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Quote: Tyron Woodley Is Scared, He’s Nowhere Near Conor McGregor

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley seems to have opened a huge can of worms. After winning the title by devastating knockout against Robbie Lawler at UFC 201, ‘The Chosen One’ snubbed Stephen Thompson. Looking more towards money fights, Woodley was following the path arguably made popular by the likes of Conor McGregor. ‘Wonderboy’s’ disappointment was

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Following a period of absence in waiting for the title shot Woodley felt he deserved, it’s interesting that he would turn down Thompson’s challenge. Many fans have levied severe criticism towards the new champ, but he’s not the first to look for these kinds of fights. As mentioned, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has been at it for 10 months now. After winning the 145-pound strap from Jose Aldo, ‘The Notorious’ wondered up the weight classes and may never return. The motivation? $$$.

UFC-201[1]

The Difference

One obvious difference between McGregor and Woodley is the latter will put his tile on the line. ‘The Chosen One’ called out Nick Diaz and Georges St-Pierre after UFC 201. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, at the very minimum he’s defending his title. At the same time, Woodley’s choice of unranked fighters further pushes the contrast between legitimate sport and entertainment. Moving in to the new era of ownership for the UFC, the coming months could prove pivotal in the sport’s image going forward.

One fighter who is clearly hoping it remains rankings-based is Thompson. Speaking with our good friends over at Submission Radio, ‘Wonderboy’ sounds a little more blunt and less understanding than when this whole saga began.

Wonderboy

“If I could have gone back, or if I could have gotten him in a room with closed doors, I would definitely let (Woodley) know at that time, you’re crazy. When you were a few months ago preaching how you deserve that fight, you deserve the fight, give it to you when you were ranked number FOUR and they still gave it to you. And now you’re doing this to me? It sounds like you’re a hypocrite, man. That’s just crazy talk. It sounds like to me you’re scared. You’re scared to fight me. Let’s do this, let’s go (laughs). I don’t know what else to say without throwing in a few cuss words.”

“Well as hard as he’s fighting it, it does seem that (He’s scared). If it was just the money – and it doesn’t seem like the UFC’s going to give it to him – okay, I’ll fight the number one contender. But now it’s going crazy. Now he’s throwing racism out there and now he’s just kind of going over and beyond of the whole situation, to be honest with you. And yeah man, it’s starting to seem that way. I mean, you’re the champion, you should be taking all newcomers – especially when you just get that belt. You have the belt of for thirty seconds and you’re already shutting me down, asking for a money fight? It doesn’t work that way pal.”

Thompson says Woodley is not McGregor…

“I knew for a fact that he was gonna say, “yeah man, let’s do it. Madison Square Garden, let’s go”. And then he hits me with the, “nah man. You wanted to fight Robbie, so you’re gonna fight Robbie. I’m gonna get a money fight”. I was like, are you…I was laughing, but in my head I was like, is this guy kidding? This guy’s gotta be kidding. You know, I was looking at Cormier and Cormier was looking at me. He’s like, “I’m pretty sure this guy’s serious, you need to go back at him”. And dude, I was like, what the heck, man?”

“It really surprised me. What champion doesn’t accept the number one contender? You know what I mean? That’s just how it goes. You defend that title a few times before you ever starting asking for a money fight. Come on, what’s going on? I mean, you hear Conor McGregor doing that, but Tyron’s nowhere near the level of Conor McGregor when it comes to marketing and popularity. He’s just not there. I think everybody else, the fans see that as well. And it upset not just me, but a lot of other fans and people who follow the UFC too.”

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Tyron Woodley Says He’s Faced Racial Abuse Since UFC 201

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley really rocked the boat on July 30. Taking less than three minutes to finish Robbie Lawler in the UFC 201 main event, ‘The Chosen One’ literally punched his ticket to the top spot. Just moments after knocking out Lawler, Stephen Thompson challenged Woodley on live TV. ‘Wonderboy’ was shot down

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Following his devastation of ‘Ruthless,’ Woodley mentioned two huge but unranked names. Former welterweight king and MMA legend Georges St-Pierre was on the list, as was fan favorite Nick Diaz. The decision to seek out two of the biggest names in the divisions history was bold, but also met with criticism. Angry fans took to social media to voice their outrage. Thompson seemed upset, but remained professional. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for some of Woodley’s critics on social media.

Woodley Reveals Racist Comments Online

Tyron Woodley spoke about the backlash he’s faced since deciding to call out ‘GSP’ and Diaz on his podcast ‘Morning Wood.’ He says far from simply disagreeing with his choice of next opponent, certain social media users have been racially abusing him. The disturbing statement comes via BJ Penn:

“I can tell you from experience, as a champion, the last three weeks of my life have been completely the opposite of what you’d think it’d be,” Woodley said on his show. “I’ve had so many people say, ‘you p*ssy, you’re scared of this person,’ and I’m like, I just fought an hour ago. I just got the belt! I’ve had people say ‘you should be stripped of the belt’ and actually it’s a month today that I won the belt.”

Negativity

“I’ve had people call me n**ger, and monkey, and all this racist stuff, and I delete these people, then they’ll create another page and just go back out. People are willing to take so many hours of their day to be so negative. Some people, I look at their page and all they do all day is go against African-American athletes and try to racially slur them.”

The power that social media gives certain people is somewhat troubling. The ability to sit behind a keyboard and remain anonymous means bullies get to voice their innermost thoughts and ideas without repercussion. This behaviour is as disgusting as it is unacceptable, but sadly is also nothing new. We can rest easy in the fact Woodley will likely disregard these comments clearly made by unintelligent pond life on social media. Al the same, it begs the question as to whether or not the human race is beginning to devolve at a steady rate.

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GSP: Dana White Doesn’t Know Anything About Me

A rumor surfaced yesterday that legendary former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was supposedly returning to the Octagon to face featherweight champion Conor McGregor in the main event of November’s UFC 205 from Madison Square Garden, and it was supposedly going to be announced on tonight’s ‘UFC Tonight.’ While the announcement fans were waiting for

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A rumor surfaced yesterday that legendary former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was supposedly returning to the Octagon to face featherweight champion Conor McGregor in the main event of November’s UFC 205 from Madison Square Garden, and it was supposedly going to be announced on tonight’s ‘UFC Tonight.’

While the announcement fans were waiting for never came and St-Pierre continued to tease the MMA world about his long-awaited and oft-discussed return, the decorated champion did seem closer than ever to a return after another rumor arrived last week that he would headline UFC 206 from his native Canada. St-Pierre admitted that it wasn’t a coincidence his four-month USADA testing window to re-enter fighting, which began on August 10, would expire on exactly that day:

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence. But it’s in Toronto. Who would be a better man than myself to headline a card in Toronto – Air Canada – get back the Canadian fans, raise the pay-per-view up now that Rory has gone to Bellator.”

Prodded by show co-host Daniel Cormier about just whom he would face in his return, St-Pierre turned the tables on ‘DC’:

“Whoever. I’m glad that you brought it up. Who would you like me to fight?”

But then he addressed the question in full, noting that previously discussed bouts with current welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and a big ticket rematch with Nick Diaz were on his mind. He also added the unexpected name of Demian Maia into the mix after he was impressed by the Brazilian’s dominant submission win over Carlos Condit last weekend:

“Tyron Woodley. I would fight Tyron Woodley. Nick Diaz, I would fight Nick Diaz. Maia looked pretty good in his last fight. I think he, these guys can elevate me. They’re not guys that I’m necessarily supposed to beat, so it’s a big risk, but I’m willing to take the risk because these guys gonna elevate me. To be far in this game, it’s not about who got the biggest balls, so to speak. Sort of, but it’s not about that; it’s not a straight line. You need to know where to go and be able to elevate yourself, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Talk moved on to UFC President Dana White’s suggestion that St-Pierre no longer had the desire to be champion, to which GSP vehemently denied. St-Pierre views this as a sort of negotiation tactic from White, and he said the brash executive would see he truly does want to fight in the first minute of his first fight back:

“He doesn’t know anything about me. I’m a smart guy. I’m not the kind of guy you’re gonna say, “Oh gee, I’m gonna sign it!” and gonna fight for peanut now. I’m a smart person; it doesn’t work on me. But I’m gonna tell him something today, ‘Let me fight once. And you’ll see in the first minute of the fight that is wrong.’”

The all-time great confirmed he did want to be make another run at the title he vacated, and proclaimed he’d prove his desire to be champion against Woodley:

“Yes. Let me fight Tyron Woodley, then we’ll see if I wanna be world champion again.”

At the end of the day, however, he wasn’t mad at White, focusing on the fact that both sides of this potentially huge business deal have to look out for their own respective best interests. Once that game is done being played, St-Pierre noted, the world (and White) will see that he’s truly motivated to make his return:

“I understand what he means. I’m not angry at Dana; he does what he does for the best of his interests, I do what I do for the best of my interests. One day when all of that gonna be over, we’ll probably be friends like most of the guys that I fought. But now, it’s like a game, he’s doing his thing, I’m doing mine, and we’ll work for the best of our interests. But let me fight once, you’ll see. Not once, but after the first minute of the fight, you’ll be like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s serious.’”

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GSP: Dana White Doesn’t Know Anything About Me

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Prodded by show co-host Daniel Cormier about just whom he would face in his return, St-Pierre turned the tables on ‘DC’:

“Whoever. I’m glad that you brought it up. Who would you like me to fight?”

The all-time great confirmed he did want to be make another run at the title he vacated, and proclaimed he’d prove his desire to be champion against Woodley:

“Yes. Let me fight Tyron Woodley, then we’ll see if I wanna be world champion again.”

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This New Rory MacDonald Is…Not Like The Other One

When word arrived last Wednesday that longtime top UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald was leaving the promotion to sign a lucrative new contract with Bellator MMA, it didn’t exactly come as a surprise. MacDonald had hinted at testing free agency on ‘The MMA Hour’ with Ariel Helwani in March, something that was rumored to have, among other

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When word arrived last Wednesday that longtime top UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald was leaving the promotion to sign a lucrative new contract with Bellator MMA, it didn’t exactly come as a surprise.

MacDonald had hinted at testing free agency on ‘The MMA Hour’ with Ariel Helwani in March, something that was rumored to have, among other things, played an indirect part in the UFC’s ban of Helwani and his team at June 4’s UFC 199 from Inglewood, California. But those were just rumors, and MacDonald’s words proved much more direct as he became arguably Bellator’s biggest free agent signee based on whether or not you believe he’s a bigger star than former UFC lightweight champ Benson Henderson, who also signed with Bellator after his last UFC contract was up.

In the days since McDonald’s move was made official, “The Red King” has absolutely taken his former employers to task on a litany of topics, which obviously began with fighter pay, an issue that greatly affected MacDonald in recent years, namely after his UFC 189 war with Robbie Lawler:

“We’re gonna build a great business together. Bellator believes in me; I believe in the company. We’re gonna take it to the next level. We’re gonna take over. We’re gonna take Bellator into Canada and we’re gonna do it big. We’re gonna reinvigorate that market. Those fans are gonna get a proper fight show again.

“The tide is turning. For me, that title fight against Robbie was an eye-opener. It was like, OK we got to the show where you wanted to go, it didn’t work out, but now it’s time to start making some money.”

MacDonald also sounded off about the UFC’s oft-blasted Reebok deal (whom he’s still technically sponsored by), first deeming it ‘boring’ in his initial statement with Bellator and then noting that the UFC didn’t treat fighters with respect in that regard on yesterday’s episode of ‘The MMA Hour’:

“Where I was before, everyone is wearing the same uniforms now, we’re all walking out of the same, boring dressing room or the gate. It’s boring. People are tired of that.”

“I just think the UFC went about it the wrong way. They didn’t really think of the fighters, I don’t think, even though I think they’re trying to make it out like they were. There was no discussion. It was just, okay, this is happening and deal with it, kind of thing. And that’s not very respectful. I don’t think that was a very good move.”

“The Red King” then capped it off by leveling some serious allegations about Lawler’s drug tests for their classic bout at UFC 189, where he said he ‘didn’t want to point fingers,’ but did exactly that:

“I don’t really want to speak too loud about it, but it’s something that really grabbed my attention and I think a lot of people are going to be very interested to hear about this if it actually is true, I have to do my research.

“The fact that whatever happened in there, if this is true, it pisses me right off to my core. Some test results came out four times higher than the limit for my fight with him. It could be bullshit. That’s why we have to look into it. I don’t want to start pointing fingers or anything. Look at that team’s history. It makes me very suspicious but I can’t go out and start saying for sure without making my research that all this is true.”

Now, while it’s no surprise to hear the former title challenger go public with some of the gripes he had that made him leave the UFC in the first place, this new version of MacDonald is undoubtedly unlike the one we’ve seen in the UFC for the past six years.

The former “Canadian Psycho” who quickly rose to prominence beginning as a green 20-year-old did so mainly with his almost Terminator’-like intensity, winning bouts with a quiet, cold, and calculating demeanor that showcased his all-around skillset as rarely hyped fights in the media, choosing to instead move on to the next challenge with an at-times blank stare.

The audible bravado of the Conor McGregors and Chael Sonnens was never “The Red King’s” focus or style. But this new version of him seems to have taken at least a small page out of both of those successful fighters’ books, and he’s using it run his former employer’s reputation through the muck. That’s understandable, with MacDonald making a paltry $59,000 for his fifth round TKO loss to Lawler in the co-main event of UFC 189 last July, a shocking finding that had the entire MMA world up in arms as an overall indictment of the UFC’s fighter treatment practices and also a calling for needed change to come.

MacDonald suffered a badly broken nose in the loss to Lawler, which he nearly finished himself with a third round head kick and onslaught of elbows and punches. The injury was only aggravated in training and then again when he re-broke it in a decision loss to top-ranked contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in Ottawa this June.

He acknowledged that he had to take the time needed to surgically repair his nose, but by that point, you have to wonder if the UFC had the thought that they’d used MacDonald for their purposes, and, as a highly recognizable name with two losses to the Nos. 1 and 2 fighters in possibly their most talent-rich division, he wasn’t worth the lofty asking price he now demanded. It’s hard to argue with that cold kind of logic from a purely business standpoint; MacDonald may be only 27 with the prime years of his career presumably ahead of him, but beneath the surface, he’s also a fighter who has a ton of accumulated miles on his body after starting training MMA at only 14.

The potential returns of his mentor Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz to the 170-pound fray may have also made him expendable to the notoriously cutthroat promotion. The recurring injury is a cause for concern as well.

However, this is a competitor who owns wins over current champion Tyron Woodley (and in dominant style) and No. 3 contender Demian Maia, who has won six straight fights after he tapped out Carlos Condit at UFC Vancouver last Saturday. It could also be argued we didn’t see the real MacDonald against Thompson. He still may have lost to “Wonderboy,” but it just didn’t seem like MacDonald’s true killer instinct was on display in June.

The only confirmation – or disproving – of that theory will come when MacDonald steps into the Bellator cage sometime next year, but easier fights and bigger paydays will undoubtedly await him there. He did admit the UFC was responsible for where he was at, but him throwing some significant shade at the UFC for the things he felt they did wrong could serve to galvanize a fighter base that is searching for a voice to help them make the money they should and be treated how they should be treated.

In that regard, MacDonald’s departure could be a wholly productive one for MMA as a whole, not just the pocketbook that has been decidedly too thin for years now. You also have to wonder if this new style where MacDonald is simply putting the UFC on blast in a public forum while claiming a desire to ‘not point fingers’ is a hint of bitterness at an otherwise illustrious career that fell just short of reaching the absolute pinnacle against the best.

Time will tell, and this new MacDonald is making headlines. He could also fight for two or three years in Bellator, come back to the UFC, and finally win the belt that many had made a foregone conclusion for him after his second UFC affair.

At this rate, however, they may not want him back.

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Demian Maia: I Just Beat The Guy Who Should’ve Been Champ

One week after the record-breaking UFC 202 pay-per-view where Conor McGregor outlasted Nate Diaz in a back-and-forth war, Demian Maia made a thunderous statement with a sub-two-minute submission win over Carlos Condit (watch full highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., August 27, 2016) UFC on FOX 21 from Vancouver, although it may

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One week after the record-breaking UFC 202 pay-per-view where Conor McGregor outlasted Nate Diaz in a back-and-forth war, Demian Maia made a thunderous statement with a sub-two-minute submission win over Carlos Condit (watch full highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., August 27, 2016) UFC on FOX 21 from Vancouver, although it may not have drummed up much attention.

Maia’s style, as perhaps the finest Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner in MMA today, has never been the most fan-friendly. He’s often been known to smother opponents in the early-going of bouts only to gas out later while still maintaining an irreversible top control due to the massive gap in skill he possesses over even most elite MMA fighters on the ground.

But that shouldn’t matter at all, because Maia has won six straight fights in arguably the most competitive and deep division in the UFC. Since returning to his roots of jiu-jitsu following his failed title bid at middleweight where he inexplicably got away from his most natural skillset in an attempt to out-strike his opponents, Maia has never looked more at home. That has him on the cusp of another title shot, this time at 170 pounds versus new champion Tyron Woodley, yet that’s been promised to No. 2 contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

Speaking up at the FOX Sports 1 post-fight show following his statement victory over Condit, Maia said he could see why the UFC may pass Thompson over for him due to his age. If that ends up not the case, then Maia just hopes they sign Woodley vs. “Wonderboy” soon:

“I think so. I respect very much Thompson, he’s a great guy. Of course, I’m much older than him so if they could give it to me first, that would be great.

“If not, I hope they give (it) to him really fast and they decide and I wait to see who wins the fight.”

Maia knows that realistically, however, the fight is most likely going to go to Thompson after UFC President Dana White recently made it clear that Woodley wouldn’t get the “money fights” he wanted with Georges St-Pierre or Nick Diaz that he called out for when he snubbed Thompson mere minutes after winning the belt with a title-clinching first round knockout over Robbie Lawler in the main event of July 30’s UFC 201.

With that being the direction the promotion will probably take, Maia said he’s willing to wait for the winner of Woodley vs. Thompson, because he feels like in Condit, he just beat the man who should have been champion based on his controversial split decision loss to Lawler at January 2’s UFC 195:

“I’ll wait. I can stay active in training and doing my teaching, doing what I do everyday. The guy I fought today is not just a former champion, but he is also a guy that many people including me and I was watching Octagon-side his fight against (Robbie) Lawler and many people including me thought he won and he was supposed to be the champ.

“So what else should I do? I have six wins in a row and that’s it.”

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