Din Thomas Reveals His Theory On Why Fans Can’t Relate To Tyron Woodley
One former UFC fighter has given his theory on the fact that some fight fans can’t relate to current welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.
Woodley, who is coming off recent shoulder surgery, has stated publicly that he doesn’t think there are any clear contenders in the division right now.
Woodley continues to say that former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is the opponent he wants and that he will tell fighters such as Rafael dos Anjos, Colby Covington, and Kamaru Usman to wait a little longer.
The welterweight champion is all about wanting to take money fights these days and has got into it publicly with UFC President Dana White.
Woodley’s friend, coach, and podcast host Din Thomas went on record recently by saying that race is one of the major reasons why Woodley has yet to get the fans on his side and connect with them.
“He’s not all that relatable to people,” Thomas told the UFC Unfiltered podcast yesterday (trancript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “He’s a wealthy black man that speaks his mind, people don’t like that. People didn’t like Cam Newton when Cam Newton was loud and brash. People just don’t like wealthy, large black men to speak their minds.
“It’s not all racial but let’s keep it real, when there’s a debate or whatever, Presidents wear a certain color tie to appeal to a certain demographic. We can’t try to hide the fact that our skin color has something to do with how people treat you. We can’t hide that fact.”
On the flip side, fight fans around the world have supported UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones despite his personal and legal issues. Thomas believes that Jones is more relatable to people because of his personal failings.
“Here’s the thing, Jon Jones is a lot more relatable because Jon Jones doesn’t come off like he’s great,” Thomas suggested. “My sister-in-law once said to me, ‘Look at Tyron, he acts like he’s better than everybody,’ and she said that not knowing Tyron but just what he puts out there. But Jon Jones can’t because he’s a drug addict and steroids and he’s running pregnant ladies over, so he comes off as human. He has problems and people can relate to that.”
“There’s a lot of different reasons,” concluded Thomas. “Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it comes off as if we’re saying all people don’t like him because he’s black, but I don’t believe that for a second. I just think that’s one of the elements that makes him less relatable.”
