New UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is really, really mad right now. Every professional fighter has to have at least a little bit of a mean streak, obviously, but Woodley isn’t mad about his contract or his rank in the division or anything of that sort. No, Woodley is really, really mad at MMA fans.
Weird, right? Not so much, actually.
Tyron Woodley looked like a monster at UFC 201, cold-cocking Robbie Lawler in the first round. Screen grab by us.
See, after his UFC 201 win over Robbie Lawler, Woodley riled up a lot of fighters and a lot of fans by dropping this quote:
“You know, I want to make some money now, to be honest. The goal, one, was to be the welterweight champion of the world, but I’ve put too much time in and I’m away from my family way too often. This is a sport where we can make cash now, so instead of just saying ‘this person deserves it, he worked his way up the ranks’ I think Nick Diaz comes out of suspension in 2 days. I would love to fight him at UFC 202, I know his brother is fighting (there). I think he deserves it. He’s a guy who has been around the sport…I would like to give him that opportunity, or I would like to fight Georges St-Pierre in New York City.”
Fans…well, they weren’t happy about that.
Many accused Woodley of cutting the line for his title fight with Lawler (and that perception didn’t change even after he won) as Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia are both on lengthy winning streaks with big names on their mantel. Telling both of them to sit on the sidelines or take other dangerous fights while he chases dudes that have been missing for years and/or on losing streaks…yeah…not a popular decision.
Woodley, though, doesn’t care whether you like it or not. Here’s what he had to say to fans that are griping about his call-outs on Instagram:
Woodley has been angling for a fight with Nick Diaz for a long, long time. And posted this message on Instagram (@twoodley).
“Look who is in the bottom left saying “I Got Next” after @nickdiaz209 beat #PaulDaley I’m not here by accident people. This is by design. Like it or not “I GOT NOW!” You can say what u like but I’m the #Undisputed @UFC Champion Of the World. Deal with it cause I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. Funny how fans know exactly who I should fight, and who deserves the next shot. Not to mention selectively chose when you want this to be an entertainment and sport.”
Indeed, Woodley has been looking for a fight with Nick Diaz for years now, going all the way back to 2009 when Diaz was the top star in Strikeforce. Woodley vs. Diaz is a fight that very easily could have happened all those years ago, but never quite happened (mainly because Scott Coker was protecting Diaz from potentially getting out-wrestled by some nobody).
The trouble is that Diaz just plain doesn’t deserve a title shot. He has fought just four times in his current UFC run, and has lost three fights in a row to Carlos Condit, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva (though the fight with Silva has since been overturned to a No Contest due to Silva’s failed drug test). While Diaz remains one of Fight State’s favorite fighters…we just can’t conscionably say he should get a title shot!
We also can’t blame Woodley for calling out Diaz, though.
Nick Diaz hasn’t been fighting much and hasn’t been winning much, but is still one of MMA’s biggest names. Photo by Sherdog.
Woodley wants to get himself a fat new contract, some big opportunities, some bigtime cashola and a trust fund for his kids. A fight with Demian Maia isn’t going to do that for him!
Woodley vs. GSP is the money fight to make and if GSP isn’t down to come back, the fight to make is Woodley vs. Thompson. Sorry Nick! We still love you, though.
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