UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley hasn’t taken well to criticisms of his winning performance against Demian Maia at UFC 214 and he’s ready to retaliate against his boss if he doesn’t get an apology.
UFC President Dana White was not kind to Woodley following the fight and took away a previously promised matchup with Georges St-Pierre. White said that he made the call as the Woodley-Maia fight, which was met with chants of “this is boring” from the Anaheim crowd, was happening.
Woodley disclosed yesterday that a shoulder injury early in the fight led to the conservative strategy White panned during an appearance on “The MMA Hour.”
“I threw my shoulder out in the first round,” Woodley said. “I wasn’t able to throw any damaging shots. For you guys who don’t understand what a labrum tear is, go get on Google or Wikipedia and figure it out, and I still stayed the course, I stayed on path, I stayed on point, I executed the gameplan. I had to reduce all of my shots from overhands, uppercuts, things that were hurting my shoulder, to straight punches.”
With the injury potentially explaining away the unexciting performance, Woodley issued a warning of sorts to White to retract his comments. “You need to be a man, you owe me a public apology,” Woodley said. “And if I don’t get that, I’m going to start leaking some sh– that people don’t want to be out in the wind. I’m not even kidding about that.”
What Woodley intends to leak remains to be seen, but he has certainly drawn a line in the sand. And much like his fight against Maia, Woodley will now wait for his opponent to make the first move.
Hiscoe’s Analysis: For better or worse, engaging in a public feud with Dana White usually isn’t good for one’s career. Tyron Woodley isn’t in a position of power unless the information he wants to leak is especially damaging. But if Woodley has information that can damage Dana White and thus the UFC, that doesn’t help his career much either. I suggested on last night’s “MMATalk for Pro Wrestling Fans Livecast” that UFC keep Woodley on the shelf to allow time for everyone to forget about Saturday’s dreadful performance and for a natural top contender to emerge. If he truly has a torn labrum, then a lengthy layoff is inevitable. Woodley is a world-class caliber fighter, but unfortunately, in his three title defenses, he has one draw that he arguably lost, a close win that was arguably a draw, and a decisive win that had the crowd doing the wave to entertain themselves. Woodley has been playing the victim card often, but he’d be best served to make his statement in the cage next time out.
TUESDAY NOTEBOOK ITEMS…
-Tito Ortiz said on a recent edition of Submission Radio that Ronda Rousey was “hand-fed” opponents and was a “flash in the pan.” He also said that Cris Cyborg is “going to be the face of women’s MMA.”
–Dana White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that he doesn’t expect Ronda Rousey to fight again. “I think people realize she’s probably going to retire,” White said. “That’s not because she had to; that’s the way Ronda Rousey is built.”
-Dave Meltzer at MMA Fighting is reporting that Brock Lesnar fighting before year’s end is highly unlikely. According to Meltzer, sources within WWE say that “Brock is 100 percent at [Wrestle]Mania.” Wrestlemania is scheduled for April 8, after which Lesnar will be a free agent.
-Jose Aldo told MMA Fighting that he is interested in a fight with Cub Swanson to determine a top contender for the Featherweight Championship.
-In response to Tyron Woodley threatening to leak information on Dana White if he doesn’t receive an apology, UFC Welterweight Colby Covington tweeted that he has “some serious dirt on [Woodley] that would ruin his life.”
-UFC 214 prelims averaged 886,000 viewers on FXX Saturday night.
-Frank Mir told “The MMA Hour” that he has been in negotiations with the Chechnyan ACB promotion as well as Bellator.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT ROUNDUP
-Amanda Bell steps in to fight Talita Nogueira at Bellator 182 on Aug. 25 from Verona, N.Y.
-Sara McMann says she will be fighting Ketlen Vieira at UFC 215 on Sept. 9 from Edmonton.
-The following bouts have been made official for UFC 216 on Oct. 7 from Las Vegas.
Lando Vannata vs. Abel Trujillo
Beneil Dariush vs. Evan Dunham
Will Brooks vs. Nik Lentz
Thales Leites vs. Brad Tavares
John Moraga vs. Magomed Bibulatov
Matt Schnell vs. Marco Beltran
Walt Harris vs. Mark Godbeer
NOW CHECK OUT YESTERDAY’S UPDATE: MONDAY NEWS DIGEST 7/31: Anthony Johnson will fight Jon Jones IF… C.M. Punk update, Tyron Woodley on GSP (w/Analysis)
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