Conor McGregor has found his way back into the headlines for everything but his MMA career, but even if he does make it back to the Octagon, there are apparently some stipulations he’s bringing with him. UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley says the 155-pound champ refuses to fight on a pay-per-view with any other high […]
Conor McGregor has found his way back into the headlines for everything but his MMA career, but even if he does make it back to the Octagon, there are apparently some stipulations he’s bringing with him.
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley says the 155-pound champ refuses to fight on a pay-per-view with any other high grossing fighters.
Woodley discussed the word on McGregor’s current relationship with the UFC to MMA Junkie Radio and the demands McGregor is now making as a multi-millionaire following his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather in August:
“From what I hear, if he’s on the card, he doesn’t want any pay-per-view grossing fighters on the card with him. Because he doesn’t want to feed us any more, which I can respect. The dude is the draw. You can hate all you want, but he’s the draw. He’s that dude right now.”
“They’ve kind of opened up the door for Conor to do whatever the hell he wants to. He’s slapping commissioners and doing whatever he wants. The blueprint is kind of set for Conor to have his own set of rules, and then everybody else follows the old-school rules.”
“The people that are going to watch me are going to watch Conor. There are people that watch Conor that might not watch me. So I can see where he’s coming from, in basically feeding us to get pay-per-view. I really don’t have an issue with that.
McGregor hasn’t stepped foot in the Octagon since defeating Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight strap back in November 2016. The aforementioned Mayweather bout proved to be a massive financial windfall for the UFC champion, making his MMA return uncertain at best.
UFC President Dana White said recently that he wasn’t sure if or when McGregor will return, citing the money he had made from the Mayweather bout and the grueling lifestyle of a professional fighter.
In McGregor’s absence, Tony Ferguson is now interim lightweight champion, but there’s no guarantee McGregor’s potential comeback fight would be against him.
Before Daniel Cormier’s debacle of a rematch with Jon Jones at July’s UFC 214, the controversy spotlight was squarely on “DC” himself when he weighed in prior to his second fight with“Rumble” Johnson at UFC 210. Cormier held on to a towel as he weighed in a second time after he missed weight the first time. […]
Before Daniel Cormier’s debacle of a rematch with Jon Jones at July’s UFC 214, the controversy spotlight was squarely on “DC” himself when he weighed in prior to his second fight with“Rumble” Johnson at UFC 210.
Cormier held on to a towel as he weighed in a second time after he missed weight the first time. The light heavyweight champion was clearly using the towel, which was being held by his teammates, to redistribute his weight in order to make the 205-pound limit, and shockingly dropped 1.2 pounds in mere minutes to make weight for the title fight.
It was one of several such strange occurrences during the State of New York’s foray into MMA, which culminated in the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) being wholly blasted for appearing incompetent. Newly-appointed NYSAC executive director Kim Sumbler expressed her thoughts on the ‘Towelgate’ fiasco in an interview with MMA Fighting, and admitted critics had every right to criticize the commission.
“There were mistakes all around there. We learned from it. We changed our policy. We’re making sure that not only does the fighter not touch the towel, but that nobody else touches the towel except commission staff. As you noticed, it was not commission staff who held the towel at the Dan Cormier fight.”
“It was a trial by fire. We got thrown into the pit of snakes. We had the spotlight on us. We had every eyeball in this whole community on us. We were the last state to regulate [MMA]. Every eyeball was on us, waiting for us to slip up. Yeah, that was really hard to take. But again, I have to go back and say, they weren’t wrong. A lot of these criticisms — the people who criticized us — weren’t wrong. So there’s nothing wrong with speaking your mind.
“I’m willing to take the criticism. I’ve got some pretty heavy shoulders and I’m willing to take it. I’m willing to listen. I want people to realize this athletic commission now and this staff right now is really a good staff. We’re a staff that looks at what’s going on, we look at it realistically. We’re not an authoritative powerhouse. That’s not our philosophy any longer. We look at things realistically, we look at what the community wants and needs, we look at what’s right for the fighter and we make our decisions based on that — criticisms or not.”
The NYSAC ended up implementing a new rule six months after UFC 210, making it against the rules for anyone but commission personnel to hold towels while fighters weigh in.
New York has only recently allowed MMA into the Empire State and has had several hiccups since then. Announcing the wrong winner between Tyron Woodley and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson at UFC 205, a bizarre end to Chris Weidman’s fight with Gegard Mousasi, in addition to the aforementioned ‘Towelgate.’
The spotlight on the NYSAC will shine once more this weekend, as the UFC returns to Madison Square Garden on Saturday for UFC 217. Let’s hope they’ve hammered out the kinks going into their second year of hosting MMA as the last state in America to do so.
Back when Georges St-Pierre was welterweight champion of the world, he was a proven box office and pay-per-view draw, especially when it came to the Canadian MMA market. But heading into his middleweight title bout versus Michael Bisping in the main event of November 4’s UFC 217 after four years of semi-retirement, it has begun to […]
Back when Georges St-Pierre was welterweight champion of the world, he was a proven box office and pay-per-view draw, especially when it came to the Canadian MMA market.
But heading into his middleweight title bout versus Michael Bisping in the main event of November 4’s UFC 217 after four years of semi-retirement, it has begun to appear he might not be the draw he once was, the star new owners Endeavor (formerly WME-IMG) expect (or more so, need) him to be.
That and many more reasons behind it seem to be holding back UFC 217, which, with three high-level title fights, was thought to be quite possibly the UFC’s finest major offering of the year in terms of quality fights. Based on ticket sales and overall buzz in the MMA world, that just isn’t the case, and it’s coming at a time when the UFC needs a big PPV hit most.
Take a look at the six concerning reasons no one seems to care about UFC 217:
Kyle Terada – USA TODAY Sports
6. A Middleweight Title Fight No One Asked For
Fans certainly didn’t ask for St-Pierre to return at middleweight while getting an immediate title fight in doing so.
It goes without saying that Bisping’s fellow middleweights aren’t fans of the fight either. There were definitely better and more just options for the champion’s next fight, namely Yoel Romero and Ronaldo Souza, but new interim champ Robert Whittaker knocked them both off in April and July, respectively, only to suffer a serious knee injury while defeating Romero.
That worked out quite well for “The Count.” Bisping has taken it easy since winning the belt, defending the strap once against then No. 14-ranked Dan Henderson.
It may seem to fans that Bisping is hijacking the division with needless title defenses while managing to dodge the dangerous contenders in Whittaker, Romero, Souza, Rockhold, and Weidman.
Tyron Woodley isn’t going to be happy about this one. The currently unpopular UFC welterweight champion made headlines earlier this week when he went off on Dana White, threatening some dirt he didn’t want out in the win after White had heavily criticized his safe UFC 214 win over Demian Maia. Woodley was seriously injured […]
Tyron Woodley isn’t going to be happy about this one.
The currently unpopular UFC welterweight champion made headlines earlier this week when he went off on Dana White, threatening some dirt he didn’t want out in the win after White had heavily criticized his safe UFC 214 win over Demian Maia.
Woodley was seriously injured in the fight, tearing his labrum to earn a medical suspension which was just extended to a full six-month term when it was revealed he needed surgery. A long recovery on the horizon, Woodley recently discussed the prospect of an interim title, noting that would ‘lose it’ if the UFC or anyone else even uttered the term that has become far too prevalent.
But unfortunately for him, that’s just what is rumored to be happening. Even though he and White supposedly squashed the beef, a rumor has surfaced that the camps of both Robbie Lawler and Jorge Masvidal have been approached about fighting for an interim title at November 4’s UFC 217 from MSG. The UFC has not yet confirmed the fight and the bout is just a rumor as of right now.
If it were indeed found out to be true, the booking is a curious one at the very least, because while Woodley may indeed be out for six months or more with his injury, he’s also been the most active UFC champion during his recent run, defending the belt three times in less than a year after winning it from Lawler at July 2016’s UFC 201. He’s also defended it against the clear top contenders, facing Stephen Thompson twice at UFC 205 and UFC 209 and then Maia at UFC 214.
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
But he’s been crying out for a fight with Georges St-Pierre or Nick Diaz while all the while putting on two absolute snoozers in his last two bouts, fights where the MMA community called him out for playing it far too safe in order to keep the belt. By comparison, Lawler only recently returned from his knockout loss to Woodley, defeating Donald Cerrone in a hard-fought decision at UFC 214, and Masvidal lost his latest bout to Maia at May’s UFC 211. Neither has anything close to the recent resumé of Woodley, but both are known to bring the action in the fights nonetheless.
So that may have played into the decision, or the UFC may just want to stack UFC 217, its second straight November card in New York City. Last year’s UFC 205 was obviously a blowout with three title fights, and middleweight champion Michael Bisping is rumored to finally make his next defense against St-Pierre, already putting two title fights on the card.
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has been in several MMA headlines as of late, although it hasn’t exactly been for all the right reasons. The polarizing titleholder was raked over the coals by UFC President Dana White in the moments after his uneventful decision win over Demian Maia in the co-main event of last Saturday’s […]
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has been in several MMA headlines as of late, although it hasn’t exactly been for all the right reasons.
The polarizing titleholder was raked over the coals by UFC President Dana White in the moments after his uneventful decision win over Demian Maia in the co-main event of last Saturday’s UFC 214, after which White rescinded his prior offer of facing all-time great former champ Georges St-Pierre in his return.
That lead to Woodley demanding a public apology from his boss, or else he would release some dirt White ‘didn’t want out in the wind.’ Soon, UFC welterweight Colby Covington was throwing his name into the fire by stating he had ‘dirt that would ruin Woodley’s life,’ an obvious attempt to get his name out on social media and parlay it into a big fight in the octagon.
But White soon revealed that he and Woodley had spoken and were cool, as “The Chosen One” said he was ‘just pissed and didn’t mean it.’ So with that beef supposedly passed, Woodley can now move on to his next title defense, of which he’s had three since winning the title over Robbie Lawler in 2016. There’s just one problem, however, and that’s the fact that Woodley tore his labrum while facing Maia, an injury that he claims led to his performance leaving much to be desired.
He’s going to get a second and third opinion on the injury and hopefully avoid surgery, but the champ told Ariel Helwani on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour that if anyone even mentioned the prospect of an interim title – an all-too-often witnessed situation in today’s UFC – he was going to lose it:
“I’m going to get a second or third opinion on this shoulder, see what I need to do to get back as fast as I can. And if anybody says, utters, mumbles, accidentally says the word ‘interim,’ I’m going to lose my sh*t. Because I fought four world title fights in 12 months, and I was prepared to fight five in 18 months coming out in November. So, I dare somebody to say anything about a goddang interim title. I will lose my top, because I’ve seen athletes injured for years, months, never defended — how many belts has Conor McGregor defended?
“How long has (Michael) Bisping played his freaking [knee] is hurt? Like, be for real. How many months has Carlos Condit been out? Since January of the year before? Why is he still in the rankings? When I beat him, he was in the rankings for 14 months in the top-five with no activity. Let me take three days off — people will be quick to shoot me to the injured reserve list. Let’s keep everything consistent, people. Let’s keep everything equal, let’s keep everything the same. Don’t mention an interim title. I am so going to flip a screw.”
Gary A. Vasquez – USA TODAY Sports
“The Chosen One” is hoping to heal up from the shoulder ailment with only rehab, and when he does, he believes his next rightful contender is unclear. Although No. 3-ranked Lawler got back into the win column with a hard-fought decision win over ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 214 in his first fight back since getting knocked out by Woodley, the champ doesn’t believe that qualifies him for a title shot just yet.
And although he claims that he and “Ruthless” are friends from their mutual association with American Top Team (ATT), Woodley blasted his supposed buddy by saying that Lawler doesn’t deserve a title shot after taking a year off and going into hiding like former women’s champion Ronda Rousey did:
“Why do I fight Lawler? What has he done in this last year besides crawl up in a ball and hide?” Woodley asked. “That’s what Ronda Rousey did. He didn’t do that when he knocked out everybody else. I didn’t do that when I got knocked out. I came back, I shook myself else off, I got myself back up.
“I just don’t feel like someone that’s taken a year off, as much as I know Dana loves Robbie and the fans love Robbie — I love Robbie, Robbie’s a dope fighter, we were friends before that fight, I feel bad that we haven’t really communicated that much since then — but I just don’t feel as if a fighter who I knocked out in 46 seconds takes a year off, (then) comes back and wins a fight kinda close, and jumps right back into the title picture. So, there’s no clear contenders right now.”
While the prospect of another Lawler fight may not be an exciting one for the now-healing champ, there could be a few things wrong with this sort of logic. One, Lawler is an action fighter who, while certainly prone to short bouts of inactivity while saving energy for his patented late-round surges, pushes the action and is greatly respected by the fans for it. That could be just the test Woodley needs to get out of his recent funk of playing it absolutely too safe and becoming one of the most hated fighters in the UFC, even if he has beaten the Combat Club member once before.
Two, Woodley has repeatedly asked for a big-money fight with St-Pierre, who has been out of action since November 2013, or long-gone welterweight Nick Diaz, a popular and polarizing personality who has nevertheless not won a fight since October 2011. Blasting ‘Ruthless’ by comparing his situation to Rousey’s well-documented exile while crying out for fights with past big names with years of combined inactivity seems a bit hypocritical, but hey, anything to get that big payday in today’s star-driven UFC world.
At this point, it’s safe to ask if Woodley should just go full heel and get fans to tune in to hopefully see him lose a la Floyd Mayweather, because he isn’t ever going to win over the fans with his constant whining and entitlement coupled with his barely watchable fights as of late.
Last night, No. 8-ranked welterweight Colby Covington released a tweet offering ‘dirt that would ruin Tyron Woodley’s’ life’ in response to “The Chosen One” demanding a public apology from Dana White for his public trashing of his UFC 214 win over Demian Maia, without which Woodley promised he would release the UFC president’s own dirty […]
Last night, No. 8-ranked welterweight Colby Covington released a tweet offering ‘dirt that would ruin Tyron Woodley’s’ life’ in response to “The Chosen One” demanding a public apology from Dana White for his public trashing of his UFC 214 win over Demian Maia, without which Woodley promised he would release the UFC president’s own dirty laundry.
The tweet came about as a strange voicing of support for the polarizing UFC executive, who seems to have largely fallen out of favor with UFC fighters from Jon Jones on down the roster for a variety of reasons ranging from his head-scratching public humiliations to the more impactful topic of fighter pay and treatment in the promotion.
However, the rising Covington took a different route than we’ve seen from many fighters lately and chose to side with his employer in a dramatic crusade against Woodley. Check out his controversial social media post:
Covington’s somewhat surprising tweet was not surprisingly blasted by at least one UFC athlete, as lightweight Kajan Johnson clapped back that any fighter who chose the company over his own fellow fighter in a situation like this was the lowest form of combatant:
Those fighters that stand for the company against their fellow martial artists are the lowest of the low. #houseninjas#ufc
It’s far from shocking to see a tweet exactly like this during an uncertain period where many fighters cannot even afford to make it through a top-level camp in order to fight in the UFC based upon their low wages and sponsorship money from the UFC’s apparel deal with Reebok.
But Covington apparently doesn’t care about all the fighters who are struggling to simply make it to the octagon.
The rising 170-pound force was contacted by MMAJunkie for a response to the Woodley tweet and the backlash that came with it, and his answer was merely that of a man who is trying to get paid:
“What I would say is, where’s the money?. It’s all about the money in this game. I’m trying to get the No. 1 spot and make a financially better future for me and my family. (Expletive) everybody else.”
Kyle Terada for USA TODAY Sports
‘F—‘ everyone else, indeed, but it’s this kind of attitude that has left a large percentage of the UFC fighter base to stay unable to organize and negotiate for better wages, treatment, and working conditions for themselves, as they consistently maintain a narrowly and inwardly focused mindset that rarely allows them to fight for what they should be getting collectively, rather than just themselves and to a lesser extent, their team.
Anyway, back to Covington’s harsh threat towards the champ Woodley, which he said was “half a troll” and half serious. Overall, Covington said it was just what it obviously appeared to be – a chance to get his name out there and in the mix in an increasingly social media and trash talk-driven MMA world:
“It’s a career move, if you want to call it that,” Covington said. “I’m looking for big fights, and I’ve got to promote and market myself any way I can. If people hate me and want to see me get knocked the (expletive) out, then sign someone the (expletive) up. I guarantee there’s not a man in the world that can knock me out now. It’s just a reminder that I am the No. 1 best fighter in the world right now.”
A bold claim to be certain, but not one we haven’t seen from Covington in one way or another before, as he previously claimed that he ‘tore Woodley in half’ when the two trained at American Top Team (ATT) in the past. Woodley owns an ATT affiliate in his native Missouri, but the fact that he’s not in Coconut Creek full-time has lead Covington to believe Woodley isn’t a true teammate. “Chaos” then took the talk a step up and called him a “fake champion:
“He was here in the beginning, and he has an ATT gym – but at the end of the day, he has what I want. He’s trying to ruin this sport. He needs to know that I’m here, and I want what he has.”
“When I first met Tyron, he acted real fake to me. I just think he’s a shady person. His character is not good. So I’m not afraid to attack his character, because he’s not everything he says he is. He’s a fake champion.”
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
After sustaining an injury and putting on his second straight snoozer in the octagon, Woodley has been called just that, in one form or another, quite a bit in the last two days following his tepid win over Maia. Covington made note of that and went several steps above White’s public bashing of the fight by pointing out, like many have, that Woodley is currently playing it safe and has little gas tank to expend over a full five-round fight:
“I thought it was pathetic,” Covington said. “I’ve got some better footage of him in the gym throwing a strike. It was bad. He fights conservative. He’s not a real fighter. He doesn’t want to get into a tough fight. He’s got no gas in the tank, which is why I think it’s a good stylistic matchup for me. He explodes for one or two punches, but that’s about it. He plays it safe.”
