The Woodley Hate: Origins

[acannxr]

After looking at the thread here of Din Thomas trying to explain Woodley's unpopularity, I've decided to spend some time looking back on the last several years of Woodley's career to try and pinpoint when the fans began turning on him to attempt to isolate the true reason for the hate he receives (or perceives to receive).

TLDR:

Spoiler

Woodley was arguably justified and could be defended of his actions leading up to his call out of Diaz/GSP after knocking out Lawler, but he forever ruined his first impression to most of the fans as champion when he called out those retired/inactive fighters; his subsequent headlines in the media demonstrated his inability to accept responsibility and understand how he caused the fans to turn against him.

2015
​

Woodley fights Gastelum, the latter of whom misses weight; Woodley wins via split decision and opts not to take Gastelum's money; minority of fans attempt to argue that Gastelum won, but most agree that Woodley was the winner and Woodley receives a massive amount of praise for giving Gastelum his money back. Woodley empathizing with Gastelum possibly needing that money wins Woodley tons of support and new fans.

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/1/...odley-split-decision-kelvin-gastelum#comments

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/2/...y-kelvin-gastelum-post-fight-press-conference

​

Woodley expresses his frustration over the ranking system and matchmaking.

"I'm tired of this, man," he laments. "It's at the point where I don't want to sound like I'm whining and complaining, but why do we have a rankings system? You have a no. 5 welterweight whose fought back-to-back no. 1 contender fights and has never beaten a top 10 welterweight ever. [Brown] beat Erick Silva and he beat Jordan Mein, which are tough guys. I'm taking nothing from those guys, but they're not top 10. They're not Tarec Saffiedine, Paul Daley, [Josh] Koscheck, Carlos Condit. They're not Dong Hyun Kim, whose beaten Matt Brown. They're not Kelvin Gastelum, who they said will fight for a world title if he beat me. [...] How does a no. 5 ranked fighter fight the no. 1 guy and I don't fight the no. 1 guy?"

"Think about Robbie Lawler," he argues. "He lost to Johny within the last 90 seconds. What'd he have to do to get another title shot? He had to fight Jake Ellenberger and he had to fight Matt Brown. He had two fights in between, so why should Johny, who has been in the title fight the last three or four fights of his, why should he get an immediate shot after one win over a top 5 guy who has never beat a top 10 opponent? Let's be real."

He subsequently calls out Hendricks.

"In the meantime, I think Johny should fight me. We got unfinished business from the Big 12 days. I think it's a great style match-up. Two wrestlers with heavy power, beating a lot of top 10 guys. [...] "Let's be for real," he says emphatically. "Let's get this going."

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/3/...-johny-hendricks-fight-robbie-lawler-mma-news

Fans agree with his reasoning and are excited for the matchup.
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/8/...hendricks-set-for-ufc-192-in-houston#comments

In a later interview, Woodley reveals how the Monday before his fight against MacDonald, Dana told him the winner of Lawler/Brown would be for the title, which would explain (and perhaps justify) the frustration he talks about over the ranking system and matchmaking.

And then, that Monday, [Dana] basically said, "Hey Tyron, the winner of [Robbie Lawler vs Matt Brown] is gonna get the number one contendership spot." I'm like, "Hmm. How does that work?" And it was just like the fight didn't have the same spirit that it had when I originally agreed to it. I agreed to go to frickin' Vancouver to fight this kid in his hometown with the implication that the winner was fighting for the world title. That's a big risk.

And I took that after I had just fought Carlos [Condit]. I took that fight pretty quickly. And you know . . . the sport changes, and it evolves. Performances come on and fans want to see a different fight, and as you saw [Lawler vs Hendricks] was a good fight, so they probably made the right choice.

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/10...-technique-training-macdonald-fight-interview

When Dana announced that Hendricks would be moving up the Middleweight after being hospitalized for kidney stone(s) and promised that Woodley would fight the winner of Lawler/Condit, most of the fan-discussion was on Hendricks, though some had wished that Woodley had one more win before receiving a title shot, ultimately there was no hate for Woodley.
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/10...shot-hendricks-middleweight-mma-news#comments

Woodley intended to wait for his promised title shot, which many fans thought risky, but given that he had also been promised (or lead to believe) that he would receive a title shot if he defeated MacDonald, I can understand his reasoning for waiting it out.

And as the article pointed out:

"On the plus side for Woodley, there aren't too many other welterweights (if at all) ranked below him who are in a prime position to leapfrog him, but there's always the risk that Lawler/Condit has an outcome that results in an instant rematch, which would really make his next decision interesting."

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/11...n-woodley-intends-to-wait-title-shot-mma-news

2016​

I think that writer for BE jinxed it because then Thompson got a win over Hendricks and moved up to become the #4 ranked Welterweight in the UFC (#3 Woodley, #2 MacDonald, #1 Lawler); a vocal minority started using Woodley's split decision win over Gastelum and waiting for over a year against him in order to argue that Thompson deserved the next title shot (in addition to Thompson's exciting style). However, by and large I think most fans were still behind Woodley and were defending his right to the next title shot.
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/2/...oy-above-hendricks-but-below-woodley-mma-news

After Woodley knocked out Lawler, from what I could gather there was backlash against Woodley simply as a result of Lawler having a lot of fans, some of whom believed Woodley didn't deserve a title shot, but much of their comments were coming through a lens of bitterness over Lawler losing.
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/7/...-win-ufc-welterweight-title-mma-news#comments

TURNING POINT​

This is where the vocal minority suddenly became validated, and it was no longer the vocal minority but instead deemed the truth. Up until this moment, Woodley was at least arguably justified in his decisions, his decisions could be defended. Suddenly his circumstances leading up to fighting Lawler were suddenly all his fault and his opportunities were all undeserved.

Headline: "UFC 201: After title win, Tyron Woodley wants Nick Diaz or Georges St-Pierre next"​

"I feel no obligation to go by the rankings. We all know how those rankings are produced anyway," he said. "I want to fight the money fights."

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/7/...n-tyron-woodley-wants-nick-diaz-or-georges-st

From this article onward, the fans turned against Woodley, and Woodley did himself no favors as the months and years followed. Woodley became a hypocrite by ignoring the rankings; he previously lamented over Lawler/Brown competing in a title eliminator bout, and as soon as he became the champion he did something worse by calling out fighters not even ranked to begin with, despite there being a contender available in Thompson.

When Woodley had justifiable complaints over the UFC showing his knockout loss to Marquardt, it now looked nothing more than whining in the eyes of the fans, because first impressions are critical and Woodley's first impression as champion was to call out retired fighters for money fights instead of facing Thompson.
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/9/...appy-nate-marquardt-promo-ko-mccrory-mma-news

Woodley compares himself to Ali in their lack of love from fans:
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/9/...oubled-by-lack-of-love-from-fans-ali-only-got

Woodley plays the race card:
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/10...-feels-race-plays-role-in-getting-recognition

Woodley has a majority draw against Thompson:
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/11...gor-results-tyron-woodley-vs-stephen-thompson

Woodley wants to fight Nick Diaz (instead of rematching Thompson):
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/12...l-media-twitter-tyron-woodley-nick-diaz-fight

 

[SVG]

Woodley's problem is he doesn't play the game as good as King Colby. The clock is ticking Tyron...

 

[accolyte1022]

This could be entertaining...

 

[StopDucking]

Good thread.

 

[Dead Kennedy]

Don’t hate the guy at all. I’m not necessarily a fan either though. I’m rather indifferent towards him to be honest.

 

[Dragon Punch]

The Haters are just racist

 

[Pitier of Fools]

This was a pretty well thought out OP.

For me personally, Tyron won me as a fan when he wouldn't take a percentage of Gastelum's purse after Gastelum missed weight. That was a really classy move.

But then he lost me as a fan when he started crying racism about everything. People say he has poor cardio (which he does), it's racism! Boring fighter (which he is), racism! Grow up already, Tyron.

 

[acannxr]

This was a pretty well thought out OP.

For me personally, Tyron won me as a fan when he wouldn't take a percentage of Gastelum's purse after Gastelum missed weight. That was a really classy move.

But then he lost me as a fan when he started crying racism about everything.

I was a big fan of that too, but I think whatever good faith he had built up from that gesture with most fans was incinerated by everything he's done since then.

 

[templewarrior]

I like him as a fighter and in movies. Watched a Bollywood movie he played a small part...fighting...I have not followed everything he says but seems like a nice guy...

 

[bubbleboyjones]

Woodley sealed his fate when he played the race card and that became his gimmick.

 

[acannxr]

Woodley sealed his fate when he played the race card and that became his gimmick.

He sealed his fate in an underground bunker that's locked from the outside.

 

[Sherdog'sOfficialBlackMan]

Woodley's problem is he doesn't play the game as good as King Colby. The clock is ticking Tyron...

View attachment 353349

#facts

Covington is playing the game right.

 

[MadDogMahoney]

I appreciate the effort that went into this post. For the record, I'm still a fan.

 

[blah_blah619]

Yeah I stopped listening to Woodley after he said it was racist to call him explosive. Hard to root for someone playing the victim so hard and often.

 

[acannxr]

I appreciate the effort that went into this post. For the record, I'm still a fan.

Thanks. And while I'm very much a fan of the fighter, it's difficult (and sometimes impossible) to be a fan of the person. When he was on Rogan's podcast there were some moments that won me over, but they were quickly overshadowed by everything else that he does wrong in public relations.

Yeah I stopped listening to Woodley after he said it was racist to call him explosive. Hard to root for someone playing the victim so hard and often.

People who can't accept responsibility for the messes they created are certainly difficult to get behind and support.

 

[yeguiza]

TLDR

also, racist thread

 

[The Mookster]

Woodley hate began when he was in strikeforce and was a complete lay n pray fighter. I hated the guy as he ruined cards. I then became a fan when he went on a tear in the UFC actually fighting people. Then he became champion and became a safety first boring fighter again... thats why he is hated... he was loved when he was finishing fights though.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Good thread and i agree with a lot of it. I started liking woodley less and less as he became champion

 

[Codpiece]

Very good fighter, but when he fights conservatively - which is a lot lately - it isn't pretty. Seems like a great guy. He's trying to look out for his own self interest, but unlike some others who have successfully used their platform to make big money (e.g. Mayweather) I don't think Woodley has put the work in. Fight fans and especially casual fans need to have a strong reaction to a fighter, either positively or negatively, to generate the interest for a genuine money fight.

I don't know a lot of people who really like Woodley, the people who dislike him just seem to find him aggravating and it never coalesces into true hate, and I personally doubt many casuals know who he is. If they watched his last few title fights then I can't see them tuning in to watch him again.

 

[Literally Bricked]

Starting at 2015 is your problem. Try 2010/11.