Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White recently expressed his unhappiness with current Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, saying it’s “always something” with “The Chosen One” when trying to get him to take a fight.
That’s because the promotion desperately want Tyron to headline UFC 233 on January 26, 2019 opposite Colby Covington, though the 170-pound champion is unable to commit to due to a busted up hand. According to Tyron, he never actually said no to competing at the event, all he asked of UFC was to have a few more days to get a doctor’s visit in to get cleared, which could come as early as tomorrow.
But what Woodley finds odd is that every other injured fighter seems to get a pass except for him. Especially when he just defended his title three months ago while some can sit out for a year with little to no criticism from the company.
“If you really listen to what was said (by Dana White), Robbie Lawler wouldn’t mind more time because his knee needs more time to recover. That sounds like an exception and a pass given to Robbie Lawler,” said Tyron on a recent interview on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show.
“Rose Namajunas is not ready to fight because of her hurt neck. That sounds like a pass is given to her. I don’t know if I am misquoting what was said, but If I am saying it correctly, Robbie Lawler tore his knee up in a fight against ‘RDA,’ how long has that been? So it’s been a year, and I’ve had ACL surgery, labrum surgery and every time I have a major surgery that can take six to eight months to recover, I am being pressed to fight in four or five months. Or to not get the surgery at all and just tough it out.”
To hear Tyron tell it, he wants to compete in Anaheim, California, but wants to make sure his hand is okay because should “Chaos” upset him, it will only happen when he’s not at full health. Should that happen, no one will take into consideration that his hand was injured, and Covington will move on and never grant him a rematch with all the bragging rights he can handle.
As it stands, UFC 233 has no main event to speak of, though UFC did indicate that a possible interim welterweight title fight could be set up for the event, which didn’t sit too well with “The Chosen One,” labeling interim title fights nothing but a joke.
As far as Woodley and White, it seems these two will simply never see eye-to-eye.