When news of a potential UFC 219 headline bout between welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and inactive fan favorite Nate Diaz, eyebrows were raised
With Conor McGregor holding the 155-pound to ransom, Georges St-Pierre’s transition from four-year welterweight absentee to gaining an immediate middleweight title shot and interim titles in both classes, it appeared the welterweight division may also be falling victim to a lack of meritocracy in its ranks.
UFC President Dana White spoke to media during a media lunch on Tuesday and rubbished the speculation of a title fight between Woodley and Diaz (h/t BloodyElbow):
“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 f—king 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.”
Woodley quickly sent a response to White via MMAFighting.com. Clearly not impressed with White’s comments, “The Chosen One” was not accepting the UFC President’s side of the story:
“Delusional Dana constantly demotes me as a fighter when the job is to promote his fighters, especially champions,” Woodley said. “Why would I get in camp, and why would Nate give a $15 million purse request if there was no fight?”
“It’s obvious they haven’t found their blockbuster headliner yet. This was a reality, and they know it. The inability to come to financial terms with Nate killed it.”
