Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
UFC president Dana White has dealt with a lot of fighters over the years, but he named a former champion as the hardest one.
UFC president Dana White and Tyron Woodley have never been on the best of terms, so it’s no surprise White has said the former welterweight champion is the hardest fighter he’s ever dealt with.
White has blamed Woodley in the past for holding up the welterweight division and never wanting to fight, specifically during his reign as champion.
Talking before UFC 254 this weekend in Abu Dhabi, White told reporters that Woodley had all the potential but his hesitancy to fight made him trouble to deal with.
“I would say the hardest kid that I ever dealt with, and everybody thinks that I don’t like him, it has to be [Tyron] Woodley,” White said. “Woodley’s the hardest kid I’ve ever dealt with. I look at what he could have done and what he should have done.”
Woodley, 38, won the welterweight title in 2016 and defended it three times before losing it to Kamaru Usman in March of last year. “The Chosen One” has since lost one-sided fights to Gilbert Burns and Colby Covington. Retirement has since been suggested by White, but Woodley said he won’t retire and won’t make any big changes to his game.
“Good looking kid, physique, the whole thing, becomes a world champion, has that knockout power, has all the tools and everything else, but it’s just always pulling teeth with him and it’s always about something else other than the fight.”
UFC 254 takes place this Saturday, October 24th, on “Fight Island” and is headlined by a lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje.