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Et tu, Tyron?
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley, is a longtime friend and training partner of ONE Championship import and fellow 170-pound contender, Ben Askren, to the point where they both refused to compete against one another for the division title.
Not that it matters at this point.
But considering their longstanding relationship, there were some questions left unanswered after pictures surfaced online of Woodley getting chummy with Jorge Masvidal, who wrecked Askren at UFC 239 and set a new knockout record in the process.
Three piece and a snake in the grass?
“I’m a part of First Round Management,” Woodley said on The Hollywood Beatdown. “Jorge Masvidal’s also a part of First Round Management, and so is Jon Jones. So surprisingly, me, Jon, and Jorge have some of the same sponsors. So we were doing a commercial and then Jorge Masvidal was in a shoot with me. We trained so many years together.”
“Now I wasn’t like, ‘Yeah, I’m so happy you knocked my guy the fuck out,” Woodley said. “I’m not thinking that. But I’m thinking like, ‘Am I gonna be mean to him?’ No, I have to do a shoot with him for six hours. We had a four-to-six hour shoot together, we gotta be around each other. I want to have good energy to make it well. A couple pictures were taken, boom, boom, you guys all got on these shirts, looked dope, let’s get the product placement. But then I didn’t think about it: ‘Damn, he knocked out my homie.’ And now, everybody on the Internet like, ‘Oh, my god. You’re not a good friend, dah, dah, dah, dah.’”
Askren was in line for a potential title shot after winning his Octagon debut against Robbie Lawler at UFC 235 back in March; however, “Gamebred” had other ideas, and recently replaced “Funky” in the 170-pound pecking order.
As far as title shots are concerned, reigning champion, Kamaru Usman, is expected to fight Colby Covington if “Chaos” can get past Robbie Lawler at UFC on ESPN 5 next month in Newark, New Jersey. If not, then perhaps Masvidal will get next crack at the welterweight crown.