Dana White: Tyron Woodley Is ‘Full of S—‘, Fight Against Nate Diaz Is Not Happening
Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and Nate Diaz both want to fight each other, but that isn’t a matchup that UFC president Dana White wants to see.
Woodley came out earlier this week and said that he anticipated his next fight to come against Diaz later this year. Diaz then said that he hoped Woodley would be his opponent when returning to the UFC in 2018.
Of course, Woodley has been anxious to book a fight against Diaz after reportedly being offered that matchup last year when a main event was needed for UFC 219 this past December.
White shot down the rumored fight at UFC 219 before blasting Woodley for suggesting that Diaz was likely going to be his next opponent. He also added that plans haven’t changed with the UFC targeted Rafael Dos Anjos as the fighter expected to challenge for the welterweight title when Woodley recovers from shoulder surgery.
“He’s full of s–t. That fight was never made. [Tyron Woodley] couldn’t be more wrong. He couldn’t be more full of s–t. It’s absolutely not true. It’s so not true that our lawyer actually his manager up and said he needs to stop saying these kinds of things cause it’s absolutely not true,” White said about Woodley on “UFC Tonight” on Wednesday.
“I wouldn’t bet a nickel on it let alone his house. It’s not true. It’s completely not true and we’re looking at [Rafael] Dos Anjos. Dos Anjos is the fight that we’re looking at for Woodley. That’s the fair fight. He just won a great fight against Robbie Lawler, he looked good and what I love about that fight is I think Dos Anjos will bring it. He will come after Tyron Woodley and it will be a great fight. That’s the fight that’s going to happen.”
As far as Diaz goes, he’s expressed interest in fighting in either May or June but White still doesn’t seem convinced that’s going to happen either.
Here's our full interview with @DanaWhite as he announces the #UFC222 card, addresses the Woodley-Diaz rumors and @FloydMayweather's chances of coming to the UFC! https://t.co/kr7TWez9NL
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) February 8, 2018
The UFC has offered Diaz several fights including matchups against former champion Eddie Alvarez and current interim champion Tony Ferguson but neither of those bouts came together.
“We’ve offered Nate Diaz five or six fights over the last several months and he’s turned them all down,” White said. “I’ve said many times that I don’t see Nate Diaz fighting. Will he fight this year? Maybe he’ll come out and say he wants to fight eventually but no, he’s turned down every fight we’ve offered him.
“I saw the L.A. Times say the other day that Nate Diaz jumps out to try and save [UFC 222] and I told the L.A. Times before they wrote that, that wasn’t true. It’s not true. Yet people love to print stuff and say stuff that isn’t true.”
For now it appears Woodley will have to focus on Dos Anjos while Diaz’s return is still up in the air at this time.
