Tyron Woodley recently claimed to be the “worst treated champion in history” by both fans and the UFC alike. The welterweight champion says this is a “fact” and it has to do with race.
For his part, Stephen Thompson disagrees with his UFC 209 opponent, who has only been champion for 6 months.
“The guy hasn’t been champion long enough to even feel that way, I believe,” Thompson told Submission Radio. “I mean, to me it seems like the most hated champion would be Bisping, you know what I mean?”
For thompson he says that fan perception may have been altered because of Woodley’s actions, such as publicly declining the rematch, and immediately “begging for the money fight”.
“For me, he hasn’t defended the title like he’s supposed to. So automatically getting that rematch and just looking for other fighters and riding on other people’s coattails, maybe have given him or the fans a bad taste in their mouth.”
“But when it comes to race, that’s stupid. I mean, that’s just stupid. One of the highest paid athletes in the UFC is Jon Jones, and pretty much whatever happened to him, he did to himself. And Anderson Silva on the other hand too. So I don’t get it. You know what, it kind of irritates me cause he’s focused on that when he should be focusing more on the fight at hand, because I don’t want to step out there March 4thand face off against a distracted Tyron Woodley. I fight for the glory and I want to fight the best when I step out there March 4th and I want him to be focused on it. So that’s my two cents on that, and I just think it’s ridiculous.”
Everything said, Wonderboy made it clear that treatment by the UFC may be a completely different situation.
“Maybe that’s where he’s getting all that from – maybe not from the UFC, but from the fans. That’s what I see.”
“On the other hand, I don’t see what goes on from his point of view when he’s negotiating with the UFC. Of course, I’m not there with him during those negotiations or things like that. So maybe, I don’t know, I’m missing something or maybe he sees something different just because I’m not there during his negotiations and chats with the UFC. But from my side, for him to pull that, it’s not necessary.”
Get the latest gear
