Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Protests are still going strong all over the country as a result of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota, which were only amplified after Jacob Blake was shot and left paralyzed by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin last month.
As a result, the sports world has taken notice…and action. A day of NBA playoffs was postponed after the athletes came together and decided to not play scheduled games on Aug. 26. In turn, several NFL players opted to remain in their locker rooms during the playing of the national anthem.
Now, Tyron Woodley is doing his part. During a recent media scrum to promote his upcoming fight against Colby Covington — which is set to go down this Saturday night (Sept. 19, 2020) inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada — “The Chosen One” answered every question with the same answer “Black Lives Matter.”
Woodley has always spoken out against social injustice, as well as the destruction that riots bring. In 2014, his hometown of Ferguson, Missouri was the center of several nights of unrest caused by looting and riots all over the city after a grand jury decided to not indict Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson, after he shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year old.
Woodley recently told ESPN that he was a bit disappointed with UFC for not doing a bit more like the NBA and NFL did.
“I wish the UFC would do a little bit more; I’m really not happy with that,” Woodley said. “I had a long conversation with Dana White about it when the riots happened at Ferguson. I wanted them to utilize me to show a positive spin.
“Let’s go give back. Let’s go do seminars with these kids. Mixed martial arts is an affordable martial art that they can do. Start doing seminars, bring some of these guests in and have them talk to the kids about life and what martial arts and the discipline has given to them.”
Woodley will continue doing his part as he plans on wearing “Black Lives Matter” on his shorts during his fight against “Chaos,” a man he’s often accused of being racist.