Once upon a time, in a land known as Omaha, Nebraska, Tyron Woodley (might have) bit Johny Hendricks' finger.

You might say the two were destined for a fistfight ever since.

It feels slightly ridiculous to bring this up 10 years after the fact, but nevertheless, there is an entertaining history behind this weekend's welterweight fight between Hendricks and Woodley at UFC 192 in Houston. The two are familiar with one another, having came from a similar background in collegiate wrestling.

They actually squared off for the 165-pound Big 12 championship on March 5, 2005, in Nebraska. It was Woodley's senior year at the University of Missouri and he entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed. Hendricks was a sophomore at Oklahoma State University, who had wrestled at 157 pounds the previous year.

Hendricks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the opening 20 seconds of the finals matchup. It remained locked at that score until the end of the second period, when "The Bite" was born.

Woodley had hold of Hendricks' right leg, with Hendricks in a sprawl on top of him. As the final seconds of the period ticked off, Hendricks reached across with his left arm and placed his hand in the vicinity of Woodley's mouth.

Rare video of the match shows Hendricks suddenly yank his hand back. A buzzer indicating the end of the period sounds, which allows Hendricks to move away from Woodley and show the referee his left hand. Woodley sits up onto his knees and watches the two talk, and then gestures to the referee that Hendricks' fingers were in his mouth.

Johny Hendricks won his first of two NCAA wrestling championships at Oklahoma State in 2005. AP Photo/Ty Russell

The referee stands and awards a point to Hendricks, who starts walking around the mat and shaking off his hand. Woodley tries to engage the referee, but the conversation ends quickly and he's seen shaking his head in disgust. Some of the approximately 3,500 spectators start to boo.

Woodley went on to score one point in the final period, but eventually lost the match 4-1. Hendricks went on to win his first of two NCAA national titles. Woodley's collegiate career would end in the NCAA quarterfinals.

What does all of this mean today? Obviously, not a whole lot. Both Hendricks (17-3) and Woodley (15-3) laugh about it -- although Woodley used it as a way to try to book a fight against Hendricks this year.

But regardless of its relevance to their fight 10 years later, it's a pretty great backstory, right? Two future UFC welterweights, producing such a rare moment in collegiate wrestling.

How rare, you ask? John Smith has been the head wrestling coach of Oklahoma State since 1992. Brian Smith has held the same position at Missouri since 1996. Neither could remember a single time they had seen an NCAA referee award a penalty point for biting other than in Hendricks-Woodley.

"I've seen it one time," John Smith said. "You go into some little league tournaments, you might see a few more kids getting cross-faced and biting out of fear. But at the college level? You don't see too many bites."

Here's a little more from each of the four men involved in that Big 12 final -- or, if you prefer, "The Bite."

Woodley: I was supposed to wrestle him earlier that year in a dual meet at Oklahoma State. I went there and was pumped up to wrestle him, but he didn't wrestle me that night. They put in his backup. I think they wanted to protect his seed or maybe just not show me his style right before the Big 12 championship. I wrestled his backup and smoked him. I was kind of pissed, because I was ready to wrestle Johny.

Hendricks: That was probably because I got injured. If my alternate ever wrestled and not me, it was because I was injured. I think I pulled my hamstring that year.

Woodley: If you know anything about wrestling, the Big 12 was the toughest conference at that time. There were five teams in the Big 12 and at any given time, those five teams would be in the top seven of the country. So it was a big deal winning the Big 12. I shot a single leg on him and he put three fingers in my mouth to try and pull me off his leg. Then he looked at the ref and said I bit him [and] they awarded a penalty point. It was a changing moment in that match. I was so mad. It was a close match and I was upset about it. I wanted to fight him. I said to the ref, "Hold on, dude, you know me. You didn't even ask me what happened." He just let the match continue. I was still trying to talk to him when he was continuing the match. Mentally, it just took me out of the fight. It was such a big match and that one-point sway was huge.

Hendricks: It was a great match. Other than that, I thought ... I thought he bit me on the wrist. But hell, I don't know. It has been 10 years. It was one of those things, when it happened, I've been bit before. I cross-faced him and whenever I cross-faced somebody in wrestling, I wasn't being nice. I wanted to get him off my leg. I don't remember fishhooking him, and I'm sitting here now thinking to myself, "I wouldn't be that dirty." That's sort of a, pardon my language, a d--- move. But I do know when I cross-faced someone, I would do what it took to get them off my leg.

Brian Smith: That was a big point in the match, but there's nothing you can do once the referee makes that call. [Hendricks] was ripping at [Woodley's face], you can kind of see it in pictures. You really can't see it happen. It was a "he said, he said" situation. I would have hoped the referee would have said, "Hey guys, let's cut it out." Instead, there was a point that changed the match. But you've ultimately got to move on and score more points and win the match. That's what Mom taught me.

John Smith: Yeah, I remember the bite. [He laughs.] Who brought that up? Did one of them bring that up? That might have been what happened, Woodley bit him. I know neither one of them got ejected. I'd say it was probably a pretty intense match. Johny was never known for fishhooking. Through the intensity of the match, some things happen that aren't intentional. Johny was tough, though. He was mean. If there were certain things he wanted to accomplish on the mat, he'd get frustrated if he couldn't get it done. There's a line you draw on cross-faces. You can start to use a little more force than there needs to be and pop someone a little bit. I'm sure that's what happened with him.

Woodley: Hendricks had a reputation for whining and getting the referees involved. It seemed like they were on his side. He didn't need it. He won 90 percent of his matches.

Brian Smith: You know, they used to call [Hendricks] "the bad guy." He wasn't well-liked. Sometimes he got booed. I loved the way he wrestled. That dude would go out on the mat and wrestle 100 mph. I think we only beat him once and that was his freshman year in the Big 12 championships. He would get in your face, ducking you and driving into you. I never thought of him as the bad guy. I think one year he won the national title, it was a controversial match. Fans get fired up over that kind of thing.

Woodley: I was trying to fight him for years. I was thinking about training with Team Quest and I remember telling Matt Lindland, "If you can get me a fight with Johny Hendricks, I will sign with you today." Had we fought back then, I would have been trying to fight him instead of competing against him. I would have been going for broke and that might not have been the best way to fight him. The reason I've started dismissing this story a little is because I had to tell myself I was over that, so that one day, when he was in front of me, I would be able to compete against him, stay cool and stick to a game plan -- not be thinking about the Big 12 title. I was actually supposed to be in his training camp when he fought Georges St-Pierre. I had to do that for myself, to know that I was over it. I ended up getting a call to fight Josh Koscheck and didn't train with Johny, but if it weren't for that, I needed to do something like that to get over it so I could eventually compete against him and win.

Hendricks: I actually didn't know he wanted to fight me for so long. Maybe he has some built-up rage against me, but you know, being a wrestler, I understand the competitive side of it. There are some matches I would love to have back. You can't change the past, though. When somebody holds on to something like that it's sort of ... creepy. [He laughs.] If Tyron Woodley has been holding on to that for 10 years, when is there a difference between creep and being a full stalker? [He laughs.] I make jokes about it because I know Tyron. He's a great guy. It's just one of those things I laugh about. I'm just not that guy. Once a fight or a match is over, I've forgotten about it, but [the media] won't let me forget about it! All of a sudden, you're at your next fight and that's all they talk about. I get it. It's part of a story. But I don't dwell on it.

Woodley: He knows I really don't care about it now. You guys like a story, though. And if I would have gotten the seeding he got [in the 2005 NCAA tournament], it would have put me on the other side of the bracket, which I could argue was the easier side. It could have put me in a position to place higher in that tournament or even win. So I do think it's a great story. Needless to say, it helped get the job done in trying to fight him. Now, I think our skill set -- our power and our wrestling -- I think that's a big enough story that this fight should sell itself.