Dana White addresses Tyron Woodley’s race related comments

Recently, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has caught quite a bit of criticism for comments he has made, in which he stated that he has been the worst treated champion in the history of the UFC, and that he believes race plays a role in why certain fighters are portrayed poorly in the media.

Ahead of UFC 208, UFC President Dana White had an opportunity to respond to Woodley’s comments during an ESPN appearance, saying:

“The thing is with Tyron: First of all, he’s a smart guy, he’s a good looking kid, he’s explosive, he’s got knockout power, but he’s a bit of a drama queen,” White said. “I think he means the fans are a big part of it too. When a fight is made – and Conor McGregor is a perfect example – Conor McGregor has that ‘fight anybody, anywhere’ attitude. But (he) doesn’t just have the attitude, he lives it.”

“I’ve stood in front of (McGregor on) 10 days’ notice, and his opponent falls out and he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care. ‘Bring them all, I’m better than everybody. I’m the man. I’m the guy.’ If Tyron Woodley had that attitude, Tyron Woodley would be a massive star – massive star.”

“He does these things where he literally – he’ll say on Instagram when they know who he’s supposed to fight next, he’ll go out on social media and say, ‘I’m not fighting him. I think I want to fight him or this guy or this guy,’” White said. “That’s not what people want to hear. People don’t want to hear that. Then what he does, then, is he’ll start fighting and arguing with people on social media.”

“He wonders why he shows up at a press conference, (and) the whole crowd is booing him. They’re not booing him because he’s black. There’s tons of black guys fighting in the UFC. It’s Tyron. If you look at the guy, he’s the perfect specimen, he’s the perfect athlete that you can get behind and promote until he shoots himself in the foot by doing that type of stuff.”

on 2/11/2017.