Sean Woodson (13-1-1 MMA, 7-1-1 UFC) said he is on “cloud nine” following his TKO win over Fernando Padilla at UFC Tampa Bay on Dec. 14.
“I’m still riding the high,” Woodson told MMASucka a few days after the fight. “Still loving life and trying to live in the moment. But at the same time, I’m excited and looking forward to what’s next. I know I’ve got something big on the horizon.”
Woodson became the first man to finish Padilla in professional MMA. Given that fact, with Woodson’s previous UFC accomplishments, he said a top-15 featherweight has “got to be” next for him.
Woodson has wins over Charles Jourdain and Alex Caceres, both of whom have more extensive UFC experience than Padilla. Caceres was ranked when Woodson was offered the fight, but Caceres lost his ranking between then and the fight.
“I beat him, and I thought, ‘OK, he was No. 15, and I just beat him, so now I’ve got a really good chance of being in the rankings,'” Woodson said. “Then that didn’t happen. Then I was pretty much promised a top-15 guy next after that. I was told I would fight [Edson] Barboza, who’s No. 15. But that didn’t pan out. I technically fought backward taking on Padilla. After I finished him and being the one and only guy to ever finish that dude, and to be on the streak that I’m on right now, I feel like it’s a no-brainer that I get a top-15 guy next.”
Woodson said he would like to fight Giga Chikadze (No. 12), Calvin Kattar (No. 10), Lerone Murphy (No. 11) or Dan Ige (No. 14) next.
To potentially set up his rankings shot, Woodson TKO’d Padilla with two seconds left on the clock of the first round of their bout.
Woodson said he was fighting “mad” and with a “chip on my shoulder” entering the fight, which led to him sitting down on his punches more.
“I was mad from the moment I got offered this fight. I felt like I was fighting backward when I was supposed to be fighting top-15 guys,” he said. “From the jump, I got mad, and I made a conscious decision to hold onto that throughout the entire camp and just bottle it up and bottle it up. I had to set my mind that I was going to use it on fight night. Not only my opponent, but everybody watching in attendance, the UFC matchmakers, everybody, I wanted them all to feel my frustration.”
The results of Woodson fighting mad paid off in spades.
“My coaches were like, ‘Shit, I hope they make you mad more often,'” Woodson said with a laugh. “Truth be told, I’m always looking for stuff like that. I have this undying motivation in me that’s constant to become world champion. Us fighters, I feel like we’re all in agreement when I say this, but we’re constantly looking for more motivation, more fuel to add to the fire. Each and every fight, I’m looking for some more motivation. I’m watching all the interviews. I’m watching my opponent’s social [media] and I’m looking for him to say the wrong things. Anything I can to get some extra motivation to get a chip on my shoulder to help me put in that extra grind and that extra work throughout camp so I’m more than prepared come fight night.”
Woodson posted to his social media that he plans to become a UFC champion by 2026.
He went 3-0 in 2024, and his goal is to go 3-0 once again in 2025.
“Except, all three of the wins would be over ranked opponents,” he said. “In 2025, if I can string together three solid wins against ranked guys, that come 2026, I’ll be one or two fights away from a title shot.”
If all goes well, Woodson envisions he could be fighting for a featherweight title by mid-to-late 2026.
Despite featherweight champion Ilia Topuria saying he wants to move up to lightweight next, Woodson said he feels Topuria may still be the 145-pound kingpin by the time his title shot arrives.
“I ain’t buying it, man. I don’t believe it,” Woodson said. “I don’t think for a second that Topuria is going up to 155. That whole saying, he walks around at 185 or 190 is just so hard to believe. You ask yourself the question, ‘Why would he be saying that?’ I don’t know. I know fighting. I’m 6 feet 2 inches. I know the weight I get up to. I barely touch 180. This dude being damn near 5-foot-nothing. I don’t see him getting that big. Then again, he could have legacy in mind. He just wants to get a title shot against Islam [Makhachev] and go up and challenge for another belt, which all power to him. In my opinion and my gut feeling, come 2026, Ilia will still be that guy.”
In the meantime, while Woodson still has a year-and-a-half’s worth of work to do at featherweight, the featherweight division still has to chug along.
“Next for Topuria at 145 should be running it back with [Alexander Volkanovski]. Give him another crack because of his resume and the work Volk has done. Movsar [Evloev] and Diego [Lopes], run that back. The circumstances behind that fight were funny. I believe Diego took it on last minute’s notice, and even at that, he gave him a run for his money, and it was a pretty competitive fight. Seeing Movsar and Diego run it back against each other, being able to fully prepare for each other, I feel like will clearly map out who’s the number one contender. And then they would fight the winner of Volk and Topuria.”
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