Tyron Woodley explains how he squashed his beef with Dana White

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the blockbuster UFC 214, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley defended his title with a decision defeat of grappling whiz Demian Maia. Unfortunately, this win was not especially thrilling, and it generated some backlash from the MMA community – including UFC President Dana White.

Having heard White’s criticisms, Woodley went off on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, threatening to leak sensitive information about the UFC and its president if he didn’t receive a public apology. Luckily, things seem to have cooled off, as Woodley and White have managed to squash their beef.

Woodley recounted his beef-killing phone call with White in an interview with ESPN (via MMAFighting.com).

“There was some yelling back and forth,” he said. “At the end of the conversation, I felt pretty comfortable. It ended on a positive note. Two men can talk on the phone and maybe not agree on everything, but at least respect each other.”

While Woodley says he still feels White should apologize, he doesn’t expect that to happen, and is now ready to move forward.

“I still feel he should apologize publicly, but I’m not going to hold my breath,” the welterweight champ said. “The conversation ended with respect and that was really my goal. Dana knows all about talking off emotion. I went a little [crazy] and was talking off emotion, too. Did I really plan on leaking stuff? Probably not. But at the time, I was mad and it sounded good.”

Woodley also defended his UFC 214 performance against Maia.

“I don’t fight safe, I fight smart,” he said. “I’ve watched the fight several times and I feel the same way I did when I walked out of the cage.”

What do you make of this difference of opinion between UFC President Dana White and UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/2/2017.