UFC President Dana White did not hold back on his criticism of welterweight champion Tyron Woodley after UFC 214 on Saturday. To be sure, Woodley’s title defense against challenger Demian Maia was anything but spectacular. In fact, the fight was the combat sports equivalent of watching paint dry for the better part of five rounds. That having been said, Woodley did what he needed to do in order to win the fight, having the edge in all five rounds.
At the evening’s post-fight press conference, White was clear in what he thought of the fight, through which fans at times chanted “boring” and frequently booed the fighters’ efforts. “Listen, it’s easy to say a win is a win but when you get booed out of an arena, that means people don’t want to watch you fight” White said. “And that’s how you make a living. It’s not good if people don’t want to watch you fight.”
White also pointed out that the bout set a record — for the least strikes thrown in a welterweight title fight.
Now, Woodley has fired back — and he is demanding a public apology, or else. The “or else” in question? Woodley, speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (via MMAFighting), says if the public apology doesn’t come, he’ll start leaking state UFC secrets.
“I’ve done nothing but be a good model for the f***ing organization” the 170lb champ told Helwani. “I go out there and I fight with integrity. I covered your sport from the FOX desk a week before my fight. I always uphold my responsibilities to the organization. It’s timeout for that.”
“The word behind ‘business’ is ‘man.’ You need to be a man, you owe me a public apology” he stated, in reference to White. “And if I don’t get that, I’m going to start leaking some s*** that people don’t want to be out in the wind. I’m not even kidding about that.”
Just what would Woodley be leaking? “They know what I’m referring to. I’m due a public apology.”
Woodley, who also told the show that he never expected to get the GSP fight (which has since been handed back to middleweight champ Michael Bisping), also pointed to a shoulder injury as the reason for his performance at UFC 214.
“My shoulder popped out, not once, three times in that fight” the champ said. “I felt it the first time, I’ve had a labrum tear before — I’m like, ‘oh sh*t, I think I tore my labrum.'”
No word on what’s next for Woodley, though former champ Robbie Lawler picked up a win at Donald Cerrone at the event. It will also be interesting to see what response, if any, Woodley’s demand gets from the UFC.
