Dana White Puts Tyron Woodley In His Place With Brutal Callout
Tyron Woodley is sick of all the critics of his lackluster (and controversial) UFC 209 win over Stephen ‘Wonderboy” Thompson, and he isn’t bashful about letting everyone know it.
However, he shouldn’t be surprised when his frequent media foil, UFC President Dana White, fires back with some harsh opinions of his own.
Well-known for blaming racism and the UFC’s poor job of promoting him as reasons for his low popularity, Woodley told TMZ Sports he would be a “tough guy to deal with” in the future after he found it off-putting White actually picked Thompson in their boring close call from Las Vegas last Saturday night:
“”Dana White thought I won the first fight but he didn’t publicly come out and say he thought I won the first fight, so I thought it was a bit distasteful for the promoter to say he thought [Thompson] won the fight. That’s like me coming out and saying as a fighter that I don’t think he didn’t do a good job of promoting the fight. Which I don’t. I don’t think they’ve done a good job of promoting me as champion.”
The polarizing Woodley continues to drum up his own unique version of headlines – for better or for worse – that almost always focus on how others are treating him, something that has fans scratching their heads. Therefore it wasn’t surprising to hear White fire back, also to TMZ, with a hard-hitting, blunt statement urging Woodley to focus on his next performance and remember who the man who calls the shots is:
“”Tyron Woodley came out and said he was going to destroy Thompson and there would be no question he was the champ.
“Well guess what? There’s questions again.
“Let me tell you what…when you have a performance like you did at 209 and you get booed for five straight rounds and then people are booing so loud you can’t even do your interview, you should probably just take your lumps and move on. Get your next fight as fast as you can and try to put that performance behind you. There’s one guy around here who calls the shots and as soon as you learn that, the better off you’ll be.”
Ouch. After much of the pre-fight hype surrounding Woodley vs. Thompson II was fixated on White and Woodley calling each other ‘drama queens’ in the media, this exchange suggests that ongoing saga isn’t likely to end soon.
But as the polarizing exec said, there’s only one man who calls the shots in the UFC. Like him or not, White may have a point about what the hated welterweight champion can do to better his promotion and treatment, yet nothing is guaranteed in the fast-paced, cutthroat UFC world.
The rigors of being champ could just be getting to ‘The Chosen One,’ as even he admitted the pressure is building.
