, “This video of Tyron Woodley in an Indian MMA movie can’t be real.” Oh, but it is.
Here is the clip that generated a whopping 1.7 million views in just 17 hours on the SMTMP post alone.
At first, I couldn’t tell if the clip was AI-generated or a fan-created concept video. I reached out to Woodley’s manager, Quincy Dash, via email, and he confirmed, “Yes, it is 100% real from his film Sultan (2016).”
It’s directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and stars Salman Khan. In the film, Woodley plays himself, and he is one of Khan’s rivals. The film doesn’t have an official rating, but it holds a 7.1-star rating on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
This is Earth, so as expected, the comments section was on fire. One commenter wrote: “After losing to this guy, how did he get drafted first for the GFL?”
A second commenter wrote: “Crowd is quieter than the Apex.”
A third commenter wrote: “I’ve seen enough—give Sultan the title shot.”
When this movie was released, Woodley was the UFC welterweight champion. He knocked out Robbie Lawler in July 2016 to claim the title. Woodley then retained the belt in a majority draw with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in November 2016.
In their rematch, Woodley defeated Wonderboy by majority decision, then racked up title defenses against Demian Maia and Darren Till in July 2017 and September 2018, respectively.
Unfortunately, the win over Till was the last victory of his MMA career. Woodley left the UFC on a four-fight losing streak, suffering defeats to Kamaru Usman (losing his title in March 2019 via unanimous decision), Gilbert Burns, Colby Covington, and Vicente Luque.
Despite leaving the UFC on a losing note, Woodley deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and recognized as one of the greatest welterweight champions of all time. His four successful title defenses rank third in UFC welterweight history, behind Georges St-Pierre and Usman.
After the UFC, Woodley lost two boxing matches to Jake Paul, the second one ending in a vicious one-punch KO in December 2021.
Woodley recently signed with the newly formed Global Fight League. I interviewed Woodley in October 2024, and he hinted at his move, making references to what we now know is the GFL.
The roster of the new MMA organization consists mostly of seasoned veterans and legends of the sport. While many fighters have had matchups announced, Woodley’s first fight has yet to be revealed.
The league has a team-based structure, and Woodley is on Team Dubai. We’ll soon find out when Woodley and his team will be in action, as the league is scheduled to start in April.
As for Sultan, consider yourself enlightened with the answer to a bit of random MMA trivia.
