Tag: Tyron Woodley vs Nate Diaz

Tyron Woodley Wants To Punch Dana White In The Face

Recently UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has been in a public war of words with UFC president Dana White. While it’s far from the first time we’ve seen a similar scene unfold, this time, the drama centers on White calling Woodley ‘full of s**t’ when he revealed he had been offered a title fight versus […]

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Recently UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has been in a public war of words with UFC president Dana White.

While it’s far from the first time we’ve seen a similar scene unfold, this time, the drama centers on White calling Woodley ‘full of s**t’ when he revealed he had been offered a title fight versus supposedly returning fan favorite Nate Diaz.

‘The Chosen One’ wants to clear the situation, so he addressed it on his ‘Hollywood Beatdown’ segment on TMZ Sports, clarifying that he didn’t say he had received a contract to face Diaz yet, just that the fight had been discussed in December and once again now:

“I don’t want people to think that I’m full of sh*t, as my boss said. And that I’m making this sh*t up. That a fight with me and Nate was never talked about in December and has never been brought up since then — that is bullshit. It has. Did I get a contract to fight Nate? No, I did not. So, if I’m not thinking about the highest prize as a prizefighter, I am a complete idiot. I should suicide slap myself.”

The discussion stemmed from an interview with ESPN where Woodley stated he thought Diaz would be his next fight, eliciting the harsh reaction from White. But Woodley said he was merely stating his thoughts, and never claimed anything resembling an official agreement had been made – just initial opening negotiations. From there, the champ said, things got a little blown out of proportion:

“I’m entitled to think whatever the hell I want to thin. I didn’t say, ‘Hey, the UFC has a bout agreement, we’re in the process of negotiations, Dana White called me and offered me the fight.’ So everyone took that and they ran through the roof with their perception of what that meant.”

Finally, Woodley said in a somewhat joking segment that he wanted to punch White in the face and wasn’t the only fighter in the UFC who wanted to sock the brash frontman:

“Let’s punch Dana White in the face. I know so many fighters on the UFC roster may have been wanting to do this for a long time.

“You gotta get these hands. Can’t hide behind the black suit and the promotion anymore. You gotta get this right hand.”

Woodley’s clash with White is only the latest in an ever-growing, never-ending list of fighters who have an issue with the longtime president under new owners Endeavor.

With each passing event, White seems to be throwing more fighters under the bus, a baffling instance of counterproductivity considering he’s trashing the athletes who he’s supposed to be promoting and also the athletes responsible for aiding Endeavor in making back their $4.2 billion investment.

Fighter morale seems to be at an all-time low in the UFC as of right now, and Woodley is one of the biggest-name fighters to make his discontent public, although he’s far from the only one. Will White continue to stand in his own – and Endeavor’s – way?

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Rafael Dos Anjos Reacts To Woodley vs. Diaz Fight Rumors

Some potentially major fight news – whether it’s a merited bout or not – is swimming around the mixed martial arts (MMA) world today after Nate Diaz confirmed his shared interest in facing welterweight champion Tyron Woodley sometime this summer. The fight, which has been rumored ever since late last year, has been met with […]

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Some potentially major fight news – whether it’s a merited bout or not – is swimming around the mixed martial arts (MMA) world today after Nate Diaz confirmed his shared interest in facing welterweight champion Tyron Woodley sometime this summer.

The fight, which has been rumored ever since late last year, has been met with a largely derogatory bag of reactions due to the fact Diaz is a career lightweight who owns a less-than-shining 3-3 record at welterweight.

Fans, especially hardcore ones, aren’t necessarily jumping at the chance to pay to watch what they view as a mismatch in Woodley’s favor, and not surprisingly, top-ranked welterweight contender Rafal dos Anjos has joined them. Reacting to the warming rumors to MMA Fighting today, the surging dos Anjos said Woodley is only focusing on money and is willing to take a fight that makes no sense because of it:

“Tyron Woodley is only thinking about money. Of course that everybody wants to make money and needs money, but he’s running away from logic. He’s trying to force his hand and making a fight that makes no sense.”

Dos Anjos elaborated further on his disdain for Woodley’s attempts, noting that Diaz is perceived to be such an easy fight for “The Chosen One” that the champion was willing to forego shoulder surgery and fight him with one arm.

To dos Anjos, Woodley is simply trying to maximize his pay while remaining champion by taking the easiest fight against a more popular but less-deserving fighter:

“He can’t fight in this weight class, and Woodley is trying to force this fight,” dos Anjos said. “(Woodley) was willing to fight Nate Diaz while injured, needing to undergo surgery, because he knows it’s an easy fight and he can win without one arm. I think it’s wrong to hold the entire division like this.”

“He’s trying to get an easy fight and stay on his TV and radio shows as a champion, he wants this status,” he continued. “He doesn’t want to fight someone motivated as myself, someone on a roll. He wants to fight someone that will bring him money. Nate Diaz is more popular than me. I’ve achieved more things than him in my career, but Nate Diaz is more popular, so if this fight happens now it’s not about who deserves it more, but who’s more popular. He definitely wants an easier fight.”

The former lightweight champ also cited the fact that Dana White billed his recent UFC on FOX 26 main event versus Robbie Lawler as a title eliminator, meaning that after dominating “Ruthless,” he had earned the shot while Diaz definitely had not:

“I’ve earned it,” he said. “I’ve heard Dana White two or three times on free TV say that I’m next, and my fight with Lawler was promoted as winner fights for the belt. I don’t think it makes any sense that a win who never won at welterweight to jump the line like this. I don’t think it makes any sense.”

RDA was then questioned about fighting for an interim belt if Woodley did face Diaz, something which he not receptive to entertaining even though he would fight again:

“No. Enough of interim belts,” he said. “I think that if Diaz vs. Woodley happens, it’s for the belt. An interim belt (would make sense) if the champion wasn’t fighting. But that would be a joke. … I want to fight for the belt. That’s what I was promised. But if this guy wants to sit on his belt and not fight, I have kids to raise, family to support, so I’d definitely take another fight.”

In a perfect world, dos Anjos said he’d fight Woodley at UFC 224 in Rio this May, but knows that’s almost certainly off the table with Woodley injured, unwilling to fight him, and supposedly only chasing the money:

“Tyron Woodley and I in Brazil would be great, but the guy doesn’t want to fight me here, in his home, imagine in Rio,” dos Anjos said. “He would never accept something like that as a champion. And I don’t even think he would be healthy to fight in May — unless the UFC pays him very well, because that’s what he’s really going after now: money.”

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Nate Diaz Confirms He’s Aiming For Tyron Woodley Fight

Currently on the sidelines recovering from shoulder surgery, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley recently suggested his next fight would come against absentee fan favorite Nate Diaz in July. The two unlikely opponents were linked to a potential fight at last December’s UFC 219, but negotiations fell apart and “The Chosen One” opted to go under the […]

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Currently on the sidelines recovering from shoulder surgery, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley recently suggested his next fight would come against absentee fan favorite Nate Diaz in July.

The two unlikely opponents were linked to a potential fight at last December’s UFC 219, but negotiations fell apart and “The Chosen One” opted to go under the knife to repair a torn labrum he suffered in his UFC 214 title defense against Demian Maia.

Diaz, meanwhile, recently broke his relative silence by calling out the rest of the UFC lightweight division for dragging their heels while aiming for a possible May or June return to the Octagon.

While many took a believe-when-they-see-it approach to Diaz’ return after he’s been on the sidelines since a majority decision loss to rival Conor McGregor on August 2016, Diaz himself clarified to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that he is tired of not fighting and Woodley is indeed his best option:

“I’m getting to the point where I’m sick of not fighting. I’m not getting any younger. I put that tweet out saying I wanted to fight in May or June, but I didn’t say who because I was weighing my options. And now, Woodley is my best option.

“I see him on TMZ every week, talking about me. I’m like, ‘What the f—? If that’s what you want to do.’ It’s not really my weight class, but I’m with it. I think it’s my title we’re fighting for. If he’s the one calling me out, whose title are we fighting for? Who’s the real champion here?”

As for when he’ll return, Diaz said that July 7’s UFC 226 was a viable possibility because he’d like to fight in Las Vegas, and also wants ample time to prepare:

“I’d like a good two or three-month camp,” Diaz said. “We’ll figure it out. There’s definitely going to be something. I’m trying to fight.”

Diaz also discussed the prior fight rumors between him and Woodley, noting that reports of his desired salary were overblown and his employers denying they had offered him the fight was untrue:

“They called me out of nowhere, when I wasn’t trying to fight nobody,” Diaz said. “They asked if I would fight Woodley and I said, “Well, I’d like a three-month camp.’

“I told them I’d fight him on shorter notice, but would send them what I wanted in the contract. It was nothing out of the norm. My boxing coach said something about $15 million in an interview, but that was never the number.

“Then I saw in the media, the UFC said they never approached me about it. I was like, ‘F— it then. I wasn’t the one asking for the fight.’”

Most thought Diaz was demanding an outlandish payday only to hide the fact that he would only fight McGregor in their long-rumored trilogy bout, but apparently, he wants to squash that talk. In terms of McGregor’s absence from fighting, Diaz believes the super-rich star is riding a rollercoaster of newfound fame and may not know how to handle it:

“He’s just living his life right now and he’s got a magnifying glass on him, whatever he’s doing,” Diaz said. “I don’t give a f— what he does.

“I’m sure he’s up and down. ‘Do I want to be in these lights? Why am I not in these lights? I need to get in the lights. I need to get out of the lights.’ It’s a crazy rollercoaster.”

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Dana White Shoots Down Tyron Woodley vs. Nate Diaz Rumors For Good

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the UFC is actually not thinking of booking current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley against the always-game Nate Diaz. It all started two weeks ago when a report was published on the internet that the promotion was looking to book a title fight between the two fighters for the […]

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It shouldn’t be a surprise that the UFC is actually not thinking of booking current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley against the always-game Nate Diaz.

It all started two weeks ago when a report was published on the internet that the promotion was looking to book a title fight between the two fighters for the main event of the UFC 219 card on December 30.

Woodley started looking for ‘money fights’ as soon as he beat Robbie Lawler for the title back at UFC 201. However, those bouts have evaded him up to this point.

The UFC champion has defended the belt three times against the number one contenders in his division. Now, there is no clear-cut contender for his next title defense, and he wants a big fight that will bring in a lot of money. A fight like that would be against Diaz. However, if you really think about it, the fight makes no sense to book due to Diaz’s recent performance in the Octagon.

Diaz hasn’t fought since losing a decision in his rematch with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor at UFC 202.

It turns out the fight was never even close to being made official by UFC matchmakers, and in fact, UFC President Dana White stated that he never even had the conversation with his matchmakers. This led to him putting the blame on one of his nameless attorneys for going into business for himself.

Here is what he said at Tuesday’s media scrum (transcribed by Sports JOE):

“One of our attorneys here started playing matchmaker and said he has a good rapport with the Diaz brothers and he basically said, ‘what if you could fight Tyron Woodley?’ Me and Sean (Shelby) were like, ‘How does he deserve to fight Tyron Woodley? There’s a fucking list of guys that are waiting to fight Tyron Woodley and this dude’s gonna fight… what are you talking about?’

“So he kind of went off the reservation a little bit and started playing matchmaker. That’s why you started hearing Woodley saying ‘I got offered a fight with Nate Diaz’ and we’re like, ‘No, there was never a fight.’ Woodley’s been talking about, ‘I need shoulder surgery. I need shoulder surgery,’ and then he’s like, ‘I’ll fight Nate Diaz’ and starts calling him out and shit.’ It was a nightmare. None of that was true.”

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